Luncheon on Main Street

With the autumn weather comes the end of the farmer's market. The past two times I went, I didn't make enough money to make it worth my time, and decided to call it quits for the year. Truthfully, I'm ready for a slower pace, but I will miss the extra money.

And then, very late Monday night, Tuesday morning really, I received an e-mail from a woman who frequents the farmer's market, and is also in charge of our local Slow Food group. She wondered if I might be able to make desserts for Thursday's luncheon. She requested that I use as many local ingredients as possible. My wheels started turning.

What's in season locally? The apples are gone, but there are still pumpkins. I promised to call the apple guy, and I did.

I just can't tell you how much I've enjoyed the market this summer. When I called Ronnie and explained what I needed, he told me to come on down. Abigail and I drove through the country Tuesday evening to pick up a few apples for Bavarian Apple Torte (pictured above). We were not only given enough apples to make my dessert, but he gave us an entire bag from his personal stash, as he quit selling several weeks ago. He threw in a bag of pears, too. And to top it all off, he wouldn't accept a dime.

Back to the luncheon. Another e-mail asked me to also please provide the bread for the meal. Variety is always good, so along with the torte I made a pumpkin cheesecake, and a blueberry-swirl cheesecake. No, blueberries aren't in season, but part of Slow Food and eating locally means preparing for winter. I was able to go to the freezer and pull out blueberries from July. ( I ate a handful frozen just for good measure, too!) Just in case someone doesn't like cheesecake, I added Blackberry Almond Shortbread Thumbprint cookies, made with my own jam.

God provides, that's for sure. The market may be over, but I got an order to take it's place, and then some! Now, where is that slower pace?