Stop and Chop! plus...rules for next week's "Autumn Pie" Contest - rev up your rolling pins!

There is a woman I know who is a farmers market “junkie.” She hits two or three farmers markets a week and always leaves the Hastings market looking like a sherpa with two bags FULL of vegetables, usually a bouquet of flowers or a baguette tucked under her arm. The other day, I had to ask her…just HOW BIG exactly, is your fridge? (I myself sometimes can't keep track of what I've got in mine. You'd think a bright purple cauliflower would be easy to find.) "I CHOP everything,” she said. When she gets home from the market, she lays out all her vegetables on her kitchen counter and very methodically rinses then chops all her veggies: carrots and turnips and even her cauliflower. She pats everything dry then puts it large Ziplock bags in her crispers. If everything is chopped, not only does it take up less space, she says, but it makes it so much easier to throw in a soup or a risotto mid-week. PLUS, if the carrots are cleaned and chopped, she says, she's more likely "to snack on them instead of crackers and cheese" when she gets peckish. She gets so much joy out of shopping for greens picked at their peak at the farmers market that she would never dream of depriving herself. So, if it's getting close to the end of the week and she still has plenty of vegetables left in her fridge, she simply roasts the lot with some olive oil and herbs. “It's easy, since they are already chopped. And then I don't feel so guilty about buying more on Saturday." This week, we have the pleasure of welcoming Antoinette's coffee to the market to fill in for Avi (of Station Cafe) who is Spain this week. Cowberry Crossing will also be here with their amazing array of organic meats. Also, tomorrow, our "house" band, Milton, is in the house. Come to the market early so you have time to chop all your veggies before heading to the always fantastic AqueFest which looks even bigger and better this year. There will be a Hastings Farmers Market basket raffle at the Hastings Aquefest....