Strong winds and the occasional downpour didn’t dampen our spirits on the market’s opening day last week. About 350 of our friends had lunch with us and close to 1,000 came to celebrate the new season. We were very thankful for a roof over our heads and dry concrete below us.We have a special weekend starting today when Jack and Lee Ann Sours will play from 11 to 1 and lunch will be all-you-can-eat ham and beans, plus cornbread, brownies and drink for $6. You’ll find all this at the north end of the pavilion near our brand new cook house.
The market board bought the little house so we would have a clean, safe place to store all our cooking supplies. It’s also wonderfully handy for the cooking crews. Last Saturday, Joe Palmer of Fairhaven Gardens, installed a deck on the north end of the house for the barbecue grill. With the picnic tables nearby, it feels like a party.
Tomorrow is our annual day-before-Mother’s-Day market. We’re open from 9 to noon on Saturday and will have many of our regular vendors with produce, beef, chicken, lamb, honey, jams, jellies, and raw milk. There will be gifts for Mom, including flower-filled hanging baskets, handcrafted garden furniture and jewelry.
Saturday is also our Let’s Plant a Garden Day when every child receives a free tomato plant, fertilizer and instructions. We define “child” broadly – babe through college.
Ninth Hour, an almost local group that sings gospel and more, will perform between 9:30 and 11:30. The Carl Junction chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star will serve breakfast from 9 to 11. The menu includes biscuits and gravy, sausage, eggs to order, orange juice and coffee.
This will be our only Saturday in May because it’s still early in the growing season and hard to come up with enough produce for two days in a row regularly. However, by June the fields will be overflowing, so we’ll be open every Saturday from June 5 through September 25.
Our blog site has calendars for May and June with upcoming menus, music and non-profits scheduled for the benefit meals. Tuesday’s Cooking for a Cause became so popular with local non-profits last year, that we added the Saturday breakfast so we could accommodate more. That gave us 17 more fundraising opportunities and every last one of the Tuesday and Saturday dates is already booked for 2010. It’s a great way for local worthy causes to raise money and share their stories with the community.
Speaking of the blog, the market opened a Facebook page over the weekend. As of Thursday morning, we had 420 “friends” – very cool. We hope it will be a great way to let folks know what’s happening at the market. Which is not to say that you can’t keep in the loop the old fashioned way – right here in the Sentinel. Between blogging, twittering, f-book, web sites ... it’s easy to be overwhelmed by the internet. Thank goodness for the Sentinel – source of great photos and reliable community news. Three cheers for a Webb City treasure.
I did a tasty little recipe with Carol Parker on KSN last week. I’m not a huge fan of egg salad, but I really like the zing and texture of this dish.
And remember, do not use fresh eggs for boiling; they are a disaster when peeled. The membrane between the egg and the shell is tight to each when fresh, but releases from the shell over time. So use the new eggs for baking and breakfast dishes and save the older eggs for boiling.
Egg Salad with a spring twist
8 hard-boiled eggs, peeled
2 tablespoons prepared mustard
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 tablespoon chopped green onions
1 tablespoon radishes grated on large holes
salt and pepper to taste
Grate eggs on the large hole of the grater. Add other ingredients. Adjust to taste. Mustard and vinegar add tang.
Garnish with paprika or chopped parsley if desired.
Place on a bed of fresh greens and enjoy as a sandwich, cracker topping or lettuce wrap.
