Up to Rockton

I definitely have more to post about our Milwaukee trip, and I also have lots of other posts to catch up on soon. But I figured that today I would give an update on what my little family did last weekend.

First of all, we went up to Rockton last weekend to visit with Greg's dad and stepmom. We went to the Beloit Farmers' Market, which was the best farmers markets I've seen. The prices were very reasonable, the produce fresh, and this market was huge compared to some of the small ones in Illinois. I think there must be a markup on produce in the suburbs for some reason.

Nick loved the big doggies he saw. He seems to be more gentle with the giant dogs. Probably because they're bigger than him!

It was a relaxing weekend with superb weather. Nick especially loved sitting on the porch. In the picture above he is with his Grandpa Jay (Greg's dad). We had a yummy lunch on Saturday at this great bakery. I tried to take Nick's picture with Greg but he wouldn't sit still. My boy has SO much energy lately.

We had a good weekend. Nick entertained us in the car by singing, at the top of his lungs, for quite a bit of the trip.

Three French Hens Market in Morris, IL

Greg and I have been visiting as many different farmers' markets in the area as we can, and we were kind of excited about this one, when we heard about it. The Three French Hens Market is in Morris, IL, and is only held once a month. I found out about it on the Illinois Agriculture Department's webpage.We were excited because all of the markets we've been to thus far have been in suburban areas, whereas Morris is a small town half an hour or so southwest of us, right on the I & M Canal. Our greatest hope was for marvelous produce, and we figured we couldn't lose, since Morris is more rural. More farms=more fresh fruits and vegetables, right?

The first thing Nick noticed is that this farmers' market is right on the water. "Water!," he proclaimed excitedly as we walked towards the booths. Not only is this market near the water, it's pretty big, with a ton of tents.  The views were lovely, with trees in the background and flowers all around in the park that this market was held. I think this was the prettiest of all the markets we've been to so far.

There was only one problem--no produce. There were tons and tons of vendors, selling everything from chocolate to antiques to bibs. However, there were no fruits and vegetables anywhere to be found. At the very end, we did find one vendor selling fruit, but she ran a store that sold fruit baskets, and her fruit was from the same places that the grocery stores get their produce. So no local produce at this farmers' market.

The vendors were mostly crafters and bakers, and Nick was grateful the bakers, because we bought muffins. We found a nice shady bench and sat and ate delicious muffins and people watched. Nick baby-watched, and said hi to every child/baby/toddler he saw. This is the first time I've ever been to a market and not walked away with a bag full of produce. I thought maybe I'd made a mistake, and this really was a craft fair. However, I found this market on the Agriculture page that says, right at the top, "Farmers' Markets."

Oh, well. It was a nice little trip anyway, and a beautiful area to walk around. We would've stayed longer, but the heat was starting to get to us, so we decided to walk across the bridge and up the path. On the way we saw one of the canal boats that they had for tourists to see. Nick said, "boat."

There were trees (shade!) and a nice walking path across what looked like an old railroad bridge. No, I'm not sure why I am making that face in the picture below. I think Greg had said something funny. On a cooler day, Greg said he'd like to come to Morris again to go walking, and I agreed that this was a good spot for a picnic. Just not a good spot to buy fruits and vegetables, apparently. Nick doesn't care either way, so long as he gets his muffin.  : )

The Naperville Farmers' Market

Every week this summer, Greg and I have tried to take Nick to one of the local farmers' markets. This week we went back to Naperville for one of our favorite ones. The Naperville Farmers' Market is in the parking lot for the 5th Avenue Train Station, and runs on Saturdays from 7 a.m. until 12 p.m. Our biggest complaint is that it ends at noon.

Some of them have plenty of vendors but few farmers, but this one seemed to have plenty of produce as well as other kinds of food. They must have strict criteria for vendors, because we didn't see any wacky stuff for sale, only the traditional farmers' market stuff: produce, herbs, fresh flowers, meat, seafood, cheeses, baked goods, and some specialty food products, like salsas and olive oils. There was a very nice selection, and we actually ran out of cash since we found so many things we liked.

Since we visit farmers' markets often, we have noticed a disturbing trend at places like Downers Grove and Plainfield--rather than produce and homemade food products, some vendors are selling things like tupperware, purses, and even clothes. These farmers' markets end up being more like craft fairs. Not this one--in Naperville, the farmers' market is very similar to ones that you would see in Europe. Here is a picture of Nick posing in front of the cucumbers.

