Kosciusko County Farmers Market

 We are forecast to have rain today but so far it has held off. That meant a dry time at the Kosciusko County Farmers and Artisan Market downtown in Warsaw.

I found a parking spot about a block from the booths. I did sit down twice (midway through my shopping, and on a bench near the courthouse before making the trek to the car). I wish there were more produce vendors and not so many non-food vendors. I did buy some flowers though so I was glad there were people selling them.

I bought some small yellow tomatoes. The red tomatoes in the bowl are what remain from the delicious sweet tomatoes my husband's sister gave us. I bought a large tomato to slice for our bacon and tomato sandwich.

A small package of snickerdoodle cookies for me and a few peanut butter cookies for my husband. He is not a fan of snickerdoodle, yet he chose to eat one at lunch even though I had both packets on the table. 

Yesterday I picked up from Lutheran Kosciusko Hospital (it has been renamed from Kosciusko Community Hospital) a disc containing the images from my MRI. The doctor who will be doing the nerve root blocks asked that I bring copies on film or on a disc on August 23rd. I have a list of my meds on a card I keep in my wallet, but I think I will type up a list they can keep. However, Physical Medicine Consultants do have a list as this is the place I had the electrodiagnostic testing, and meds were a part of the voluminous paperwork I had to fill out. 

There was an article in the local newspaper about the arrests of two people wanted on murder charges. The address where they were picked up is just about a block over from me on Wooster Road. The man and woman were fugitives from Indianapolis. Not the brightest people. They were recorded on a doorbell camera at the house where they thought there was lots of money, including the actual shooting. Then when they were in the house they discovered the elderly father of the victim. They stole his cell phone. The phone was not turned off and tracked them at several locations including where they were staying in Winona Lake. They have been returned to Indianapolis to wait in jail until all of the procedures are followed.

An easy supper tonight: leftover Southwest chicken to be microwaved. I will make a lettuce salad with yellow and red tomatoes. For dessert I will nuke the leftover blueberry sauce and serve the sauce over lemon pudding in the little glass "sherbet" cups that belonged to my mother-in-law. 

I didn't sleep too well last night. Don't know if the nap will come before or after playing Wordle. The way I feel right now I think it will be pre-Wordle.

Autumn Weekend

 Yesterday I visited the Kosciusko County Farmers' Market. I purchased some zinnias, cookies, and small tomatoes.

So far these zinnia stems have stayed straight, no bending like that one batch I bought earlier this summer. There were fewer vendors than during my last visit. The market supposedly runs through October so I was a bit surprised to see half a dozen absent. 

I had taken my blue Grace Village tote bag to carry my purchases. When I arrived at the tomato booth and went to put them away, I realized I no longer had the bag. I walked back to the zinnia booth and there it lay partway under the table where I had dropped it. Thanks be to God that it was still there for me to retrieve. 

It was cooler yesterday so I made soup for lunch. We enjoyed slices of La Brea Bakery Sunflower Honey bread and finished up with one cookie each.

Today we headed directly from church south on Country Club Road which took us to Indiana Highway 14. There we turned east toward Fort Wayne. My husband has been wanting to try Salvatori's restaurant on Illinois Road (Hwy 14). There isn't much fall foliage yet in our part of Indiana, but it was a pleasant drive. 

The menu displayed two prices. When I asked the waitress she said the less expensive price was for a half portion. I only ate half of my serving and I was full. I can't imagine what a whole portion looks like. We asked for take-home boxes. 

My food (ziti and a side salad) was good, but I don't know that I would drive so far to eat there. If I were in the area, then yes I would stop.

I have started to put out autumn decorations in my house. When I finish doing that this week, I will share with you, especially the new pillow covers I bought. 

We are entering my favorite season of the year. I look forward to the colorful changes.

Warsaw Farmers' Market

 This morning I went to the Kosciusko County Farmers' Market in Warsaw. I was pleased to see more vendors than when I was there earlier in the summer, but still disappointed that the produce vendors were small in number. Below you can see my purchases.

We already sampled the oatmeal cookies with chocolate chips at lunch. Still waiting for us are our snickerdoodles. I plan to grate the large zucchini to freeze for baking bread in the next few months.

The pink earrings do not go as well with my wardrobe as I had anticipated; I can use them with a few items though. 

These zinnias are not drooping at all like my last batch. Relieved. 

Living with change can be hard. Of course we all are having to deal with the pandemic.

We learned this past week that our dentist has fully retired. The last we had heard he was semi-retired. The dentist that bought out his practice leaves me wanting more. We will probably have to look for a new dentist after a decade of using the same one.

We also learned that our advisor at Vanguard has abruptly left the company. We have been assigned a new advisor who hopefully will be able to look at the work done by the previous one to get up to speed. We plan to have a phone meeting sometime in the next month to become acquainted. We are pretty low maintenance having a meeting every 6 months in the past two years. We do want him to understand our priorities, however. 

The shorter hours of daylight are starting. My personal days on earth are growing shorter too. One of our neighbors died of COVID this past Sunday. Reminders that we are on the ending side and not the beginning side of our lives. 

Summertime

I am so glad that we have a local farmers market. This morning I bought Ambrosia sweet corn and an assortment of small tomatoes.

It will be interesting to see how these different varieties taste.

A dish that we tried earlier this week is shrimp taco salad which also is enhanced by the bounty of summer.

3 ears fresh corn, shucked
2 med. zucchini, thinly sliced on an angle
1 avocado, thinly sliced
1 lb. shelled deveined large shrimp (16 to 20 count)—I used thawed-out frozen ones as they were on sale.
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 Tbsp. fresh lime juice (2 limes)
1 tsp. cayenne pepper sauce
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. ground coriander
1 avocado, thinly sliced
2 cups (1/2-inch pieces) watermelon chunks
3/4 cup crushed corn chips (such as fritos)
1 cup fresh cilantro leaves


Prepare grill for direct grilling on medium.
Grill corn 8 to 10 minutes or until slightly charred and tender, turning over once halfway thru cooking. Grill shrimp 2 to 4 minutes or until opaque throughout, turning once halfway thru.
In a small bowl, whisk together oil, lime juice, pepper sauce, cumin, coriander, and 1/4 tsp. salt.
Cut kernels off ears of corn. Arrange zucchini and avocado on platter closest to edge, alternating.
In center of plate put corn, shrimp, and watermelon. Salad can be made ahead to this point and refrigerated, covered, up to 4 hours.
To serve, sprinkle with corn chip crumbs and drizzle with dressing. Top with cilantro.

Makes 4 servings