A Feast for the Eyes

It was a busy day today. I don't think I sat down for more than about 30 minutes. The rest of the day was go, go, go, but in a good way. Erik and Mae and I hatched a plan last week to head off to the Portland Farmer's Market this morning. Before I left, I turned the third corner on the Seating for Two quilt.

Also, I finished stitching Block #10 for the Bee-utiful Quilt-A-Long. This one is called "Bee Kind".

And then, we headed off for the Portland Farmer's Market for the first time this year. First stop was Verde Cocina, where we ordered up our favorite breakfast. They were making fresh kale tortillas this morning.

And they had this beautiful chicken roasting away.

But I was Jonesing bad for my favorite huevos rancheros. Yum.

After that, we made the rounds. For sale was every blooming thing you can imagine.

And I haven't even talked about the vegetables yet. There were pecks of peppers.

Elegant eggplant.

Tons of tasty tomatoes.

Amazing Artichokes.

Colorful cauliflower.

Heavenly honey in pretty much any size jar  and any flavor you could want.

Wild onion blossoms.

Lovely lavender.

Ostentatious onions...yeah, "ostentatious" doesn't really fit, but it starts with an "O".

Sublime summer squash.

Cheery pie cherries (the object of my desire).

This being Portlandia, there was this guy, playing "You Are My Sunshine" on his musical saw.

When all was said and done, I came home with some Brandywine tomatoes, chanterelle mushrooms, sashito peppers, and some beautiful pie cherries. When I got home, I didn't even sit down. I got straight to work making a pie crust. That will sit overnight, and I'll work on those beautiful cherries tomorrow. After that, I made some pickled beets. My yield was 7 pints...not bad for a morning's effort.

Those had to process for 30 minutes. While I was waiting, I finished up the binding on the Seating for Two quilt. And that makes this a finish! Yay!

Here's how it looks from the back.

I tried first to take a picture in natural light...a rare opportunity in the rainy Pacific Northwest. In the end, I took it inside to photograph. Smitty and I agreed.

The sun is too bright, Mom. This isn't good for fabric, skin, or fur.

He did enjoy hanging out with his shadow self, however.

When the beets were finished, I made some Zucchini Garden Pepper Relish. My yield was four pints for this, but I have enough to make another batch tomorrow.

By then, it was time to make dinner. I used up some of the random vegetables from this week's CSA share, including the green beans, some of the potatoes, some of the garlic, and some of the gallons upon gallons of veggie stock I've made over the past two seasons. This is Giada DeLaurentiis' Hearty Meatball Stew. I make it just like Giada does, but I add three tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce when I add the broth. It adds some needed flavor.

And now I'm sitting here writing my "letter to friends" to all of you! I worried that I wouldn't get here today. Like I said, it's been a busy day.

Tomorrow will be busy too. I'm going to make another batch of zucchini relish, and I'm also going to finish off the Calico Sweet Pickle Relish. I haven't made that for quite a long time. It's not unlike the zucchini relish, but it's made with cucumbers, and it's just a little different. So there's that, and I'll also need to pit some cherries and get the pie in the oven.

The only other thing I'm hoping to accomplish tomorrow is to get Block #11 made up for the Bee-utiful Quilt-A-Long. So far, I'm keeping up.