The market is held on the Lake Anne Plaza- Lake Anne is a older (1960s), planned community, with a lot of condos surrounding the lake front, and shops and restaurants on the bottom floors. It is a neat place- I think it is meant to resemble a Mediterranean town center, but since it was built with 1960s materials of concrete and brick, it doesn't quite make you feel like you are in Italy, but it has a great vibe anyway.
There is a craft fair along the lake front every morning (some neat stuff- the coolest place has hand woven- on a loom!- towels and dishrags) and the Farmer's Market is held in the parking lot of the town center (better for the produce trucks to pull up to!).
We love going here- first, we get all local food, at prices that are cheaper than the grocery store (we already got everything we need for the week, except some milk, today), and second, the market is so vibrant and full of people, that it reminds me of all the markets we went to in France.
So, we usually walk over around 9am (we need to get there earlier now- the place is packed and some produce was already sold out!), and do our veggie shopping first. This week, the buzz word was berries! We got strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and cherries, all of much better quality than the crap from California (the strawberries actually have a taste- not just the weak sugar water flavor of Driscolls). There will only be a few more weeks for the berries, so we will gorge on them (Brutus is in the kitchen making a strawberry lemon tart as we speak).
We also picked up new potatoes, fresh peas, zucchini, squash, radishes, onions, green beans, and garlic scapes. What? Garlic scapes? Well- these are the sprouts for garlic plants, that usually come out for about 3 weeks, before they flower. Here is a good site about what they are, a picture, and recipes. I think I will make a pork dish with some of them, then make pesto with the rest. They are the green curly things next to the peas, in the picture.
We also picked up quite a bit of meat- there are many local animal farms that sell at the market as well. They come with big coolers of vacuumed-packed, frozen meats. Today, we shopped at a vendor called Cibola Farms, from Culpepper, VA. They seem to specialize, right now, in buffalo and pork. So, we picked up a buffalo flank steak, some pork cutlets, pork sausage, and bratwurst. At another vendor, Valentine's Meats, from Orange, VA, we got some oxtail- I have always wanted to try this! So, we are set for the week- and the prices were the same or less than grocery stores.
We ended our shopping trip in our favorite way- breakfast on the plaza! We go to the Lake Anne Pharmacy, which has a lunch counter. For about $14.00, we have a full breakfast with coffee. The place also has Ecuadorian specialties, so we want to try some of those next time- the Huevos Rancheros look good, and they have some sort of pork dish, the spelling of which I will not attempt here.
We sit outside, and enjoy the bustling town- there is a fountain right next to the pharmacy that children swarm with their parents- it is a walk-in fountain, so it is fine that they are all over it. It just looks dirty to me!
And yes, we did have our meat with us during breakfast. And no, we did not have a cooler. But, it remained frozen- I just wanted to gross out my dear sister (who will insist on refrigeration for transporting meat, even if a store were next to her house- love you!). And yes, if you visit, we will have a cooler.
Now, we are washing and prepping veggies- some will need to be cooked soon, even if we eat them later this week.
Gosh, I love Saturday mornings!
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