Today it was incredibly steamy and sunny, so we kept Nick well hydrated and in the shade as much as possible. He was having fun checking out the ladies and waving at every baby or child he saw. Greg stuck to only "checking out" the produce, and he picked out some nice carrots and mushrooms.

We ended up with quite a haul, and will be feasting tonight. I think my favorite purchase was the fresh peaches, which Greg needed for the white sangria. I used the potatoes he is picking out below to go with our bison burgers with portabello mushrooms. (Plus, a salad and some fresh green beans. Yum.)

While I am interested in local and organic produce, I am in no way naive about the realities of farmers' markets. I know that unless food says it is organically grown, it probably isn't. But the farmers who sell at farmers' markets are often small farmers who use less pesticides, and I feel better buying from local farmers when I can. The vendors at this market clearly labeled their products and told the buyers where each item was from. I do tend to frequent the local farmers over those selling, for example, tomatoes from Kentucky. I also made a point to buy some organic potatoes from the one farmer who was selling organic produce.

So here is our haul.

Total spent? We brought $60 in cash, and all of it was gone. However, Greg bought some extravagent crab meat that cost $26, so that was half of our money right there. Tomorrow he's going to make a fancy crab cake dish from his new Bobby Flay cookbook, and I told him that for $26, they'd better be the best darned crab cakes we've ever had. I will report back about that.

Oh, and we also bought Nick a delicious scone that was eaten long before the picture was taken. I can tell you that the portabella mushrooms were divine tonight, sauteed in a little bit of butter with some of the garlic.

Fruits, Vegetables, and a Cream Puff WAY Too Big for a Little Man

Nearly every weekend, we take Nick to a farmers' market to get fresh fruits and vegetables, and whatever else we can find. The Downers Grove market is one we explored recently, and it is one of the bigger markets, with tons of vendors. Only four or five were actually selling produce, but there were lots of booths selling other edible stuff, like muffins from a gluten-free bakery. Nick has no allergies (that we know of), but he loved the samples muffins, and insisted on having one. Here you can see Nick deliberating over what kind of muffin he'd prefer. "Nana!" he finally announced, and then did not understand why the banana muffin did not magically appear in his hand. "Nana! Mama Nana Nana Na Na," Nick insisted as I paid and then tried to get the wrapper open.

"Mmm. Nana Mmm.," he declared happily as he shoved muffin pieces into his mouth. "Mmmm." We ended up with quite a haul: spinach, asparagus, orange tomatoes, peaches, green beans, free range steaks, and those little multicolored potatoes. Nick loved looking at the dogs and the people, but I think he liked the trains best. He's learned to say "choo-choo" when he sees a train, and since this farmers' market is right by the tracks, he got to see plenty of trains.

I used to live in Downers Grove, back when Greg and I first met, so it was kind of neat to go back and visit again. We went for lunch at an Irish restaurant called Ballydoyle, and I love the way the place is decorated. I feel bad for the waitresses, though, who have to wear very short plaid skirts. I think, to be fair, they should make their male bartenders and waiters wear equally short skirts.

 

The food was good, too. We had something called a boxty. Greg had one with chicken and spinach, and I had one with steak and vegetables. You can't get more irish than a boxty. It is a fried potato pancake, and inside is your meat, more potatoes, and vegetables. It is served with, get this, a side of mashed potatoes. Yup, potatoes with potatoes inside and a side of potatoes. The boxtys (boxties?) were pretty good, and it gave me a reason to give Greg my lecture on the Irish potato famine. I was a history minor as an undergraduate, and I love it when history comes up in real situations and becomes meaningful rather than just interesting. My husband rolls his eyes at me, but there are far worse hobbies I could have.

Here's the short version: the potato originates in South America, probably in the Andes mountains, and was taken to Spain in the 1570s. Importantly, only a few varieties of potato (ones with high crop yields) were grown in Europe. When the potato finally caught on as a nutritious staple food, it became often literally the only food eaten by many peasants in Ireland. I read somewhere that you can actually survive on only potatoes and milk, since you can get all of the vitamins necessary from just those two foods. I think it'd be a pretty bland diet, but it kept lots of Irish people alive. In fact, it wasn't uncommon for an Irishman to eat 14 pounds of potatoes in one day! Talk about taking the idea of monoculture to the limit. I wonder how many potatoes were in my boxty?

