my city is cool

Today Joaquin and I checked out the Indianapolis Winter market. I wanted to see what kind of local produce is available in the winter as I tend to eat a lot of rice and quinoa lately. In fact, since I started writing down what I eat, I've realized that there are some days that I eat very little vegetable. I eat a ton of fruit, and probably too many nuts...but that will all change now. Now that I have...

I couldn't snap too many photos because the place was packed! There wasn't a place to just stand still without disrupting the flow of the entire room. In fact, I had to walk around the place 3 times just to see it all...it felt a lot like being on a conveyor belt. I brought home just a smattering of what the market had to offer.

We bought butternut squash, living lettuce, arugula, local potatoes, and a nice lady gave me a free sample of her "green" household cleaner. I'm really excited about the living lettuce. The farmer told me to just keep it in a cereal bowl of water on the counter and pick off of it. He said it will last two to three weeks. Awesome and fresh!

While there we had a fresh green juice and checked out fresh flour from a local mill. Joaquin was invited to pet an angora bunny, and received many compliments on his cuteness. There was fresh sauerkraut, hand carved wood kitchen tools, lots of pastries, local meat (we don't eat it!), artisan cheese (we don't eat this either!) and dairy (nope, don't eat it!), tons of lettuce, kale, carrots, squash, beets, and potatoes. It's good to know that Indiana can provide all one would need to survive a winter in a healthful way.

We made a salad for dinner. We used the fresh arugula, a bag of salad I already had. I shredded a beet and a carrot and made a giant batch of our favorite dressing

one and a half cups of sesame oil
1/2 cup of olive oil
1/2 cup braggs liquid aminos
1 tsp sea satl
2 T maple syrup
3 T crushed pepper flakes (ohhh, spicy!)
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup of cashews

Blend this all til smooth and creamy. Sooooooo good. This is a variation of a recipe from a cookbook called Everyday Raw.
While I prepared the salad, Joaquin took some pictures. He loves my iphone.

I don't know what that is... but I think he has a good eye, no?