Laura, of Herban Avenues, has:

Gifts for your Valentine…..or…..Why not Romance Yourself!

Herban Avenues specializes in aromatic/romantic gifts, sometimes custom made for Bed & Breakfasts, Brides and even for “Dating Experts” and book authors/   Afterall, herbs are all about stress relief…..and let’s face it…..stress is not very sexy!   So be your own Valentine and treat yourself to one of the following:

Lavender Eye Pillow or Aromatic Bath Treats and Massage OIlsTry Romantic Spice Tea , And don’t forget to Herb Kiss Somebody you love!  In three different flavors!

Here’s a message from Joey, of Cornerstone Bakery:

I missed seeing everyone at the market last Saturday. My family went skiing and we had a lot of fun. The season is so short down here that we have to take advantage while we can. I look forward to seeing everyone at the market this week.

For cupcakes this week we will have Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel, Vanilla Vanilla, Espresso, German Chocolate Cake, Pancakes & Bacon, & Chocolate Covered Banana. With Valentines Day coming on Monday I am going to be offering a special Valentines Cupcake Box. It will be a bakery box with six cupcakes decorated for Valentines Day for $15. It makes a great gift or treat for your family. You can pre-order by e-mailing me at joey@cornerstonebakedgoods.com or I will have some made up at the market while they last. My family always makes a nice dinner at home for Valentine Day to avoid all the restaurant crowds. It is a nice way to connect and enjoy a special meal together. Perhaps my Valentines Cupcake Box will start you on your way to a special meal at home as well.We will have our all-natural sugar free Doggie Delicious Cookies and Pupcakes at the market this week. When you are celebrating Valentines Day don’t forget your dog. Our pets give us so much love they deserve a treat.

In addition to cupcakes I will have donuts at the market. They are baked cake donuts and the flavors include plain chocolate, plain vanilla, cinnamon sugar, chocolate covered vanilla, chocolate glazed and chocolate chocolate.

I added this week’s blog entry from Chef Chris’ blog, HarvestMarketDC.  It’s all about chocolate…

The magically rich and bewildering flavor of chocolate inspires pleasure and fascination. The Aztec Indians considered it the beverage of the gods. A beautiful and frothy Mexican hot chocolate in Oaxaca even in the throws of a heat wave delivers happy goodness.

Chocolate is derived from the beans of the cacao tree. Today, they are classified like the wine crus of France. Tasted for its potency, flavor, and varying floral and bouquet notes, each region whether from Brazil, Ecuador, Venezuela, The Ivory Coast, or Madagascar has a distinctive profile.

Single estate chocolate derives itself from a single estate growing cacao beans. Like grapes, each estate has “terroir.” The beans are flavored  by the ground around them. Thus, chocolate like wine has appelations d’origine controlees. The best way to taste this “terroir” is through its bitterness. The chocolate is not sweetened by sugar and milk used by Belgium and Swiss chocolatiers.

Since wine and chocolate have such similar characteristics the combination has magical effects. The problem? Wine has water content and that greatly affects chocolate.  Powdered chocolate for hot chocolate doesn’t count!!  How we solve the problem is by reducing the wine to a glaze, thus eliminating most of the water content. This concentrates the flavor of the wine and helps to bring out its flavor. When added to ganache (chocolate melted with cream), we are able to combine the two and bring together two beautiful and complimentary flavors.

Happy Valentine’s Day!!!

Menu for this week:

Single estate Venezuelan chocolate and a reduction of local red wine (limited supplies)box of 6

Braised salsify with garlic and gremolata
Braised endive with fennel seed and walnuts
Potato-leek-Stilton soup
Chicken noodle vegetable soup
French onion soup(limited supplies)
Goat cheese stuffed gourgeres
Winter quinoa tabbouleh
Arugula, mint, olive, orange and aged ricotta salad

See you at the market!!

Die-hard customer, Mike Seate getting his pickle fix!

Hondo will be at the market this week with fantastic pickled goods and coffee!

June, of Lothar’s Gourmet Sausages has a fantastic special for customers this week….

Dear Valued Customers and Friends of Good Taste,

If you don’t feel like or simply don’t have enough time to cook on Saturday, Lothar will take care of that. We will have Frankfurt syle Ripche (or Kassler-cured & smoked pork chops) with sauerkraut already prepared… so bring your own container regardless of size-except Home Depot bucket size) for the same regular price, which would be the best deal in Loudoun County or even in Northern Virginia for this weekend .  You be the judge. If not, let us know, then you can bring the Home Depot Orange bucket; however, we’re not responsible for cleanliness of your bucket but your kids are! Why this special? Our farmer Mr. Valentine Miller (progressive Amish Gentleman) dropped off 2 pigs instead of one. One catch, come early before they run out…They are fantastic, especially with steamed potatoes.   Then again, every German dish goes well with potatoes! When I get angry, I tell Lothar that he comes from a Land of Kartoffeln and he doesn’t like that, so his rebuttal-he is from former Roman Emperium (Germania-for those who’ve seen Gladiator get an idea- although it might have taken more than one Russell Crow to win a battle), no offense to Russell Crow fans!

You know the drill, we’ll have all of our fresh sausages, bacons, and fine meat cuts for the pleasure of your palate and don’t forget a nice glass of wine or cold beer… then Life is Good, no matter what kind of week you’ve had!  You know what is SO GOOD about the simple pleasures in life?   No tax, not to mention they make you feel free and happy ! Talking about Pursuit of Happiness, did our founding fathers profoundly understand a thing or two about basic human nature or what !, even before internet. Below is a quick joke about internet, if you heard it before, apologies, my source of jokes is dry these days, like my wallet.