Lots of poor Irish families grew large because the potatoes kept them alive. In fact, the population of Ireland skyrocketed once they started growing this yummy tuber. Problem is, because only a few varieties of potato existed in Ireland, the plant hadn't had any time and diversity to evolve resistance to any kind of fungus. When potato blight (a fungus spread through the air that probably came off of a ship from South America) arrived, it spread across Ireland and killed all of the potatoes. I can't imagine how horrible that must've been for the families. Imagine that you wake up one morning, and your entire crop has turned black. Every potato you dig up has turned into black mush, and your family has nothing else to eat. The government of course, was very laissez-faire, and thus nearly a million people starved to death. All because of monoculture and selfishness.

Anyway, pardon my digression. Do you understand now why the potato is central to the Irish meal? Nick loved the boxty, anyway, but he loved even more what we ordered for dessert: Irish Cream Puffs. While I was trying to take this picture, he snuck his hand in to try to snatch one of them.

They were delicious and messy and just perfect after a lunch of potatoes with potatoes and a side of potatoes. Our son heartily approved.

Schaumburg Farmers' Market and Lunch at Maggiano's with G.G.

On Friday, Nick and I took a little trip to visit my Grandma Dorothy, who Nick calls G.G. We wanted to go to the farmers' market in Schaumburg, and my grandmother brought her dog, Miss Lucy, who weighs only slightly more than a hamster. I think Nick was mildly jealous, because instead of everyone fussing over him, they were fussing over the adorable puppy. "Oh, she is so cute!" Nick was not used to being second fiddle. I somehow think that he won't adjust well when we eventually have a second child. He is always the center of attention.

I've always been pretty close to my grandmother, who is only 41 years older than me. People often assume she's my mother when we're out and about, and that Nick is her grandson. She is always proud to announce that Nick is her great-grandson. I always try to go up and visit her whenever I can, especially during vacations and summer.

The Schaumburg Farmers' Market was nice, medium-sized but with some pretty good vendors. It was smaller and not as complete as the Saturday markets in Lisle and Wheaton, but there were still quite a few local farmers and some great samples. The samples are always Nick's favorite part of  farmers' markets. I bagged a tart from the French nuns, some havarti and gout goada cheese from a gourmet cheese vendor, a nice bunch of green onions, and some fresh broccoli. Lucy (the puppy) got some doggie socialization time and about forty compliments. After the farmers' market, we went to drop the puppy off before going to lunch. She was ready for a nap, after playing with Nick to the point of exhaustion. Nick was still raring to go, though.

We went to Maggiano's for a nice Italian lunch. They told us that the servings were all half portions because it was lunchtime. We decided to order two dishes and split them so that we could try two things. We had meat lasagna and chicken spinach manicotti with alfredo sauce. I also ordered some asparagus with garlic so that we'd have a vegetable. The waitress warned me, "The baby might not like the asparagus, since it has a lot of garlic." I told her not to worry, because Nick eats nearly everything. He likes garlic, too.

The asparagus, in fact, was his favorite part of the dinner. He ate at least five or six spears of the stuff. Nick enjoys anything shaped like a french fry, and this includes green beans, string cheese, and asparagus. He kept waving the stalks around like little flags, but he ate a whole lot, garlic or no garlic. I love the picture above because of the way Nick is holding the asparagus in front of his face, showing me. "MMM," he kept announcing as he grabbed for another stalk and shoved it in his mouth.

The food was pretty good, and the atmosphere was nice. It was just noisy enough for Nick's chattering not to bother anyone. When they brought our food out, we were astounded. If these were half-size, lunch portions, what must the dinner portions look like? I ate less than half of the food and still felt very, very full. We weren't too full to try some tiramisu, though. Can you see it all around Nick's lips? I thought he might not like it, because tiramisu has a kind of coffee flavor, but Nick loved every bite. I asked the waitress to take our picture before we left.

