Lincoln Square Farmers’ Market, Lincoln Square, Chicago

Lincoln Square Farmers’ Market, Lincoln Square, Chicago

Farmers’ Market Produce, Roscoe Village, Chicago

Back in Chicago means back at the Tuesday Lincoln Square farmers’ market. For $36 I brought home:

- 3 large portabello tops
- small portabellos
- raspberries
- blueberries
- cherries
- 2 sage plants
- green onions
- two types of zucchini
- yellow squash
- grape tomatoes (various colors)
- green pepper
- 5 ears of corn
- lettuce
- 1 free energy saver light bulb from the 47th Ward alderman Gene Schulter

Everything is so much better when you get it fresh from the regional farmers instead of shipped from who knows where at the supermarket. The berries were unbelievable. So flavorful. And the lettuce was so big and tasty. And the corn! So sweet and delicate.

I don’t think I wrote about this before, but I’ve spoken about it to a few people. I really like the guy in the mushroom stand. I’ve talked to him a lot about the different kinds of mushrooms he has. One day we talked about how portobello’s, the large ones, were actually a mistake. They were the little crimini mushrooms that were let go another 2 or 3 days and grew big, what we now know as portobellos. Then portobellos got to be so popular that they now refer to criminis as baby portobellos and sometimes charge more for them. This last time I was at the market the mushroom stand was crazy. Instead of the one guy there were 2-3 more people working the stand and giving out samples and stuff. They also sell a lot of canned mushroom dips, salsas and sauces that they give out free samples of. The mushrooms are grown in a greenhouse in Wisconsin.

I also went to Jewel later on to get a few more things so I could make this corn/avocado/tomato salad. We actually made this salad a lot when I was in Cape Cod and used the basil that Jessica’s uncle gave us. I don’t really have a specific recipe for the salad, but this is what’s in it. I just added enough of each til it looked good.

- 1 avocado
- 2 cobs of corn, cook & cut off the cob
- about a cup of tomato
- basil
- splash of olive oil
- salt
- pepper
- juice of one lemon

I’d gotten the corn and tomatoes at the farmers’ market and I grew the basil on my patio.

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