Buying Locally, Eating Grandly!

We've got our vegetables growing in the backyard containers, with herbs on the roof-top terrace loving the heat. Add to that local produce which we've been buying at the Morningside Market on Saturdays and from the market at Star Provisions (Th-Sat) and we've been eating mighty fine! Paul and Sarah came over for dinner Saturday and I served pasture raised chicken which I roasted over a bed of herbs from the terrace. With it were fresh beans--I would normally say "green" beans, but these were three different beans in purple, green and yellow. They were so good we didn't need salt or butter on them! Some fresh Italian parsley dressed the new red-skinned potatoes from the market. The backyard containers contributed our first Roma tomato and 6 beautiful red okra which were included in a stew with some purple peppers (these are new to me--thin skinned, shaped like bell pepper, with just a little warmth) and torpedo onions. For dessert I cooked up some of the sweetest black berries I've ever had with a bit of sugar, a dash of vanilla extract and some finely chopped Lavender leaves. After that cooled it was served over vanilla ice cream--Heavenly!!! Invite us to dinner sometime and you might get a similar treat!!