This weekend, my SURP pals and I checked out the Union Square Farmer’s Market! We were all very impressed, and plan to return at least weekly.
I’ve always enjoyed going to the St. Paul farmer’s market with my mom – both for the fun environment, and the deliciously fresh produce. Thus, I would consider myself a fairly experienced farmer’s market shopper, but the Union Square Greenmarket did not disappoint! It had quite the variety of products – fruits like apples and strawberries, every kind of vegetable, herb, and plant imaginable, as well as numerous breads, pastries, and cheese stands. There was even a stand exclusively dedicated to lavender! That was obviously pretty exciting.
Besides offering a wide variety, the farmer’s market was actually quite cheap – at least compared to NYC grocery stores! As students on a budget, I’m not sure we’d shop there much otherwise. Honestly, I was pretty sad I’d purchased spinach at a grocery store earlier in the week, because they had beautiful-looking baby spinach for $5 a POUND! And not even as in you had to buy a full pound, you pick the amount – a friend of mine bought a big bunch of spinach for 70¢! Needless to say, I will be returning when I finish my current spinach. Conveniently, the market’s open Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, although the weekday selection is slightly less extensive than Saturday’s.
One of my favorite things about the farmer’s market – especially this one – is all the free samples! Our little troupe sampled several kinds of cheese, including an incredible honey lavender chèvre, several kinds of pesto, several kinds of jam, and popcorn. I purchased a refreshing cup of apple cider and a delicious morning glory muffin as a snack, as well as some mozzarella and tomatoes to make the caprese salad in my last post. This market is also where I bought Clyde, my basil plant! I’d planning to get a basil plant when I arrived in NY, and to name it Clyde, since earlier this spring, so I was pretty excited to find such a nice selection of plants at the market. Economically, Clyde was just perfect! I hadn’t thought about stocking up on cash before I came to the market, and after making my other purchases, I had only $3 left. I really wanted to get my basil plant, and I was worried it might not be enough. The plants didn’t have prices on them, so I asked one of the guys behind the counter how much the basil plants were, and what did he say, but $3 exactly! I left cash-poor but happy.
My friends also got some pretty great deals – a bunch of radishes, some spinach, and two onions, all for $4, a 5-Ib bag of apples for $3, and some utterly beautiful challah bread. Overall, it was quite the successful morning!
The following morning, Sunday, we all used our farmer’s market purchases to make breakfast. Two of my pals made some pretty beautiful-looking challah french toast, and I made myself a delicious egg scramble.
After drizzling a little olive oil in the bottom of a pan, I put in the last of my spinach, and added some chopped tomato, a few of Clyde’s basil leaves, and one egg. I scrambled it all up and enjoyed, readying myself for another weekend day of NYC exploring!
Leave a Reply