We thought we'd go back to the house and let Nick take a nap, but he wasn't having any of it. He wanted to play, plain and simple. Most of all, he wanted to play with the puppy. "Puppy!," he'd announce as he pointed towards her. "Soft," he'd say as he stroked her fur. Nick wasn't always gentle, but the puppy was surprisingly tolerant and Nicholas wasn't quite as rough as he is with the cats.

Nick and Lucy are on the same scale, size wise. She comes up to about his waist if she jumps on him, and I think she likes his smaller size, because Lucy just can't leave him alone. When he walks with her, it's as if an adult were walking with a medium sized dog. Miss Lucy was extremely active all day, and she even walked down with us to the park, using her leash correctly. My grandma was very proud of her.

But Nick never did take a nap. That's something I'm going to have to work on-whenever I go somewhere, I can't get Nick to sleep at all. He was mad at me when we had to leave, too, because he wanted to stay with GG and the puppy. Poor guy was plumb tuckered out by the time we got back home. He slept nearly 13 hours last night, so at least he got caught up. We'll have to make a point to go and visit again before the summer is over.

A Problem with the Grocery List

I have a complicated relationship with food. As a child, I fed my vegetables to the dog and was ecstatic when I got my mom to buy me chocolate fudge pop tarts. While in college, I subsisted on lucky charms and spaghetti with butter and Parmesan. When I go on vacation, I remember the food more than anything I've seen. (Ahh, to taste the gambas al ajillo, tetilla cheese, and sangria in Spain again. . .) I would love to eat dessert with every meal, especially if there's chocolate involved. In fact, when I was in Paris for my honeymoon, I did. The French really know how to indulge. Here you can see Greg and me at a cafe in France. I have no idea where we were or what else we did that day, but I know for sure that we had just finished eating this awesome Tomato Mozzarella salad (drizzled with an amazing olive oil) that was so good we returned to that same cafe. I know that they had Earl Grey tea and really soft bread. I just asked Greg about the picture, and, sure enough, he remembers it exactly. He says that was the day we went to Notre Dame, and that this cafe is in the Latin Quarter, just south of our hotel. He even remembers that this was afternoon, right after we'd taken a little nap. It's funny how different memories can be. He can picture the map of Paris in his head, but I can still taste that yummy meal. Pardon my digression. Anyway, food is one of the great joys of my life.

But about six years ago, I had Gastric Bypass Surgery (Open Roux-en-Y) and I had to change my eating habits. In order to stay healthy and avoid an upset stomach, I have to eat healthy. I try my best to make my food delicious, too. Now I eat a high protein, low glycemic index diet, and I keep forcing myself to like new foods. There are about thirty different fruits, vegetables, and beans that I wouldn't have touched six years ago but now eat all the time. I had to teach myself to like healthy food, and it didn't come easily. I still struggle with eating healthy, and the most successful strategy for me has been to buy and cook the most delicious healthy food I can find. For example, I hate traditional salads because I won't eat lettuce of any kind, but I found a compromise. I like very tender spinach, so I've started eating salads all the time, so long as they're made with spinach.

I've been visiting farmers' markets lately, since there are so many around here. I've actually been really impressed by what we've been eating. It's amazing how fresh the produce tastes. I'm not so idealistic to think that I won't still buy fruits and veggies off season when I have to, but I figure that for the summer I can get the freshest local stuff possible. On Sunday we went to the Oswego Farmers' Market, and I filled the stroller with wonderful tastes.

Here you can see Nick helping to load the stroller. Nick met the cutest little dog while I was shopping, and Greg let Nick pet him. Unfortunately for the dog, Nick decided to grab the poor thing's head quite hard. He's started grabbing and pinching lately, and it really hurts! I'm not sure how to stop that, since he thinks it's funny.

Probably my favorite purchase from the farmers' market was the pumpkin butter. It is delicious on a warm slice of honey molasses wheat bread with just a touch of butter. I love apple butter, and pumpkin butter is just as good. With all of the homemade bread I've been making lately, we go through a lot of jam.

We ended up buying quite a few things, as you can see from the picture. There were actually four peaches, but two got squished and thus made into baby food for Nick. I've been able to make almost all of his baby food lately, and he really loved these peaches. They're already gone. I also forgot to take a picture of the best broccoli I've ever had in my life. It was $2 for a huge bag, and it almost felt wrong to get that much pleasure out of eating broccoli. I believe it was around $35 for everything. Not too bad, considering how good it all was. Below you can see Sunday's purchases.

