Tag Archives: veggies

Saturday Morning at Phoenix Public Market

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Downtown Phoenix is full of wonderful surprises: little indie coffee shops, trendy boutiques, unexpected museums, ethnic food unlike any other, colorful splashes of street art… you get the idea. It’s not all chrome and glass like you see on the postcards. One of my favorite local attractions is the Phoenix Public Market that runs in the parking lot of Phoenix Public Market Cafe each Saturday from 8:00 am to noon. I first discovered this urban gem about four years, ago, when one of my best friends started working for one of the vendors. Since then, it’s been on my agenda during each of my rare free Saturdays! Last Saturday was one of those delightful days. Here’s what you can expect at Phoenix Public Market!

How to get to Phoenix Public Market

If you’re like me, you generally avoid both driving and parking in downtown Phoenix at all costs. It’s not that it’s a poorly designed city; on the contrary! The problem is that there are a ton of one-way streets and a shortage of free parking. Thankfully, getting to Phoenix Public Market is pretty easy! Here’s the address:

14 E Pierce St, Phoenix, AZ 85004

To get there from the West Valley, you need to take the I-17 South to the I-10 East. From the East Valley, get to the I-10 West. No matter where you’re coming from, go south on 7th Ave, then go east on Roosevelt, then go south again on N. Central. There is plenty of parking, even on a busy Saturday morning–thank goodness!

What you can get at Phoenix Public Market

Look who I got to go to the farmer’s market with!

Yep, that’s right! Alyssa and I were both med school wives in Saint Martin. When I said goodbye to her six months ago, I had no idea that I’d get to hang out with her in Arizona! She and her husband are spending a few months here between classes and clinicals, just like us. You can read about our island adventures exploring downtown Philipsburg and downtown Marigot in some of my earlier posts. I guess we just like hanging out together downtown.

We had a great time wandering through the many vendors at Phoenix Public Market, trying samples of ice cream and peppermint essential oils. The farmer’s market has everything you can imagine, as far as produce goes. I picked up some fresh organic Brussels sprouts, cucumbers, and tomatoes while we were there. Everything tastes better fresh!

It’s not all veggies at the Phoenix Public Market, through. There are also things like homemade cheese, fresh-baked goods, local honey, and ice cream. A chocolate chunk cookie was essential to our shopping day.

This weekend, the market with bursting with colorful blooms! Hit this corner of downtown in springtime, and you’re always bound to see plenty of flowers for sale.

We admired the handiwork from all the talented vendors. The farmer’s market is an awesome place to get turquoise jewelry, hand-carved wooden toys, and macrame. Both Alyssa and I loved these handmade macrame planters. Aren’t they awesome?

I loved listening to the live music in the market before we left. Outside the market, there are always plenty of food trucks. I’ve tried the acai bowls before, and they are delicious.

 

Phoenix Public Market Cafe

Of course, no trip to the Phoenix Public Market is complete without stopping at Phoenix Public Market Cafe. This is located right next door to the market, and it sources as much of its ingredients as possible from the market. Alyssa treated me to a cup of tea and we enjoyed chatting in the busy weekend atmosphere.

There’s a lot to do in downtown Phoenix, but if you’re in the area, why not make some time this weekend to enjoy a taste of the rural in this urban jungle? Actually, anywhere you are, it’s a great time to seek out some local produce! Go support your local growers and eat healthy. Love your community!

 

A Garden in the Desert

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Ironically, I had to go back to the desert to find the garden.

One strange thing about living on Saint Martin is the lack of cultivation. You’d think that a tropical paradise would be dripping with succulent fruit, but this one’s not. And I can’t try to grow anything myself, because the only dirt I can call my own in the soil in the dustpan.

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Early this morning, I landed in Phoenix, Arizona, where I grew up and where my family still lives. When the sun rose, my mom took me on a tour of her garden.

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I have never been able to coax more than a sad cactus to grow in the hard clay we Arizonans like to call dirt. My mom, however, has a true green thumb. She and my dad have conquered the bugs, rats, birds, hard soil, and lack of rain by building two beautiful raised gardens near their citrus trees.

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The sunflowers are recovering from a storm

The first raised garden is full of vegetables and a row of giant sunflowers. We picked some carrots and lettuce. Fresh carrots hold some many good memories for me. We planted them in our garden when I was small, and I remember feeding the root to my cousins’ horses and the greens to their rabbits. Horses thought carrots were treats, so I was convinced that they were basically candy.

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We enjoyed the fresh lettuce and tomatoes in our sandwiches at lunch. In Saint Martin, lettuce is expensive and goes bad more quickly than we can eat it. I never buy it, so it was a treat. Especially since it was fresh picked.

 

 

 

The flower garden is beautiful. Can you tell what my mom’s favorite colors are? She grows daisies, poppies, and other bright blossoms. The hollyhocks, sadly, did not decide to grace us with their presence this year.

Last but not least is the little orchard. My parents have an orange tree, a lemon tree, a grapefruit tree, and a tiny lime tree with one baby lime. They’ve recently planted a peach tree. They also have a strange lemon tree with an orange branch grafted in. The fruit looks like an orange but is bitter like a lemon. It makes interesting lemonade but is not very good eating. Citrus actually grows very well in Arizona. It’s one of the state’s five main sources of income, along with cattle, copper, cotton and Grand Canyon tourism.

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Here, in the middle of the desert, good and beautiful things grow. I left behind a land of lush greenery and little produce, and found myself in a dry place with much fruit.

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I think that our Christian lives are like that at times. Sometimes, we find ourselves in an oasis in life, but we discover that we bear very little fruit in that rich season. Then, we may find ourselves in a desert place. We don’t expect to find growth in our lives in those seasons, because they’re so dry. But when we look at ourselves and our lives, we suddenly realize that the very place that promised so little is the place that cultivated the most growth and fruit.

Are you in a dry season? Don’t slip into discouragement, dear friend. You may not realize what great things God is doing in your life until you come to the end of the wilderness.

 

“The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad;
the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus.”

-Isaiah 35:1

Foodie Tuesdays: Meaty Noodle Thing

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I’m not sure what one might call this dish; I’m sure it has a name somewhere, but I don’t know it. I do know that it was yummy.

Ben’s first semester of medical school is over! Many people prepared to leave for the break with a still fully-stocked pantry, and I was happy to take the food off their hands for a discounted price. I now have more types of condiments and interesting Asian food than I even knew existed, and I’m looking forward to learning to make new things! One other spouse was generous enough to sell me the entire contents of her fridge for almost nothing– including  meat! Ground beef, even! That stuff is not cheap here, friends.  I was so thrilled with this blessing that I hurried home and threw together a pasta dish that smelled like Heaven had a barbeque.

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Here’s how to make my Meaty Noodle Thing:

Gather ingredients:

  • Package of macaroni pasta
  • One pound of ground beef, cooked
  • One jar of pasta sauce (I used Prego)
  • 1/3 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half
  • 1/4 cup onion, chopped
  • 1/2 cup of shredded cheese
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened yogurt
  • Garlic salt, pepper, salt, oregano to taste

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Prepare meat and pasta. Save the oil from the ground beef in the pan.

Heat up sauce.

Sauté the veggies in the beef oil. Add seasonings.

Mix cheese and yogurt into the sauce. Add veggies.

Mix pasta and sauce.

Enjoy!

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