Hillsdale Farmer's Market

Things I learned this week:
You can run a 10k event (6.2 miles) with only 3 weeks of training and a little encouragement from your wife. 
Those German Heirloom tomatoes from the garden make great gazpacho.
I love summer, but am ready to cook some fall food.
Spending time with friends should not be underestimated.
Celebrating your 26th wedding anniversary is a once in a lifetime event and should be treated as such.
Just how much I love that woman and the simple life we share together.

Note the nice sunhat basket in the right of the picture.

The Market

The Hillsdale Farmers Market is rated number 4 in Sunset magazines top 10 Farmers Markets across the West. Sunset notes the markets small size, smaller crowd and ample parking as reasons they rated it so high. All accurate descriptions of the market. The location is practical in that it rests in a parking strip between Wilson High school and Mary Reike school and backs up to the Hillsdale shopping center. What the location gains in practicality, it loses in not leveraging the neighborhood's west hills' feel. We actually parked in the neighborhood and walked the extra distance. This is a neighborhood that shares the hillside with OHSU and Council Crest. Many homes have vistas of the river and the city. Signs were posted to keep you on the right walking path to Marquam Nature Park and Council Crest Park. Once you enter the school parking lot the feel of the neighborhood is no longer evident.

But the market creates it's own small town meeting square feel and the neighborhood's culture is reflected in the voices and camaraderie of the patrons and vendors enjoying an afternoon of warm weather. I cannot remember hearing heartfelt greetings in Hebrew being exchanged at any other farmers market.

We bought triple sweet corn on the cob for dinner and some poblano chilies to go into the salsa we canned using tomatoes and some green, yellow, red and purple peppers from our own garden.

The Table

The triple sweet corn was served with BBQ'd chicken. Simple and sweet eaten on the patio. AS I mentioned earlier we canned some salsa with the peppers and vegetables from our own garden

Milwaukie Farmers Market, Home Sweet Home

The Market

It is said that most of us do not appreciate the things we are most familiar with. Our good health, faithful friends and loving, if somewhat quirky, family blend into a comfortable backdrop to our daily lives. The glamour of a shiny new object too often distracts us from the stable foundation we take for granted. This, I must admit, is the case with our own neighborhood farmers market. I guess the journey we have been on this summer experiencing other local farmers markets with a critical journalistic eye may have changed the way we looked at the Milwaukie Farmers Market on this visit. We both agreed that the vibe of the Hollywood market and the cosmopolitan feel of the PSU market still stand out. But we absolutely have a gem in our own backyard. I have often bounced into the car or onto my bike to make a last minute Sunday dinner run down the hill into downtown Milwaukie to the market. In and out, no smelling the roses, people to see, things to do..I'll take that box of berries thank you very much...totally unappreciating the market, it's convenience and all it has to offer. Lori and I were both taken by the breadth and quality of vendors, the comfortable layout, and overall friendly nature of the markets patrons and vendors. The Milwaukie Farmers Market is located on Main Street in downtown Milwaukie in the parking lots across from City Hall. Parking lots you say? The layout is quite amenable to a market. The small lots partition nicely into vendor display areas and patron traffic lanes. The established trees offer a cool canopied park like setting on the warmest of afternoons. We bought some blueberries for little blueberry / peach pies. And green onions to go into the pork tenderloin teriyaki marinade.

The Table
Dinner was grilled veggies and pork tenderloin. We tend to grill and eat out on the patio every chance we get during the nice weather. I also made little blueberry / peach pies. This is a very simple recipe that takes advantage of fresh in season fruits.
Blueberry peach mini pies
1 pint blueberries (washed and sorted)
1-2 peaches (sliced)
1/4 cup sugar (+ or -) to taste
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons butter (cut into small squares)
1 frozen ready to use pie crust (thawed)
1 egg beaten with a splash of water in a separate bowl

In a large bowl, combine sliced peaches, blueberries, sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, and lemon juice. Pour into 3 or 4 small greased ramekins or other small shallow dish. Dot with butter. cover with pie crust and use a knife to cut a few slits for venting. Wash with the egg water mixture. Optionally sprinkle sugar over the prepared pies. Place prepared pies on a cookie sheet. Cook in the oven at 400 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes until the crusts are golden brown. Be sure to use a cookie sheet. These pies notoriously bubble over. Serve warm with ice cream.

Remember to hug your loving, if quirky, family members.