Midtown Farmers' Market

Date visited: Saturday, July 14

I have a new favorite Saturday morning tradition: It involves waking up at a reasonable hour (around 9 a.m. if I'm feeling ambitious), grabbing a canvas bag and browsing the Midtown Farmers' Market.

I love the market (which is open Saturday mornings and Tuesday evenings) because it's filled with a diverse collection of food, crafts and people. There's usually a band playing and a couple different languages being spoken within ear shot. Going there makes me feel more connected to my community and to the food that I eat.

We stopped by the market a few weeks ago and loaded up on early season veggies (peas, lettuce, broccoli and potatoes), but we got really lucky on Saturday with a bag of tomatoes. The first taste of homegrown tomatoes is one of the best things about summer. It's so easy to forget what food really taste like until you pick up locally grown carrots, broccoli or tomatoes. We've been eating flavorful sandwiches and enjoying tomato salads. Tomorrow I'm planning to make a fresh tomato pizza for dinner, and I can't wait.

I also fell in love with the cheese from the Wisconsin Cheese Outlet. We bought a brick of some of the most flavorful swiss cheese I've ever tasted, and I'll be back next week to buy the fresh cheese curds that I sampled and haven't been able to stop thinking about since.