Irvington Farmers Market in the Sullivan's Gulch Neighborhood

Sunday was a beautiful day for a trip to a farmers market. Lori and I were pretty jazzed about heading into the Sullivan's Gulch Neighborhood to visit the Irvington Farmers Market. I actually didn't know about the Sullivan's Gulch Neighborhood or the history before we started researching this FM. That is one of the real unexpected consequences of our summer project. We are learning a lot about this city where we grew up. I guess we never took the time to slow down and enjoy these streets we, so commonly, travelled before. Lori and I both, a long time ago in a galaxy far away, held retail jobs at the Lloyd Center. Let me know if those jeans I sold you a gazillion years ago still fit. My 29 inch waist San Francisco's were retired before I was out of college. Thanks Anhueser Busch. Still, it's no wonder we we were jazzed to go back down memory lane.

The Market

The Irvington Farmers Market is on NE 16th between Weidler and Broadway. There is ample parking between the Lloyd Center lots and the side streets. Max is nearby and, of course, there is always my favorite transpo method, the bike. I just have to mention Lori is becoming a monster on her new bike with two consecutive weekends of 40 mile and close to 40 mile rides under her belt (Lori yawns). That is another story for another blog. This is a small market by comparison to some of the others, but I think it fits the neighborhood well. Some thought has gone into it. I would say that there are fewer prepared food booths than some markets. But we walked past many great cafes and food restaurants on our way to the market. The market had less nursery stock booths than other markets but it seemed to fit the the clientele well. Notably, there was a very good choice of fresh produce vendor booths and a few specialty booths that made this a very worthwhile destination FM and a fun place to visit.

What we bought. We purchased some Merlot Wine Jelly, small potatoes, small squashes and another jar of raspberry jalapeno jelly because we were made an offer we just couldn't refuse. A side note. A lot of the adventure in visiting any FM is talking to the vendors, sometimes dickering a little, and listening to why they are there and why they make and sell their own products. These conversations are sometimes just priceless.

The Table

We try to not go to the market with too much of a preconceived notion of what we want to buy finding the discovery and creativity is more fun that way. Of course, if you know me. I will still try to start planning before we leave but Lori has been great about reminding me of the freedom of not having everything planned out ahead of time. So, on this visit we didn't know we were eating the second half of a Pork Tenderloin, frozen at home, until we came upon the Merlot Jelly. Lori actually remembered the pork in the freezer. That led to the choice of the small potatoes and squashes. The small potatoes and squashes were olive oiled and seasoned (check earlier posts for ideas) grilled on the BBQ along with the Pork. My plan was to thaw then marinade the tenderloin in a basic olive oil, thyme, basil, rosemary, salt and pepper marinade. Grill on the BBQ to 160 internal temp, slice the tenderloin into medallions and add the Merlot jelly to the hot medallions to melt the jelly into a sauce. We added some corn on the cob to make a complete meal. Dessert was ice cream and berries left over from the West Linn market trip. With all these berries and ice cream desserts we will need to keep doing those 40 mile bike rides. I think Lori is planning the bike ride for this weekend.....eeks! See ya.