Saturday in Sandy Springs

After all the traveling I've done lately, I was thrilled to be home for an uninterrupted weekend. I slept in yesterday, made easier by the cloud cover. We cleaned house before scurrying out the door to the Farmer's Market and Lowe's. Then we took an epic nap before dinner out with friends. And this morning? We've slept in again.

Nick found the Sandy Springs Farmer's Market online someway somehow. When I pictured the market, held in the Goodwill/former Target parking lot, I imagined it to be more like the Dekalb Farmer's Market. My vision consisted of a place filled with tons of produce and a few secondary items like flowers, baked goods, jams/preserves, etc. What it really consisted of was a small amount of produce, dairy farmers with milks/yogurts/cheeses, salsa and preserve makers, plant vendors, live music, pastas, baked goods (wish Sally's had been there!), honey, a dog biscuits, a soap maker, and a few other things. It was on the small side, but we had fun. Nick sampled a few things and bought a bag of this year's first peach crop. I took home a roma tomato plant for the upside down tomato plant holder and handmade pepper chevre for this afternoon's lunch with Mom. Next weekend, we'll probably check it out again, and get some more fresh things. Now that we live so far from an indoor farmer's market, this is a true treat.

Check it out at
http://www.sandyspringsfarmersmarket.com/

As for my apartment gardening, I'll keep you posted on how my upside down tomatoes grow. I've heard good things. Since I'm not really a major green thumb, we'll see how this all goes.

Back from ASW

Last weekend I was the inpatient nurse for the sports weekend hosted by Shepherd Center in Alabama called Adventure Skills Workshop (ASW). Participants with physical disabilities come to this workshop to do various activities from jet skiing to scuba diving to confidence ropes courses. Shepherd brings inpatients and invites outpatients and community members to this annual event. Each year it is exciting and fun for campers and staff.

For me, part of the excitement was spending time with former patients. In my cabin, I had a few inpatients and a few recent people in Shepherd's day program. I've known some of them for a year, and some for just a few days. It's inspiring to see my adolescents "all grown up" and able to be so independent. They, in turn, are inspirations for the newcomers to the Shepherd community and to ASW.
After 2 nights and 3 days of 24hr nursing, I was very exhausted. Leave it to my darling boyfriend to have dinner on the stove when I stumbled in. He told me there would be chicken, veggies, and a surprise. The surprise was:

Rice Pasta & Cheddar!

It was the Trader Joe's version of Kraft mac & cheese. Boy was it nice. It is for sure about as close to the blue box as it gets. So go get you some and enjoy it!

Sally's Bakery

This week at work we had a health fair. HR pulled together lots of places- banks, supplements, chiropracters, chair massage, insta-lipid panel testing, exercise programs, and so much more. The thing I was most excited about was running into Sally from Sally's bakery. At the hospital I work at, quite a few people eat GF. Even more employees are related to someone who live GF. So, having a GF bakery represented was really great.

Sally's bakery is located on Roswell Road in Sandy Springs. Daily, they make fresh-baked treats. Everything (except the cookies) are soy-free, and more than half of their products are egg and dairy-free. They have quite a selection of things in stock- breads, hamburger bun, English muffins, take-and-bake pizzas, sweet loaves of bread (banana, pumpkin, sweet potato). Cakes are made to order. And they ship wherever in the US.

I tasted the moist, sweet, and delicious banana bread (twice). I am looking forward to tasting more great things from Sally. Check them out:






http://www.sallysbakery.com/
Monday - Friday: 10:00am - 6:30pm
Phone:(404) 847-0211