My first springtime trip to the farmer’s market did not go exactly as I had thought it would. This morning I got ready to drive to the farmer’s market feeling very virtuous that although it was 8:30AM on a Saturday morning I was not hungover in the least. So far so good, right? I’m up at a decent hour, I’ve got money, and I’ve even remembered the camera (my boyfriend Nick’s camera, actually, I don’t have one myself). The farmer’s market will be full of green things just waiting for me to turn them into delicious meals during the week, right? Wrong.

Turns out that the bounty of spring isn’t quite as bountiful as I had always assumed. There’s lot of lettuce and other greens like collard and kale, some pretty green onions, and a guy selling shallots, but that’s it. Everything else are foods that have been stored through the winter, sweet potatoes, golden potatoes, onions and carrots.

Not that I left empty handed. I’m the type of person that cannot avoid buying food. Despite my initial despair at the lack of artichokes and asparagus I still found myself eyeing the leafy lettuce flats. I came home with a small bundle each of shallots and green onions, some kale and collard greens, a turnip, potatoes, and plain of yellow onions, three tomato plans with some yellow blossoms already blooming, and a giant flat of lettuce so big I could barely get it up the stairs. I think Nick is slightly horrified that I spent $25 on a lot of lettuce, but I am hugely proud of my trough o’ leafy greens. I got him to take a picture of me holding it and I’m going to use it as my “about the author” picture on this blog just as soon as I figure out how.

But now that I’m done gloating over my lettuce I’m a little worried. What am I going to cook this week that uses just these few springtime veggies and leftover tubers from winter? I’ll ponder this and try to come up with a menu and a grocery list for the week by tomorrow.