Another Social Day at the Market

My good friend, and former coworker, Missy stopped by the market with her husband, Brad, on Sunday. They shared a pint of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream and bought some things from other vendors. And after the market was over, they came to our house and Tony and I made them a late lunch.

Tony had made short ribs from Blue Jingler Farm and carrots in the slow cooker the day before. On Sunday, he steamed some potatoes and served the reheated beef and carrots, in a tomato and paprika sauce, over them. I made a salad of lettuces and sliced raw beet with a dressing that contained Penzeys Tsardust Memories spice blend.

After we ate, I took a photo of Missy and Brad out on our deck:

Then Brad took a selfie of the four of us that I snagged from Missy's Facebook page:

Missy and Brad are really into Star Wars, superheroes, and other (proudly) geeky things. This is the design on Missy's T-shirt. And she made her skirt. And you can buy one like it from her Etsy shop. 

Oh, and I sold some of my frozen desserts at the market, too. It was a busier day than either of the previous two weeks, which made me happy. And I had more interaction with customers and potential customers. Even if someone doesn't end up buying something, I appreciate the opportunity to make my sales pitch. And if I can get someone to try my products, she or he will usually buy something. Because they're just that freaking good. 😄

The Basset Tracks Ice Cream was a pretty big hit, and I sold enough of my Anise Hyssop Vegan Frozen Dessert to make me feel like it was worth the effort. One customer tried the AH VFD and bought the Peach Melba VFD instead. She's one of my regulars (the one who told me the week before I'm her favorite person at the market ❤️), so I particularly value her opinions. She liked the AH somewhat, but she could detect the flavor of the hemp milk pretty strongly alongside the anise. For my next VFD, I think I'll try reversing the amounts of the more-fattening-and-so-more-flavor-carrying-but-also-more-flavorful hemp milk and the more-neutral-tasting flax milk in my VFD base and see whether that results in my flavoring ingredient shining through more brightly. (I couldn't detect the hemp flavor in the AH VFD but I could in my failed Lemon Verbena VFD.)

Tony brought Grady to the market for about 45 minutes. Grady is a rescue dog and so gets worried in situations other dogs might shrug off. He was anxious in the car—he doesn't usually go anywhere without his sister, Missy—and Tony figured he was thinking he was being given away again.

Missy, btw, wasn't intentionally named after our human friend Missy (because that would have been a little weird). The shelter we got her from had been calling her Mitzi. I liked that name, but Tony wanted to go with Missy, which rolls off the tongue easier. I picture Missy wondering why we can't pronounce her name correctly.

Grady seemed to have some fun at the market. He's very good with children and got some pats from kids and adults alike. But Tony didn't want to keep him there too long, figuring he would be relieved to get back home and realize a separation from his daddies and baby sister wasn't in the works.

Tony said Missy was standoffish when he got home because she hadn't been invited along. When I got home, I told her it was Papa Tony's idea to bring only Grady to the market. 😄

Here are Tony and Grady meeting and greeting the public:

And here they are just before they headed home:

And here's the inevitable photo of my signage for the day:

Two Sundays ago, a boy had wanted Vanilla and his mother couldn't persuade him to try something else. They didn't return this past Sunday, when I actually did have a few pints of Vanilla, but I did sell one to a guy who also bought a Basset Tracks.

I had fun chatting with my new BFF Caroline, who tried and enjoyed the Anise Hyssop VFD enough to buy one. And I had an interesting conversation with a repeat customer whose son gets sick when he eats sunflower seeds or oil. As she noted, sunflower is much more difficult to root out of your diet because it's not a common allergen and so labels don't draw your attention to its presence. And it's being used more and more in place of peanut (like in my Basset Tracks), which is a much more common dietary problem.

I'm still finalizing my new flavors for this week, but if all goes according to my current plan, I'll be making my first ever Huge Hound sorbet, which is also my favorite sorbet I've ever made for myself: Chocolate-Blackberry. The combination of rich dark chocolate and juicy berries is out of this world.