I wanted to take a minute to introduce you to one of my favorite traditions–Farmer’s Market trips. My family and frequently I head to the Downtown 3rd Farmer’s Market to shop for home-grown goodness. Sometimes, we head there with a very particular purpose in mind, and other times, we let the goodies guide us–a beautiful selection of avocados mean we’ll be having fresh smashed avocado toast on Saturday morning.
It’s a tradition we’ve stuck to since long before CRAFT was born, but one that has become that much more exciting with the opening of our first kitchen right around the corner. If you’ve checked out the rest of our website, you’ve probably realized there’s one word I keep coming back to: play. Farmer’s Market Fridays are all about that for my family, my team of chefs and me. As a chef, whole ingredients are like tools–really colorful, fresh, delicious tools–and playing with those tools to create something no one has done before (or doing something that’s been done one thousand times over in a completely new way) is what we’re all about.
Another thing we put a ton of emphasis on at CRAFT is community, so Farmer’s Markets are such a great way for us to get out and support all-things local. This past Friday, we met Stu from Intuitive Forager, a farm that grows and distributes organic produce from here and the West coast. They offer items that you don’t often see, like cranberry beans, dragonfruit and baby radish. We also got a chance to meet Daniel from Spicy Camel Trading Company, a group that offers amazing gluten-free spices and ingredients. I even had a gluten-free donut (which, if you know me, is a stretch) that was super moist and really delicious (I swear).
verall, regardless of how many years I’ve been in the business of crafting goodies, I will always feel like there’s a ton of room to grow, play, experiment. Farmer’s Markets keep me young in this sense–they allow me to meet new community members, inspire me to come up with new dishes and remind me that good fuel is what life is all about for a family of chefs like mine. Next time you’re at CRAFT, don’t hesitate to ask us where those bright berries came from or what kind of veggies we roasted for your benedict–every one of our ingredients has a story (most of them start with a local Farmer’s Market) and we can’t wait to share that story with you and yours.
