The Farmer's Market

We are very lucky to have a farmer's market less than five minutes from our house. It has become a regular Saturday morning activity for me and Tali - something we look forward to. On occasion, we bring Eli or H, but, with the exception of last Saturday, the two of us have been going every week. We've gotten to know some of the vendors and there's always a local band playing that Tali likes to watch.

Tali has become a bit more opinionated about food in the last couple of months and I can't always count on her to be the champion eater she once was. It's not that she doesn't like something, it's simply that now she has an opinion and chooses not to eat it on that day. But when we're at the farmer's market, her true passion and curiosity for food comes shining through. She's impressed so many people with what she wants to sample and likes. For example, here was a conversation she had with the me and the cheese vendor today:

Tali: I want to try some cheese, please.
Cheese vendor: Not this one, it's the yucky part. (She throws it into the garbage.)
Me: Tali, what is that called?
Tali: That's the rind.
Me: Right. And can we eat the rind?
Tali: No, not that one.
Me: Why not?
Tali: It's a hard cheese. You can't eat that one. You can only eat the rind on a soft cheese.
Customer: Wow! I'm impressed.
Me: That's nothing. You should see what she knows.
Tali (as if on que, points to the Camembert): I want some Camembert, please.

Today the jam guy told me that she's going to culinary school when she's older. She's wowed him each week by picking the most "adult" flavored jams they have. At first, he would warn me that she wouldn't like it. He's stopped doing that. 

Eli is also great there. Although he doesn't like cheese, he eats his way through plenty of samples. Most of the vendors don't mind and usually make some comment about how happy they are to see kids eating vegetables. Today Tali was shoving some tomatoes from a local farm into her mouth and very kindly fed one to Eli who was already eating a peach (given to us by another vendor who we now know).  The guys from the farm thought he was so cute that they took out their phones to snap a picture of him, asking me if it was okay to put his picture on their Web site.

Life is good. Tomato in one hand, peach in the other.

The bread woman only had samples of an olive/roasted pepper bread left by the time we got to her. No problem. Both kids loved it and I bought a loaf. She knows me so well now that I was able to special order a bread for next week (yipee!) that is normally only sold to restaurants.

I could go on and on here, but you get the point. I do want to mention that I do buy from these vendors - we don't just get free samples. Then we go home and my favorite lunch: fresh bread, cheese and vegetables. It's delicious.

Flower from a vendor - given specifically to Tali.