Fresh off the farm

I'm less than patiently waiting for the April 2 opening of the Penn Quarter farmers market so I can walk over and find awesome produce and cool farmers-markety kinds of things. Somewhat sadly, it's only open on Thursdays from 3-7 PM, so I'm guessing I'll shift my walk home from work and make that a stop on the way. I kinda miss my weekend-friendly Dallas farmers market that was just as close as this one will be. Anyway, as a substitute, this morning I hopped on the metro for a quick three-stop ride to Dupont Circle - the farmers market there is open year-round, hooray! After a stop at Starbucks to caffeinate myself (after all, I did get shorted an hour of sleep last night - ugh), I headed over to the tents and tables to check out the offerings. There was quite an assortment of vendors - the mushroom ladies, creameries (cheese samples!!), random folks frying up crab cakes and empanadas, buckets o' flowers galore, purveyors of fine meat products (I was tempted by the chipotle buffalo sausage...maybe next time), bakeries, and of course the fruit and veggie gang. I felt like the selection in the fruit and veggie world was actually a little lacking, but maybe I got there a little late and missed out on the good stuff. Not wanting to weigh myself down too much or spend an obscene amount of money on fresh things I won't manage to eat before they go bad, I kept it small and went with some apples, pears, and a loaf of rosemary focaccia bread. Hopefully the healthiness of the fruit intake will offset some of the non-nutrient-bearing white flour that went into making that delicious bread. Inspired by the mild temperature and generally gorgeous day, I brought home my goods and made myself a rooftop picnic. Sliced up an apple and pear, grabbed a little chunk of cheese, ripped off a piece of bread, called it lunch, and sat up on the roofdeck for an hour while I read. Oh, you know, with a lovely view of the Capitol. Not bad for a Sunday afternoon.