Piggies Went to Market

Winter Park Farmers Market

The girls and I wolfed down some breakfast (Clifford the Big Red Dog-o's, Bananas and Oatmeal) and got out of the house early (10:45!) so Mama Victoria could get some well needed rest. Our favorite nighttime nursery nurse needed to recharge her batteries after another 12 hour shift. Although disappointed we weren’t going to “Mickey Mouse House” again, Lillie was motivated by the promise of a giant sprinkle cookie.

Visions of blogdom filled my head all night so I was a little groggy and in need of some inspiration. I figured a farmers market and the ever popular Whole Foods would do the trick and get this blog off on the right foot.

We headed out from Clermont and the 45 minute drive took no time at all thanks to I Spy...

Lillie: I spy with my little eye.....something white!

Me: Is it the clouds?

Lillie: Nooooooo.

Me: What about the lines on the road?

Lillie: Noooooo. Try again.

Me: I don't see anything else white.

Lillie: Keep looking!

We parked by Hot Olives and burned umbrella stroller rubber towards the market. Halfway there, Lillie found the LOWEST Lowrider ever, so we had to stop for a photo opp.

more cowbell, please!

The farmer's market was filled with exotic plants, gourmet foods and organic offerings. "Aromas and laughter filled the air."

organic vegetables are hilarious!

We crunched on some fresh kettlecorn and invested in some spicy Tupelo honey from Winter Park Honey. Van Morrison would be proud. The samples came on little popsicle sticks and Lillie couldn't get enough of them. She probably tasted 15 out of the 20 local honey varietals. Her favorite was Key Lime.

"Shes as sweet as tupelo honey
Just like honey from the bee" - Van Morrisson

Next stop was Pappardelle's Homemade Pasta stand. Their handmade pasta selection was too fun to pass up. After careful deliberation, we selected the Pacific Rim blend, Harvest orzo and the Yellow Bell Pepper pappardelle - check the website for all their imaginative flavor combinations.

Pappardelle's Homemade Pasta stand

Tiffany was kind enough to let Lillie and I try the Dark Chocolate linguini and she was totally fine with me taking a million pictures of the pasta for the new blog including this one of their fruit medley. It smelled remarkably like Fruity Pebbles.

Silly Rabbit! Pasta's for kids!

By now we were melting in the sun, so we grabbed as many fruits and veggies we could carry and scampered back to the air conditioned haven in the Highlander. Sadie's little hat was stuck to her head by the time she hit the carseat.

Goodbye Market!

Now it was time to head over to Whole Foods for some climate controlled food appreciation. On our way in, Lillie pointed out the birds nest in the letter A. Nice catch!

Today's Blog is brought to you by the letter A

It seemed like a good time to get the camera out and take some blogworthy food photos. After we secured a mini-shopping cart for Lillie, it was time to camp out in the produce section.

heirloom tomatoes

20 pictures later...

Apparently, you can't take pictures in Whole Foods. Not even of pomegranates! Here is how the confrontation went down...

Manager: Sir?

Me: (trying to squeeze out one more picture of stacked fruit for the blog)

Manager: Excuse me, sir.

Me: (stupid Sony Handycam crappy autofocus taking forever, hurry!)

Manager: Sir!

Me: (flash!snap!) Hi!

Manager: You can't take any pictures in the store, sir.

Me: Not even of the fruit?

Manager: Unfortunately, if we let one person take a picture in the store, we would have to let everyone. Its a slippery slope. Sorry.

Me: Slippery slope?

This is the last known picture ever taken inside a Whole Foods. It was worth it.

top secret pomegranates

We reluctantly put the camera away and they left us alone to taste cheeses, granola and baba ganoush. Sadie was starving (as usual) so the samples on each aisle came in handy!

We filled up Lillie's "shopper in training" minicart with two stunner tomatoes (7 bucks!), some butternut squash bisque for Sadie, golden beets, samplings from the olive bar, strawberry lemon seltzer water and the biggest sprinkle cookie Lillie had ever seen.

I even picked out a nice fruity beer for Victoria. Peach German fancyWeiss something or other. She will love it.

Magic Hat #9, eat your heart out!

All that was left to do was hop back into the car and head home (while eating the coveted Sprinkle cookie.) "that was one good cookie, Daddypie." Halfway there, we hit up the roadside shrimp stand

shrimp scampi. shrimp gumbo. fried shrimp. coconut shrimp. shrimp sandwich...

and grabbed 3 pounds of huge gulf prawns and a pint of fragrant plums from Pauleen. I was short a few dollars so she told me to bring it by next time. "Mahma take care uv yuh." I think she suffering from heat stroke! What a day!

stop looking at me!