Radishes, Dogs, Skateboards, and Kid Packs Oh My!

Radishes, Dogs, Skateboards and Kid Packs all on a summer's morn.  I went to town to visit the Farmers Market and pick up a few things before I head off to Portland.  The list you see, are some of the things that jumped out at me during the round trip or was walking home from the gas station.

The Farmers Market opened at 11 and I was at the Mexican place getting a bunch of home made chile and cheese tamales.  I picked up some extra to take with me so I'd have something good for breakfast.  As I wondered around the market, I noticed a booth with a chef from the Pump House Restaurant showing how to use local produce showing what can be used from the vegetables.

  The two ingredients they focused on today - radishes and scallions.  Did you know the leaves of the radish are edible?  I didn't know that at all.  it totally surprised me because I've always seen people throw the leaves in the compost pile.

According to the chef's there, radish greens are a spicy just like arugula and its advised you take the spine out just like you do for kale.  Radish greens can be used in any recipe calling for greens.  So next week, I'm going to try cooking with radish greens.

The other thing is that you can cook with radishes.  You don't even have to peel them, just wash the radish, chop, up and cook in soups or anything else you want.  I've used radish in kimchi but never in much of anything else.  I'm going to look into all the ways I can cook with radishes.

Then while strolling through the Farmers Market I ran across this mom with her child in a protected backpack.  I've seen backpacks for carrying your child but not one as fancy and protective as this!

The carrier has a built in umbrella to shade the child and a surrounding screen to keep all the bugs and mosquitoes off  There is a little opening for the child's face.  I have never seen anything like that.  She told me she got it from R.E.I. that morning!  The child looked quite happy and comfortable in it.

When I had kids, we kept them on our hips, used tons of sunscreen, and hoped we could keep their hats on.  This keeps her hands free so she can shop and it does not throw her hips out of whack due to having the child sit on one hip all the time.

  On the way home, between the old garage and the top of the hill, there was a guy on a skateboard working his way towards town.  He'd give his board a couple strokes so it moved forward while at the same time he was sweeping the bike path clear.  He'd brush to the left and then to the right repeating the process as he rolled down the path.  It was kind of cute and something new.

The last encounter took place between the gas station and the fire station.  I was walking along and from behind me came a dog, maybe a Labrador, carrying something wrapped in plastic followed by his owner on a bike.  Turns out they regularly bike from their house to the gas station to pick up something so both get exercise.

I sped up, he slowed down  so we could talk about things in general.  At one point the dog trotted off to get a drink of water from a puddle of water.  he dropped the package in the water, drank, picked it up and trotted off again.  This was the reason, the owner always had his purchases wrapped in a plastic bag.

We even talked about the distillery in terms of can you call something a rum if it doesn't have sugar cane but uses barley instead.  He said he thought about making single malt from the barley but wasn't sure you could still call it scotch.  About then he peeled off and I continued another two blocks to home.

It was a cool day and lots of fun.