things to do: hill east farmers market

Last Wednesday after work, Tony and I stopped at a new farmers market in Hill East -- 13th Street and E Street Southeast. For anyone who works or lives on the Hill, it's a nice spot to grab fresh mid-week produce, and it runs until 7 p.m.

For the novelty of it, I bought some golden beets.

Here's what I did: I scrubbed them, wrapped them in foil with a little bit of olive oil, roasted them in the oven at 400 for an hour, let them cool, and rubbed the skins off. I sliced them for Tony's salad last night. He says the taste is indiscernible from red beets. They're pretty to look at, though. (I'm an admittedly picky eater and didn't try them. Can't bring myself to eat beets.)

I also bought some farm eggs, and this label cracked me up. "From hens running free indoors and out." At first I thought these people let their chickens into their house. Tony set me straight -- "indoors" clearly refers to their coop.

And some nice corn.

Which was pesticide-free corn. Which means a few of the ears I picked up had little worms munching away.

<3

In other farmers market news, I got a cool white eggplant at the H Street market Saturday morning. Again, for the novelty of it. I made eggplant parmesan, and Tony and I really couldn't tell the difference between the taste of white eggplant and purple.

recipe: scrambled eggs

I scored some farm eggs at the farmers' market yesterday afternoon, and I decided that was the perfect reason to have breakfast for dinner. These eggs are from Haskins Family Farm in Middletown, Va., which is west of Washington. The lady who sold me the eggs said they were all laid in the past three days. In addition to be quite tasty, they come in various sizes and colors (including blue!) -- how fun is that.

Tony grew up with chickens, and he just informed me that in the late 1990s he earned first place in the Lorain County Fair for chicken showmanship. He said these eggs took him back to the days when he'd start his mornings checking the nesting boxes for eggs.

I learned to make scrambled eggs from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. This quite possibly is the easiest recipe in this cookbook. And these are, hands down, the best scrambled eggs I've ever had. (Sorry, Mom!) Julia figured out the precise amount of liquid you must add to scrambled eggs to make them fluffy.

Scrambled Eggs 

Beat the eggs in a bowl with 1/2 teaspoon water or milk per egg. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Smear the bottom of a nonstick frying pan with butter or margarine, and heat to medium-low. Pour in the eggs, and stir constantly with a rubber spatula until the eggs set.