Saturday was such a lovely day. It was sunny, warm and you could see forever. Our local Farmers Market starts at the beginning of May. It doesn’t get in full swing until later in June but you can still find interesting selection of food and goods.

Early in May, it is prime time for asparagus. Several of the stands had a good selection. There were also fresh leaks, young lettuce and radishes. The flower stalls were filled with tulips and doing a brisk business for Mothers Day.

I saw a couple of my favorite but I was intrigued with a new cheesemaker – Willapa Hills Farmstead Cheese. Their specialty is blue and sheep cheese. They had a good selection of both fresh and aged cheese. I tried two fresh;the Willapa White and Fresh with Ewe. Both were excellent. The White was shaped similar to a chevre but had a little more tang. But it was the Fresh with Ewe that won me over. It is fresh sheep milk cheese with a blue rind. A lovely lovely cheese. The cheesemaker recommended keeping it for another week. If I can….

I also stopped at another vendor selling beautiful fresh Halibut. For dinner, I rubbed it with the Bengal Masala Rub with Love from Tom Douglas and pan fried it. Add a fresh green salad and my new favorite mashed sweet and regular potatoes. I did not have enough sweet potatoes to make these sweet potatoes and onions but it was still very good with a few regular potatoes thrown in.

The farmers market is located near the firestation and right downtown. Edmonds has a small downtown – with a seaside feel. You can see the sound in the distance and hear the ferry horn. Many of the buildings in the main downtown area are historic and house interesting stores. I stopped by HouseWares to pick up some kitchen cleaning items and admire the stunning designs.

Moving on, I stopped in the Edmonds Bookshop to see the latest best sellers. Nothing caught my fancy. I had two more stops, one at Gallery North to see the current Photography and at Sculptors Workshop pottery sale.

It was good to see everything busy. The weather helped as did Mothers Day weekend. I loved seeing the mothers out. My favorite was the little girl and her mother who came out of one of the day salons. “Mommy – that was so much fun. Can we do come again?”. Delightful.

Samish Bay Cheese

Residential street just a block from the market

Traffic circle at the center of downtown

Worldwide headquarters of Rick Steves Europe