Then, today I noticed a farmers' market on the south end of Naperville, by Route 59 and 103rd Street. I decided to stop in, and I ended up buying blueberries, cherries, spinach, green beans, more tomatoes, cute little asparagus, a red pepper, and a few eggplants. One of my challenges to myself is to try foods that I don't usually eat, like eggplant. We're going to try eggplant Parmesan later this week. I didn't take a picture of today's purchases, because of a crabby baby.

There was also a guy selling cheeses from right over the border in Wisconsin. I bought some soft baby swiss and some garlic cheese curds, which sounded too interesting to miss. They turned out to be pretty yummy. I think I spent something like $23 today. Oh, and the problem with my grocery list today? Nick ate it, so I had to purchase from memory. I guess he took it when I wasn't paying attention. Everyone around me thought it was hilarious as I was trying to pry it from his enthusiastic little fingers. "The baby ate your list? That's so cute!," I was told. It might be cute (and yes, I did laugh), but it made it very hard not to forget anything.

Anyway, I did have a point. Tonight I made a salad that was the best I've ever tasted. It contained vegetables all from the farmers' market, and was so good I actually ate every single bite and would've had more, if there had been any left. I used the fresh spinach, cucumber, tomato, red pepper, a little bit of freshly ground pepper, and some crumbles of goat cheese. When I was eating this salad, I felt the same way I do when eating a filet mignon or some grilled calamari. For me, food is one of life's greatest pleasures, and I guess I can enjoy the healthy stuff just as much as a chocolate ganache cake with a cream filling. Or pretty close, anyway.

Baby's First Doughnut

Today Greg and I went to the Farmers' Market in Oswego and to a beautiful park down by the Fox River. It was beautiful, and the weather was just perfect. Not too hot, not too cold--you don't get many days like this in July.

Nick loved the swings. He laughs so hard when he gets to go swinging. Here you can see him happily enjoying himself while an older baby surreptitiously checks him out. This little chic was extremely interested in my Nicholas. I guess I'd better get used to little girls checking him out.

The park we went to had a great view of the river, a bridge, and slides and climbie things that Nick will love in a year or so. There was even a misting station if you started feeling too warm. Here's Greg and Nick down by the path. Notice how he's sitting forward all the way in his stroller. Today was the first time I saw him do that. He kept leaning forward so he wouldn't miss anything. Nick is just happy to be there. Anywhere, actually. He seems to see each new place we go as a new adventure, even if it's a bathroom in a bar or a place to buy tomatoes. I wish I could get a shot of that kind of joy.

Below you can see Nick enjoying his very first doughnut. At the farmers' market, there was an older couple making fresh batches of mini doughnuts with cinnamon sugar. They made them right there in front of us, and boy did they smell good. We decided that Nick was old enough to try his first doughnut, so we bought a bag of 6 for $1.75. First I gave him a little taste, and then you can see what Nick did. He grabbed a huge chunk out of my hand and stuffed it in his mouth. Boy, was I surprised. He ate the whole darned thing, too. He got cinnamon sugar all over his little toes, and made the happiest "mmm" sounds. It's kind of neat when he has first tastes of new things. Nicholas seems to like things such as steamed peas and avocado just as much as doughnut or tiramisu. I guess the world is an adventure when everything is new.
I'm now going to make a rant about the town of Oswego, or whoever built this memorial. See if you can figure out what is wrong. . . I did a double take when I found it.
That's right, there is no apostrophe for "Veterans' Sacrifices." Now, I'm all for monuments, and I'm especially all for veterans, but can't they at least own their sacrifices? Stuff like this really makes me steamed. I just finished reading a book called Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss. She has the same issue I do with grammar. Every time I see a mistake, I feel the need to get out my red pen. I don't, usually, but I still feel a surge of rage. I'm an extremely tolerant, liberal, live-and-let-live kind of gal, except for grammatical situations. Since I work with non-native speakers of English, I'm pretty tolerant of them, because they have an excuse. However, couldn't the guy doing the carving get a proofreader before carving something into stone for posterity?!

Okay, I'm done ranting. Sorry about that. Time to put the baby to bed and perhaps plant some herbs.