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A visit to the Tarpon Springs farmer’s market

If you’ve spent any time reading this blog you know that I love farmer’s markets, and there’s plenthy of them around North Pinellas County.  I’ve been meaning to get up to the market in Tarpon Springs — in fact, I have driven up there only to find that my visits were on off weekends when the market wasn’t operating.

Anyway, today we headed up there and got there on the right weekend.  Everything was in full swing, and we made good use of it.

There was a cheese booth, operated by a business called the Cheese Lodge in Elfers, Fla., and we bought some absolutely great brie, which we sampled as soon as we got home. Too bad, they don’t have a website.

We also bought a couple of kielbasa sandwiches, which we ate while we watched the beginning of the Rays-Yankees game on TV once we got back home.

We also stumbled across a Palm Harbor bakery which we didn’t know about.  Sweet Caroline’s had a booth at the farmer’s market, and the food on display was really eye-catching.  We bought two apple turnovers and a thick, crumbly chocolate cookie with powered sugar on top, and we took them home and ate them after those keilbasa sandwiches.

Sweet Caroline’s is in a strip mall at 3347 Tampa Rd, Palm Harbor, a few doors down from the Surf & Turf Market. Definitely worth a try!

Tags: farmer's market, Tarpon Springs

Farmers’ Market in Palm Harbor

Fruit and veggie vendor's stand at the Palm Harbor Farmers' market

If you are a fan of local farmers’ markets, you should know that Palm Harbor hosts a very nice little farmers’ market on the grounds of the  North Pinellas Historical Museum at the corner of Belcher and Curlew Road.

This area has a number of good farmers’ markets that are fun to attend.  The one in Dunedin is a good-sized market, and Clearwater has a somewhat smaller one.  I haven’t been to the farmers’ market in St. Petersburg, but it’s supposed to be terrific.

But anyway, back to the Palm Harbor market; it happens every Sunday at the museum, and vendors are on hand from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. This past Sunday there was a fruit and vegetable stand, a fellow selling very good-looking fresh fish, a woman selling handmade hats, a could of sandwich vendors and several others.  I mostly just nosed around, but I did buy some bananas and some really nice-looking red grapes.

I’ve written about the Dunedin and Clearwater farmers’ markets in the past — you may want to scroll back a few pages and look those over.  It’s nice to have one in Palm Harbor, and you can combine your visit with a tour of the North Pinellas Historical Museum.

Tags: farmer's market, Palm Harbor

Dunedin’s green market

 Having spent some time at the Clearwater Farmer’s Market on the day before Thanksgiving, I was fired up to seek out some other farmer’s markets in the area. I knew that Dunedin had an outside market as well, so I went on the internet to see if I could find it.

At first I didn’t have much luck. Turns out they don’t call it a farmer’s market in Dunedin – instead, they call it the Dunedin Green Market. Okay, fine.

Actually, that makes some sense because these markets usually have a great deal to offer beyond farmer’s produce. The Clearwater market had a photographer showing his prints as well as the waffle people I wrote about a couple of posts ago. Dunedin, as it turns out, has quite a lot of diversity as well – a British piemaker, a hemp products seller, a hot sauce booth, a bakery and a number of others.

So I had an enjoyable time here, too, and I even bought a couple of blueberry muffins to take home.

The Dunedin Green Market happens on Fridays in Pioneer Park (downtown) from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. It runs from October through April 24. So I had an enjoyable time here, too, and I even bought a couple of blueberry muffins to take home.

Tags: Dunedin, farmer's market

Things you didn’t know about waffles

Alain Guillaume serves up some waffles

I thought I knew something about waffles until I met Alain Guillaume at the Clearwater Farmer’s Market. Alain and his wife Patricia are waffle experts.
Waffles are usually listed as “Belgian waffles” on American menus. But since Alain and Patricia are actual real Belgians, I listened carefully when Alain started talking about his own beloved waffles.
Here is what I learned:

• There are actually several different kinds of waffles in Belgium.
• Here, waffles are usually breakfast food; in Belgium, they are sold as snacks by street vendors and bakeries.
• The waffles we often consume in the U.S. are known as Brussels waffles, just one of several kinds of Belgium waffles that vary in shape and taste according to the region of Belgium where they are made.
• Since Alain and Patricia are from the city of Liege, they are partial to the Liege waffle — a small oblong waffle that is sweeter and denser than the more-familiar Brussels waffle.
• Alain and Patricia’s Liege waffles can be served plain (that’s what I had), or they can be served with various toppings — fruit, whipped cream, or even chocolate.

Alain and Patricia are the owners of the Belgian Pearl, a Dunedin-based waffle company that markets products through farmers’ markets, special events of one kind or another and through their website, http://www.thebelgianpearl.com/
They make their own waffle batter from a special recipe that they have developed. I had one of their Liege waffles with a cup of coffee, and it was GREAT!
The waffles from The Belgian Pearl are a find. Check them out!

Tags: farmer's market, Liege waffles

Clearwater farmers’ market

Clearwater farmers' market

Not every community has a farmer’s market, but there seems to be more and more of them springing up. I enjoy them because they are good places to find locally grown, fresh produce, and there’s often several unique vendors who sell all kinds of food items or artsy-crafty products of one kind or another.

The city of Clearwater has been hosting a farmer’s market for a while now, on Wednesday mornings from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. To tell the truth, I haven’t visited the market before because by the time I remember that it’s held on Wednesday mornings, it’s usually Wednesday afternoon.

This time, however, I remembered. I drove down to the location (right in front of City Hall in downtown Clearwater) and rambled around for the better part of an hour, and I had a great time chatting with some of the vendors and taking pictures. Yes, I bought a few things, too.

On this Wednesday (the one right before Thanksgiving) there were the usual fruit-and-vegetable sellers. But there was also a photographer selling some of his prints; a lemonade stand; a man selling honey; and a stand selling Belgian waffles (there will be more on this vendor in the next post). Papa Gino’s Pizza even had a stand which seemed to be hawking its catering services rather than actual pizza slices.

All in all it was a very enjoyable hour and I think you’d enjoy the visit, too. Remember, though, that this is a small farmer’s market; if you go expecting big crowds and scores of vendors, you’ll be disappointed.

Tags: Clearwater, farmer's market, real estate