Purple Sweet Potatoes!

I just found this post in my Drafts folder. I wrote it way back on March 3, 2015 and I swear I thought it posted on that day! Sorry for the delay. I'm only posting it now because my next post refers back to these potatoes mentioned.
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We gave up waiting for the snow and ice to defrost and release our cars from the hold they've had on them since January and took a cab to the chain grocery store this past weekend. Oh, it was so nice to see fresh - really fresh - produce again!

I spent over a half hour roaming the produce aisle, sniffing at apples and oranges, turning over tomatoes, groaning at green and black bananas, shaking my head at the empty areas where things like celery and cabbage should have been, shaking off bugs, real and imaginary, off the kale. (sigh) I know I promised not to diss this store's produce department after seeing what the local mom and pop store sells, but this was ridiculous! I really need to find a better store! Even Walmart has better produce than this store, even though they have a smaller selection and it's probably the only store in NJ that doesn't have organic produce.

But one section I was happily surprised at were the potatoes. I was able to grab 2 bags (only 3 pounds each) of Yukon Gold, a few sweet potatoes, and to my surprise, purple sweet potatoes! The sign called them Japanese Sweet Potatoes, but the sticker said they're Stokes (TM) Purple Sweet Potatoes. They cost almost $3 a pound, but I didn't care at that point.


That day I washed off a few and baked them up to have with lunch. It was only a bag of Bird's Eye mixed vegetables, but with those cut up potatoes in the bowl and a drizzle Chef AJ's new Ultimate Sauce, it was heavenly!

I'm having the last of them with today's lunch, and have no idea when I'll be back at the store, since our cars are still locked in ice and the prediction is for 3 more inches of snow today, some rain changing to sleet tomorrow, and another 3 inches of snow and temps in the 20's Thursday.

I really hate this winter!

THIS Is a "Farmer's Market"??

Our mayor sent emails out the other day telling us that the "farmer's market" they ran last year will be returning May 22nd. I went once last year. Here are the vendors that will be under the handful of tents:

Vendors: (name retracted) Farms, (name retracted) Farms, (name retracted) Farms (This one is a privately owned HFS and not a farm, just a few miles from us, less than a half mile from downtown Manhattan), Gourmet Dried Fruits and Nuts (roasted, salted, candy-coated nuts), Dr. Pickle (sells only those old fashioned dill pickles out of a barrel), Lizzmonade (soft drink/lemonaid vendor), Baker's Bounty (cakes, cupcakes, muffins, cokies, etc.), Paolo's Kitchen (ditto), Green Acres Gourmet Cookie and Muffin Mixes, Excalibur Knife Sharpening, Happy Faces Face Painting, Sparties Mobile Spa, Corny Roasters Fresh Roasted Corn (popcorn, not on-the-cob), The Empanada Lady, Aurora Naturals (cosmetics).

Last year, one of the farms had some moldy looking non-organic produce, the other sold cut flowers. The HFS table had supplements and drink mixes. Since these are the same vendors as last year, I guess I won't be going again this year, either.

This same "farmer's market" group travels to 2 different cities every weekday, so 10 cities 5 days a week, spending 4 hours at each site. We get it on Thursday afternoons. By the time it gets to us, all the good stuff is gone from the only farm-grown produce vendor, leaving us with the moldy and bruised dregs. I visited them one afternoon in another city and it was just as bad as when in my own. None of the morning visited cities is close enough or has parking near the empty lot they set up on so IDK if the one food farm's produce is any better that time of day.

Is this what "farmers markets" are like everywhere, or just here in urban NJ? 

This is just another reason why I prefer to buy my produce frozen.