Umbrella in hand and threatening skies overhead, I go off to The Stop’s Green Barn Farmers' Market on Saturday morning. By the time I step off the Christie bus, the rain is pouring down. Nevertheless, I manage to scoop up strawberries, shallots, new potatoes, eggplants, and the most perfect garlic I’ve ever seen—still attached to long, pale stems. Showing it off later, people think it is plastic.
The highlight of this soggy exercise is not the shopping but the music. Max and Frank Evans and their stringband—guitar, banjo, bass, and fiddle—move their act inside. Adults discreetly tap their toes while a bevy of toddlers do an exuberant, if wobbly, dance around the band.
After roasting the eggplants, I fold the flesh into a Georgian walnut sauce (from Please to the Table), using the perfect garlic and coriander from my own garden. The potatoes will be boiled for salad, the strawberries eaten out of hand.
Photo by Gina
