You Live Where?: Farmers' Market edition

I think I've probably mentioned this before, but Fayetteville has one amazing Farmers' Market. Actually, they have several amazing Farmers' Markets, in multiple locations and days, but I pretty much have stuck to the Saturday morning, downtown market on the square.

With our garden, we haven't bought a ton of produce there this summer; it was all I could do to restrain myself this morning when I saw the most amazing heirloom, beefsteak and cherry tomatoes. Maybe next week.

And the eggplants were such a gorgeous, deep purple, I found myself frantically doing a search of my mental rolodex to see if I could justify buying a pint of them for some exotic dinner. No dice - all I could come up with was fried eggplant, and the odds of all four Coussoules eating that were too low to justify the purchase.

The main reason I headed to the Market this morning was to pick up Peach Preserves, the key ingredient in this week's recipe: Peach Glazed Pork Tenderloin. (I know, seriously - just writing it makes me hungry.) There is a stand at the Market every week that has homemade jams, jellies, preserves and butters, and I am officially hooked. Their blackberry jam is worth hoarding, it's so delicious.

We were a little bit later than usual to the Market this morning - the serious Market shoppers get there earlyearlyearly, as soon as it opens, to get the best pick of produce, flowers, open range meat and eggs, and other homemade and handmade wonders.

By the time Caroline and I dropped John off at a birthday party and got downtown, it was a few hours into Market day and the crowd was growing. On a mission, we stopped briefly to pet the shelter dogs, and headed right for the Bramble Berry Farm booth. Yummmmmm... but I was on a mission. Peach preserves, Amanda. No pumpkin butter, no blackberry jam, no jalapeno jelly today.

Unfortunately, not only was I a little late today, the proprietor's daughter was on vacation last week, so their variety was slimmer than usual. Not to be deterred, I spied apricot preserves - which the recipe clearly states as an option vs. peach - and we were on our way.

I promise, this is the jam stand... not sure how I missed
getting a picture of the beautiful jars of goodness

Rather than heading straight home, I convinced Caroline to walk the square with me. There are always musicians playing for tips, and there is reliably at least one wonderful folk band picking and playing Ozark mountain music. How amazing is the sound of a man picking a banjo with talented abandon?

A quick stop to play on the rocks and skip over the water, and it was time to head out.

Living in Northwest Arkansas continues to be a delight. I've loved so many of the places I've lived, and funky Fayetteville, home of the Razorbacks, is high on the list.