During the camp season, I get ONE day off and only one (ok, some years its 2). This year, my one day off for the 4th of July holiday was today! How did I spend said day off?
Let’s see… I slept in until *gasp* 8:00 a.m! It was the first morning since school let out that I didn’t wake up with a stuffy nose and/or sore throat, so that put a great tone on my day. I wrote my post about last night (Congrats again Adam!), and then headed out to my local farmers’ market.
I’ve lived in this area almost 3 years, and I’d never been! The main reason? Well, it’s only on Friday mornings! I’m so rarely off on Friday mornings, so I took advantage. I’m so glad I did! It is a lovely, albeit small, market full of local produce, baked goods, flowers, and even dog treats! There were a lot of stands with this:
Only one with these lovely (and quite pricey!) Ranier cherries. They’re my sister’s favorite!
And a couple with these amazing red cherries. I ended up getting 2 pints of dark sweet cherries, and one pint of tart cherries for my mom.
I learned something while at the farmers market! There’s a winery in a suburb right near where I work! There was a very nice guy from the winery at the market, and he let me taste (at 10 a.m.!) a few of their wines and blends. I wanted to get something fun for our BBQ tomorrow, so I selected this delicious sangria:
Also, since I so rarely remember to do this for myself, I bought 3 beautiful bunches of gladiolas to have in the house. Fresh flowers make me happy! There were so many stems, I had to divide them between 2 vases… ok, one vase and one ginormous beer mug.
While I was trimming the stems on the flowers, I heard a ruckus outside near the mailbox. Since there’s a carnival going on down the street, there’s a lot of people around, so I went to check it out. The ruckus was the mail carrier! She was trying to get a small package into the box! What was it? Anyone recognize this?
I was so excited!!! It was a package of 6 of the most delicious and amazing raw macaroons from Gina!!!!!! I seriously couldn’t even wait to finish opening the rest of my mail before I tried one two.
Please ignore the freakishly long hand and pay attention to the gorgeous coconutty goodness! Thanks SO MUCH GINA!!!
The rest of the day (literally, from the time I ate the macaroon until we left for dinner) was spent cleaning the house. We rented a Rug Doctor and steam cleaned the carpets, vacuumed, cleaned the bathrooms, scrubbed the kitchen… it’s so nice to have a clean house! We were FAMISHED after the cleaning marathon, so we decided to have a traditional Sushi Friday!
We started with asparagus goma-ae. Usually, this is made with spinach, but this was a new menu item so we decided to try it. It was delicious, but we much prefer the spinach version. The 2 sauces are different colors of sesame seeds mixed with various other ingredients.
Adam decided to get hot food as opposed to sushi, so he got tonkatsu (a crispy pork cutlet) on top of Japanese style spaghetti. So beyond delicious!
I opted for sushi. I got a crazy roll (a huge roll with salmon, tuna, yellowtail, scallion, lettuce, avocado, cucumber, and masago fish eggs), a haru maki (a delicious crunchy spicy tuna roll), and Adam got a tamago (omelet on rice). Doesn’t that big roll look like my Blogroll button over there —> ????
The cleaning will continue this evening as we scrub the kitchen in preparation for the BBQ tomorrow! Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for a patriotic Cute Food Saturday!!! Have a great Friday night everyone!
Rainier cherries are my dad’s favourite, but you are right about them being pricey! Plus I find they are only out for a really short period of time.
That crazy roll is deifnitely crazy! It’s like sushi overload all in one roll.
Marianne´s last blog ..Hello Weekend!
YUM! I had to work today….but had something I was going to email you.
holly´s last blog ..End of an Era
Ahh Rainier cherries are my favorite! I love all cherries, though – I am envious of your trip to the Farmer’s Market! The flowers are gorgeous
Gina’s macaroons?! Those are dangerous to have in the house…but so worth it! You lucky girl!
And I love the sushi! We had sushi last night and it was fabulous. I could eat it every single day and be a happy camper (fitting since you work at a camp, no?)
Have a great BBQ!
Jenn (eating bender)´s last blog ..Reviews Galore? SoBe It.
Congrats to your guy
Farmers market, day off, and sushi…seriously, can’t think of anything better than that!!
Hallie´s last blog ..He Cooks, He Cleans!
why not take the kids to the market? They have to pay for the baseball games and parks right? maybe their parents would give them like 3 bucks to spend at the market…just a thought…no wine with them along though right? congrats on Adam figuring out what too do with his life/career it’s a hard thing to figure out
laura´s last blog ..Cobbler, Slump, Buckles, Grunts, Pandowdy and Crisp-An Expose on Summer Desserts
You had me at Sangria. And raw macaroons.
Have a great 4th…and don’t forget the scumscreen!
Sarah (LovIN My Tummy)´s last blog ..Thou Shall Not Judge
waking up healthy, the market, macaroons, sushi … too many good things! congrats on a brilliant day off, and happy 4th!
Sarah (Tales of Expansion)´s last blog ..Se celebra …
GINA’S MACAROONS!!! Yum!
I’m glad that you woke up feeling better! Those flowers are gorgeous
K´s last blog ..Born in the USA
Oh Mara, I just love your blog, it’s great! I’m new around here, so wanted to say hi.
Those macaroons look amazing!
Happy 4th!
~Linda
Fun times! I love cherries. My mother’s family owned a cherry orchard when she was younger. I wish they still did. Of course, my mother hates cherries because of the orchard.
Love the sushi too. The variety of tastes must have been like a party in your mouth
Alison´s last blog ..My Day Off
Markets are great but I usually find the smalller ones more expensive.
MACAROONS! Lucky you. And the sushi looks fab…
Krista´s last blog ..Another Week Gone
whoo hoo! so glad you liked the macaroons! <3
that sushi looks glooooorious
enjoy your day, friend!
[...] relaxation came after the other 4, and I gotta say, after the insane amount of cleaning we did Friday, then the unbelievable amount of cooking I did on Saturday, relaxation was what I needed. BUT, [...]