Dark Days, Market update, local holidays and caturday!

It's a snowy, snowy day here in central Ohio. I'm glad we made it to the market early; sadly the trip to the tree farm will be postponed until the roads clear up.

I was hoping to find Xmas trees at the North Market; instead I found two of the organic farmers and the honey guy were there! I got some rainbow chard, purple potatoes, eggs, arugula, and a frisee/raddichio blend. I bought a number of small candles from the honey guy, mostly for holiday gifts. Inside the market I couldn't resist some peppered bacon and cottage ham slices, and also the Kentucky Bourbon Eggnog ice cream from Jeni's.

Next we headed to the Worthington Winter Market, just as snow began to fall. There I bought a ton of maple sugar (which is made from boiled down grade B syrup which gets put into a mixer until it crystallizes), grass-fed beef, scallions, sweet potatoes, cider, shitake mushrooms, and baked goods.

Ah yes, the meals! I roasted a pork loin this week, and it was the main protein at both of our local meals. On the first night it was marinated in a non-local pomegranate syrup, and served with chard and leeks, as well as mashed purple potatoes with garlic and leeks. I served it with the unadulterated pan juices, and boy was it good! For the next meal I sliced the remaining pork loin and warmed it with more pomegranate glaze, and served it with green beans with peppered bacon and delicata squash with maple syrup. I think I'm now down to 17 squash. Non-local ingredients for both meals were limited to the pomegranate glaze and a little olive oil, as well as salt and pepper. The green beans tasted just like summer, so I am glad that all the hard work of putting them by has paid off!

On local holidays: holiday gift baskets for my mom and my partner's mom will include locally made apple cider vinegar, maple sugar, honey, walnuts, maple syrup, popcorn, and beeswax candles. I thought about including cheese and grass-fed beef, but I didn't want to deal with the logistics of refrigerating them. Maybe next year! I really wanted to give them a taste of how good local products can be.