First Peek inside Boston Public Market

Boston Public Market's Grand Opening is on July 30th - that's tomorrow.

But I heard that they were having a soft opening today, so of course, I headed on over for a bit of a preview.

Boston Public Market

Boston Honey Company

Q's Nuts

Cellars at Jasper Hill

Sweet Lydia's

Union Square Donuts

Crescent Ridge Ice Cream

Mange

Red Apple Farm

Kids Area

Fun Chairs

Lilac Hedge Farm

Stillman's

Fresh Corn from the Farmers' Market

Here in the city of Boston, we are fortunate to have two Farmers' Market options:

1) Dewey Square, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:30am - 6:30pm, May 24, 2012 - November 20, 2012

2) City Hall Plaza, Mondays and Wednesdays, 11am - 6pm from May 21, 2012 – November 21, 2012

MacArthur Farms at the City Hall Plaza Farmer's Market

Today, I meandered on over to the Farmer's Market at City Hall Plaza.  Having passed stalls of fresh veggies and baked goods, I arrived at the last (or first, depending upon your direction) - MacArthur Farms - and asked for help to select one nice ear to microwave at work for a snack.  The fellow who came around from behind the tables of produce felt a few ears and selected a firm one for me.  He broke off a bit of the stalk, ripped off a few outer leaves and stuck it in a plastic bag for me.  And for 50 cents, it was mine.

fresh corn!

I mentioned to him that I had heard that corn on the cob could be microwaved.  So, he told me to wrap it up in wet paper towels as is, and to microwave it for about a minute and a half.

Wrapped with wet towels before microwaving

After its visit in the microwave, I set it aside for a bit in order to avoid steam cooking my fingers.

All cooked and unwrapped

Thus, I was awarded with firm kernels that were plenty sweet, and well worth the calories.

Winter Farmer's Market

Walking thru the Pru, I happened upon a rare creature in the midst of wintertime - a Farmer's Market in the corridor beside the Loft!

While I did not see fresh veggies for our consumption, in my brief glance, I spotted jars of herbed honeys, frozen meats sold by the pound, pastries, a few other tables, and at the far end a stand hocking the Zip Car service. Looks like they are here every Thursday till May, 11am - 6pm.

PS - I haven't seen it for myself, but I've heard that there's another Winter Farmers' Market located in Somerville. It is held Saturdays, November 12th - May 26th, from 9:30am-2:30pm at the Armory at 191 Highland Ave, Somerville, MA.

3rd Annual Epicurious Farmers' Market Tour

Epicurious is one of my favorite recipe sites (another one is Allrecipes.com) ever since I discovered it back in my college days, because it allows people to review and rate the recipes, and it has photos.

City Hall Plaza was just a walk away, so since I heard that Epicurious was going to be stopping by our very own City Hall Farmers' Market this very day, I decided to do a little stopping by myself!

I wandered past several stands of fresh and pretty produce and flowers, some delicious looking baked goods, jams and honeys, even popsicles!, and made my way to the last in the row (or first, depending on how you count them). Since I was already pretty familiar with their brand, there wasn't much for them to show me, so I walked away with a free tote, some sample Ghirardelli chocolates, and the realization that I had missed the noon food demo, and that Ken Oringer was scheduled to demo at 2pm... which was too late for me as well. :(

I ran my errand and stopped by the Epicurious table at 2pm for a quick photo op of Ken with some lovely tomatoes as I made my way back to the office.

City Hall Farmers' Market

Boston City Hall Plaza (Government Center)
1 City Hall Plaza

Boston, MA

Monday: 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM
Wednesday: 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM
May 24 to November 24, 2010