Charleston Farmers Market

Last summer one of my favorite things to do was stop by the Lexington Farmers Market on Wednesday mornings. Well, as much as I love and miss Virginia and the Lexington area, I'm sorry to say that the Charleston Farmers Market has them beat!

A couple weeks ago we thought we' head down to the peninsula to check out the market on the first day of the season--we had no idea what we were in for! There were fantastic vendors with great produce, a homemade soda stand (we tried the grapefruit + elderberry), lots of homemade pickles and salsas, musicians playing, bouncy castles and pony rides for the kids, and delish food stands for lunch. It was like a little mini festival!

That pink castle-esque building in the background used to be the old Citadel but is now an Embassy Suites!

 Gyros--be still, my heart!

 And a meal isn't complete without a Nutella and toasted coconut crepe for dessert!

 Oh, annnnd we also pigged out on some sweet and salty kettle corn

love that Charleston architecture

We walked away with full bellies and a full bag of tomatoes for homemade pasta sauce, corn, peppers,  a great cacao nib steak rub, and some beautiful beets (which neither of us had ever tried) which we used to make beet and goat cheese paninis later that week. A simple shopping trip for vegetables turned out to be one of the best dates Joey and I have had. I suppose this southern city is growing on me ;)

A Spontaneous Easter Breakfast

Joey and I love easter egg dying but unfortunately we both hate eating hard boiled eggs, and I just couldn't justify wasting eggs just to dye them. So we decided to skip that tradition this year.

However this morning we had a little extra time to make homemade pancakes for breakfast, and we figured--Hey! We're already eating gluten, why not toss in a little artificial food coloring too and make easter pancakes!

I will say that we loved these pancakes the most of any batch we've made--maybe it was swapping the vegetable oil and milk for coconut oil and almond milk--delish!

And of course, just a little snuggle time with the fur balls before heading off to work.

So, lets talk about that mustache.

For those wondering where on earth that came from---Joey's class at power school is now the senior class and the next one to graduate (hooray!), and its tradition that the senior class grows a mustache---called a "comp-stache"---until they take their comprehensive final just prior to graduating. And you can trust me when I say that he wouldn't be growing it if it wasn't for the tradition. He's one week in and so far he's not too fond of it!

Something Cool Happened

I woke up yesterday morning slightly anticipating a less than enjoyable day.

However, even the smallest, perhaps insignificant thing can turn a day around.

Yesterday, that thing was walking over to our bedroom window to water my little starter pots of strawberries and poppies, and seeing these four fragile yet enthusiastic little sprouts!

You guys. I am the worst at growing things. Truly. The worst.

In college I was always trying to grow something--herbs, flowers, anything green really--but was never successful. One summer my old art professor asked if I would take care of his plants in the art studio while he was on vacation, and I'm pretty confident I brought them all close to the brink of death. Last summer, I was given an adorable strawberry plant and, despite my best efforts, it quickly withered away into a shriveled, brittle mess. A couple months ago, I decided to get a small house plant after reading that having a living plant in the home to nourish can be therapeutic. But again, in spite of my truest attempt to keep it alive, it too suffered a quick death. 

And believe it or not, having your life-plant-that's-supposed-to-make-you-feel-better-about-not-being-pregnant die, is not, in fact, therapeutic!

With the threat of failure looming over my head, I stubbornly decided that once again I would try to grow something. Come hell or high water, this would be the year that I finally grow something!

So, you can imagine my delight when I looked in the pot and saw four wee sprouts greeting me with their delicate little leaves having popped up overnight! With this discovery, and the fact that I created a new gluten and dairy free soup recipe yesterday as well, I was feeling pretty successful, creative, and darn it--I felt proud of myself, for the first time in quite a while.

Let's just pray that I can keep this little guy going and end up with some beautiful poppies for the rest of spring!