Monday rainy day at the farmer's market!
My morning was nice and rainy and leisurely---reading on the porch while the kitty played in the rain, drinking too too much guatamalan antigua coffee, taking care of a backlog of catering related emails, having a nice warm shower with the shower mood light on and getting dressed to go take care of my admin duties at the storm.
I had to do the weekend sales reports and deposits, and payroll. It's so strange to realize how my mind has shifted focus since I've been out of the corporate world and into the culinary one---these financial tasks were very small potatoes compared to the stuff I dealt with on a daily basis when I was running a million dollar college bookstore, but I've been out da game for long enough that I was all nervous and tentative. Once I got the hang of it though, I remembered again how much I LOVE doing sales reports. Counting money. Especially doing 10key check tallies, though we never get more than three checks on any given day at the storm so that particular love goes unfulfilled. I did my tasks and went to the bank, and then on my way to the bus stop after going to the bank I walked right in to a drug bust! Right there on Winebiddle street, as I was crossing an unmarked car with two undercover detectives drove up, and jumped out and handcuffed the guy standing on the corner. They were emptying his pockets and back-up was driving up as I walked by. It made me uneasy, as I kept expecting some gangstas to drive up and start shooting, because let's face it---people are getting shot everywhere in Pittsburgh these days. I really don't like to live my life in fear of random violence, but there's been so much of it lately that I can't help it.
Anyway, after that anxious wait at the bus stop, the 86B rolled up finally and I took a ride to the farmer's market. Despite the overcast and intermittently rainy day, a lot of the farmers showed up. My strapping young farmhand was there with three young lady helpers, and all the booths were extra busy because some of the usual folks had not shown up due to the rain. My favorite fruit seller was there and I got some delicious peaches, my favorite nice organic farmer sold me garlic, cilantro, and tomatillos, my favorite cranky organic farmer sold me eggs, and I got scallions and some beautiful parsley from one of the lovely young ladies. I took some pictures at the market, including a sneaky one of farmhand boy. You can almost tell how incredibly gorgeous he is from this picture. Next week I'll try to get a better one, hopefully with the actual digital camera instead of the camera phone.
Today's tasks are getting the office together, making a plan for the catering for the next wedding, and getting the digital up and running. AND mailing a package to J*, as long as the rain lets up for long enough to walk to the post office. Which means I'll probably stop for a hot dog since I'll be right there....
I've also got tabouli to make, and I might try to see if I can figure out how to make pita bread. I'm sure one of my hippie cookbooks has to have a pita bread recipe, right?