Mmm... a girls day out

This morning my best friend and I went to the Austin Farmer's Market. The day was perfect - warm and breezy, sunny and bright. I bought the most interesting things - tomatoes and strawberry habanero jam, asparagus and onions and epazote, red bell peppers and a flat of blackberries. There were stuffed grape leaves and breakfast tacos. We smelled honey flavored soap and tasted the most amazing goat cheese blends. There were the most clever hand-held quiches and bourbon spiced pecans and eggs from Easter egg chickens.

And then there were the dogs - Oh, lord, y'all. Boxers and basset hounds and cocker spaniels. There was a black lab and this shaved long-haired rat dog. We sat and talked to the basset hound owner - he had two, a *traditional* basset (all ears and stubby legs) and then a mountain basset that looked a long more like a hound than a basset, but the feet?

Good lord.

We bought pecan tarts, carrots, lemon pineapple pound cake, new potatoes, jalapenos, cucumber-dill-onion goat cheese, baguettes and the prettiest white onions on earth. We bought cherry preserve and agave salsa and guajillo peppers.

Then we brought all of it (and canning jars, sugar, pectin and a tortilla press) home.

So, first we made jelly - 12 jars of blackberry and 8 jars of strawberry.



The picture in the bowl is the blackberry up close and personal. Sweet and tart and bright and...

Summer.







Then there's the baguette with goat cheese. This cheese exploded with flavor - mild and creamy, but somehow rich and just the slightest bit sweet.



Then we broke out the masa and did the tortilla thing. Oh, man. The smell of fresh masa is enough to make me teary. Add to that the chiles roasting and the limes and the chicken? I'm in heaven. We made the sauce from the guajillo chiles, the asadero cheese added the perfect touch to the top, along with the sweet onion. Then there was a romaine and watercress and jicama salad with a jalapeno and lime dressing. Add a quick guac and a salsa cruda? We were set.






All that was good.

The best?

Look what my teenager made for me while I was out and about!!

EEEEeeeeeee!!!