The Return of The Farmer's Market & Cinnamon Rolls

The second best part of this weekend was that the Corvallis Winter Farmer's Market started back up. The first best part, of course, was that it was a three day weekend. Sorry Farmer's Market - you can't top that.

I've been having a difficult time buying produce lately because everything in the grocery store looks so "blah" compared to the fresh versions. You know, I always heard people say that once you ate a fresh tomato you could never go back to the store bought ones (especially in the middle of winter) and I never really believed them. I thought one might be better, sure - but that it would ruin store produce for you? I never bought it. Until now. The tomatoes in the store look awful, and it's not just the tomatoes - it's just about everything. I'm actually a bit sad about this, it used to be so much easier.

You can imagine how excited I was to have the Farmer's Market back then. Not that there are tomatoes in Oregon in January or anything, but there were other great things! Kale and leeks and sweet potatoes! Yum! And of course, cheese! I'm not willing to pay the $21.99/lb for local cheese in the grocery store so I was really happy to be able to buy it directly from their booth again.

Since we had an extra day off this weekend and since I have found a new love for baking yeast breads I decided to try out making Cinnamon Rolls this weekend as well. The problem with yeast breads for breakfast is that they take way longer than anyone should have to wait before eating in the morning. I made the dough Friday night so that all I would have to do the next morning is let the rolls rise, bake, and frost them.

Later that afternoon I turned on the TV and America's Test Kitchen happened to be on, and they just happened to be making the ultimate cinnamon rolls! I think their cream cheese frosting was key - the vanilla-coffee frosting I used was good, but we all know cream cheese makes everything better.

For once this winter I was cooking when it was light out so I don't have the terrible cast of indoor light! I really need to invest in some lights for taking pictures of food. I'll get around to it eventually...

Unrelated to food, and in honor of MLK day I leave you with a quote worth thinking about:
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." - MLK Jr.