My parents are in town visiting this weekend, so I don’t have time to elaborately describe what’s going on in the Midtown Farmers’ Market this week—we’re just too busy enjoying the sights of Minneapolis! But that doesn’t mean I didn’t have time to go, and bring back a pretty impressive haul.

With the hot weather we’ve been having this past week, tomatoes are finally ripe. Like crazy. I bought some delicious golden cherry tomatoes and assorted heirloom tomatoes from Honey Creek Farm (as well as some romas from another vendor). As great as tomatoes are, I was much more excited by another vegetable on offer from Honey Creek: fresh edamame. The farmer said he and his friends was tired of eating the frozen ones so they decided to grow them, and luckily they were willing to share their good fortune. Boiled for two minutes and popped out of the shell into your mouth, these are green candy.

It was also nice to see okra, much larger than the stuff you can sometimes find in the supermarket. I expect to pickle some of this because I love pickled okra (the spicier the better), and some might find its way into a curry. Maybe I’ll make gumbo.

Many of the things I bought — cucumbers, tomatoes, radishes, broccoli, green onions, basil — have been around for weeks and are more or less what you would expect this time of year — not that that makes them any less delicious. The fun part are the surprises — the edamame and the okra — these are what keep my weekly trips to the farmers’ market in late summer so exciting.

Saturday morning I headed to the Midtown Farmer’s Market for the second time of the year. Unfortunately, last week’s prayers for asparagus went unanswered; still no fresh fruits or veggies anywhere to be seen. According to their website, I shouldn’t expect fresh vegetables until the end of May. 

But just because there aren’t any vegetables doesn’t mean you can’t have fun at the farmers’ market! For one thing, there are delicious tamales and excellent coffee from Fireroast Mountain Cafe. Tamales and coffee is one of my favorite breakfasts; the spice of a tamal seems to make the coffee taste even stronger. All so burny and delicious. As is my habit, I opted for pork.

With no fresh vegetables in sight I was pretty sure breakfast was going to be the only thing I got out of the trip to the market, but as we were leaving one of the vendors of pickled goods caught our attention with the promise of free samples. And that is how we got to know Martha’s (a different Martha) Joy homemade pickles—asparagus, beets and okra. A note to vendors: if you get me to try a free sample, I am pretty much guaranteed to buy something from you, possibly out of a sense of guilt or to avoid offense. In this case, I really thought the pickles were good and picked up a jar of hot pickled okra. And Martha got to meet Martha!