Three teams of archaeologists from different countries dig some old ruins:  The Chinese team discovers some old copper wire from underground and claims ” our ancestors used these for communication purposes ” feeling proud, American team discovers some wire and seemingly prototype of computerlike gadget and claims ” ours already tinkled with computer technology” feeling proud,

German team digs and digs and comes out with nothing.. so their official statement – ” our ancestors already had wireless connection”

Thank you and let’s Meat at the market ! June, Lothar and Jack-Henry

TOATS, a wheat, egg, and dairy-free cookie made right here in Loudoun County!  They have 0 trans fats and even the box is organic.  Stop by and chat with Marisol about her journey creating this unique product and ask for a taste these delicious, healthy snacks (www.toatsorganic.com).

If you’re jonesin’ for one of The Smoothie Guy’s (Mike Schreiber) fresh fruit smoothies, don’t forget he’s at the Purcellville Sports Pavilion in his Smoothie Hut.   Just walk in, even if you’re not a member, and order one of those fantastic smoothies.  He’ll be back at The Best Little Market in Loudoun when the weather gets warmer..

Deborah Morrow, of Cowgirl Smiles, will be back this week with her beautiful, local equine art…

Everona Dairy, (www.everonadairy.com), from Rapidan Virginia, makes unpasteurized, sheep’s milk cheeses in the Piedmont of Virginia, as well as a killer olive tampenade, lamb summer sausage, and crackers.  Unfortunately, they won’t be at the market this week but will be back next week.

Erica of the Magnolia Girls

Magnolia Girls will be bringing Chocolate Chip Coconut Macaroons Cookies, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Snickerdoodles and Ginger Cookies this week! We will also have our moist Pumpkin bread that is packed with flavor. We will have Pecan Bars, Scones, and Sweet Breads as well!  Be sure to stop by and try some samples.

Here’s a message from the Matich’s of Liberty Hill Farm:

We will be selling pastured raised chicken, free range eggs and whole wheat breads.    Our pasture- raised chickens are raised on fresh grass and non-GMO (Genetically Modifed Organisms) feed.   GMOs are detrimental to your health.  Our free range eggs are very healthy for you as they create the “perfect food”, providing a perfect balance of Omega 3 and 6s. Confined chickens mess up this perfect balance of Omegas and actually produce eggs that are not as healthy for you.�
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Our organic whole wheat products includes:  freshly ground whole wheat bread, pizza crusts, apple cinnamon bread, cinnamon raisin bread and  delicious chocolate chip cookies.   We also proivde apple cinnamon, cinnamon rolls and granola.    We freshly grind our wheat before we bake–thus preserving the best nutrition for you.

Stop by your local farmer to buy your eggs, chicken and whole wheat products.   You may visit our website at www.LibertyHillFarmVA.com to get more information about our products or to place orders for market pickup.   See you at the market!
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The Matich Family
Ken, Andrea, Samuel, Treasure
Liberty Hill Farm

The Stifler Family of What’s for Dinner Now, will be bringing their will be bringing their delicous, all-natural, pasture-raised, grain-finished beef (www.whatsfordinnernow.com).

Betty will be back with the best chips in the universe, as well as her fantastic salsas and enchiladas!!!

Linna the Locavore:

Great to see everyone at the market last week – good to know that I am not the only one with cabin fever, come on spring!

I will be back at the market soon, dates TBD!

I am selling BAMBOO TEEPEES ($10.00), that can be used for tomato and bean supports.  I also sell 7 foot Vertical Bamboo Gardening Kits for use in other parts of your garden.  Contact me if you are interested in either of these kits.  I can make custom orders as well.  Bamboo is a great natural AND local resource for all types of garden structures!

Check out my recent articles on Home Food Gardening.  Sign up for upcoming workshops here!

Linna

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Be vocal.  Eat, think, and buy local!

www.foodscaper.com!

Follow me on Facebook: look for Foodscaper Friends

Follow me on Twitter: Locavore_Linna

Check out my upcoming workshops

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We hope you stop by in all kinds of weather now.  If you’re coming from the east, it’s just the first right past the town hall and then up the block on your left.  Look for the signs.  Don’t forget, there is parking in the town lot down the street and also behind It’s Bazaar.  Don’t park in the little parking lot between Nichol’s Hardware and It’s Bazaar.  We want to be good neighbors to our favorite hardware store!!!

Special thanks to Dave Levinson, of Loudoun Landscape Photos, for taking some great pictures of the market which I used this week and will be using in the upcoming weeks.  He’s an awesome photographer!  His work was up at Magnolia’s last year and is now up at the Government Center in Leesburg and he was a vendor at the market this fall.

We really appreciate your support and hope that we have been a positive influence in your lives beyond providing great, healthy food for you and your families.  Check out our website atwww.purcellvillecommunitymarket.com, our info on www.loudounfarms.org and on facebook, where we post pictures of happy customers and vendors each week! Check the market table for all kinds of info, cookbooks, recipes, community events, local businesses, health information, and my favorite magazine, Flavor!

Don’t forget to try to remember to bring your Purcellville Green and Buy Fresh, Buy Local shopping bags…

So come out on Saturday, try all of our samples, purchase some GREAT, HEALTHY, LOCAL foods, have a chat with your faithful vendors, happy neighbors, and enlightened folks from other communities and sip some fresh coffee and have a bite to eat. We will be there from 10 am to 1 pm inside It’s Bazaar at 143 N. 21st Street in beautiful, old town Purcellville, VA.

Enjoy!

Juanita Tool