Yesterday was another perfect day at the Bloomington Community Farmers Market. The stalls were overflowing with good things and the weather was sunny and cool (at least at 8:30am). I had to make the trip alone this week and the basket got so heavy that by the time I unloaded everything into the car, my arms felt like they were floating away It was so worth it, though.

This week’s bounty includes a couple of pork shoulder roasts from Fiedler Farms (I am going to try roasting them with milk again – I tried that with a pork loin but the cut didn’t have a lot of fat in it. It tasted great — according to the meat-eater reports — but these roasts may be more succulent. I am going for a falling-off-the-bone braise.)

I got a gorgeous bouquet of flowers from Sarah McGee and Jessica Birtles at Heartland Family Farms, as well as some tiny pears, a couple more arrowhead cabbages, my much-loved roma beans (and some string beans too), and great-smelling basil. Forgot to get eggs, darn it!

Steve Spencer at Homestead Growers had a fabulous selection of summer squashes so I got a bunch of them to put on the grill. He had yellow roma beans too, a little more delicate and flavorful than the green ones, but that could be a factor of the size at which they were picked, or a total figment of my imagination.

With some more blueberries from Deryl, and some beautiful peaches and tomatoes from another vendor, the basket was full to overflowing and my arm was falling off. It was time to go home and think about cooking.

So, on my own for lunch (a golf tournament had stolen my lunch/marketing/life partner away for the day) I made a Mediterranean bean salad. Boiled yellow roma beans in salty water, drained them and tossed with diced tomatoes, onions, crushed garlic, chopped basil, chopped pitted kalamata olives, crumbled goat feta. Dressed it all with good olive oil and white balsamic vinegar, adjusted salt and pepper, sprinkled some toasted pine nuts over it all. It wasn’t terribly colorful. Next time I’ll up the basil or add some mint or combine some green beans with the yellow. It was delicious, though and as I eat the leftovers for Sunday breakfast, I can tell you that it is just as good the next day.

Last night we had a dinner (golf-tournament related) so I didn’t cook. Tonight I am going to try to replicate a fantastic lunch Dave Tallent made me the other day – grilled vegetables (corn, cabbage, eggplant), tomatoes and fresh mozzarella with a cilantro vinaigrette and grilled tortillas. It was absolutely simple and absolutely flavor-packed and I’ve been dreaming about it ever since. I’ll report back if I get it close.