saturday farmers market

yesterday we woke up to gorgeous clear skies and warm sun. it was welcomed and needed in my book. we took a stroll to the PSU Farmers Market to pick up provisions for the week. thankfully we live within walking distance to this great market. every saturday (except for a few winter months) the market is filled with local seasonal produce and tasty food. you can get everything from flowers to baked goods to fried chicken on a biscuit. we brought home yak and boar sausage, grass fed hangar steak, ground elk sausage, huge artichokes, walla wall sweet onions (!!!), dill, fresh caught coho salmon, new potatoes, carrots, blond morel mushrooms, wonderfully sweet strawberries and raspberries. we ate almost all the raspberries before we made it home!

artichoke and cotija cheese tamale from salvador molly's

olympic provisions stand. picked up some saucisson d'alace

lot's of performers, one had a sign that read "cash and produce tips accepted" 

the farmers market is near the Portland Art Museum which has an exhibit on classic cars going on. they had blocked off the street to showcase quite a lot of cars. these were my favorites.

with the sun shining so bright and it being so warm out, we decided to enjoy a few cocktails on our 'veranda'. G was playing bartender and a very good one at that. i made a batch of vanilla simple syrup for the cocktails. the hint of vanilla was unexpected but not too sweet. it was wonderful in the mojito. plus it will be very tasty in soda water later on in the week.

raspberry mojitos

improved cucumber vodka gimlet

we were in need of a few ingredients for the cocktails, so G went out and came back with not only everything on the list but this as well!

amazing fried chicken and biscuit from flogenes home cookin

vanilla simple syrup
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup h20
1/2 vanilla bean scraped

combine all ingredients into a small sauce pan. bring to a boil. heat until all the sugar has disolved. remove from heat and let cool. remove vanilla bean. it can be kept in the fridge for a week or two.

till next time,
amanda