Farmers' Market, Steak Salad, and Strawberries and Cream

Yesterday was the long-awaited visit to the Old Town Farmers' Market. While they did have more than rhubarb, it was mostly old hippies selling ugly clothing, ugly crochet blankets, and nasty patchouli incense. I don't intend to be mean, but I was a little disappointed. On the bright side, there was one (and only one) vegetable stall selling very local produce and the next tent over was the Prayrie Ranch stall. They're from El Dorado (not the mythical golden city, unfortunately, but the quasi-suburb of Wichita) and sell free-range poultry and grass-fed beef. I couldn't believe how many stalls there were and we only bought things at three of them! Maybe it was the rain keeping the farmers away. So, here is the list of what we bought:
Eye of Round
Chicken Breasts
Scallions
Asparagus
Lettuce
Chard
Bread

In other culinary news, I finally fixed the steak salad to use up some spinach and it's a good thing I didn't wait any longer because the spinach was starting to rot. That's probably not what you wanted to hear, but I'm into portraying my cooking as it really is, so be happy in knowing that the majority of the spinach was a-ok.

I basically just wilted the spinach in olive oil with some garlic and salt and topped it with blanched asparagus, lemon juice, the leftover steak, and some grated parmesan. It was ok. I think Paul liked it more than I did. He also hasn't been eating salad for lunch every day for the past week.

Dessert, on the other hand, was heavenly (and Wimbledonian). Strawberries and cream! This was just two cups of strawberries sliced, mixed with 1t sugar, and topped with 3T heavy cream. Sooo good!


I also have a serious need to bake. For some reason, I bought the special Sex and the City issue of Entertainment Weekly when I ran in to the Dillon's at 37th and Woodlawn to get organic Heinz for Paul's tater tots Friday night. I mean, I have seen every single episode of the show, but I have very mixed feelings about the movie. In the episode guide to season three, there is a little blurb about Magnolia Bakery Cupcakes, which were featured in one of the episodes. I have been fascinated for years by how they make the swirl in their icing. I have decided to attempt my own icing swirls and even bought an offset spatula yesterday. I found the Magnolia Bakery cupcake recipe at 52 Cupcakes and I'd like to know if they're worth the 20-minute wait.