Strathcoma Markets

Each morning we start with a lot of love from our four legged family, and they are so, amazingly affectionate to us. Three have decided to abandon sleeping in their parents room and we have Bella on the floor next to the bed with Bandito the handsome boy and Annie ( Bananie, because she just loves a slice of banana) at our feet in the bed! Yes our all time rule of : no dogs in bed has been broken and we both can’t believe how such a large bundle of dog can be so inconspicuous in bed.

After breakfast a stroll through the new developing neighborhood on the edge of the Mundare Golf course. Everyone gets to leave a letter for the rest of the town as we make our way back home.

We set out this morning to check out the Old Strathcoma markets in Edmonton. It has cleared up and we arrive to a nice sunny morning and a bustling market. From a few different vendors we find out that the area has a substantial Ukrainian population of 70K and so we of course get some pierogi, cabbage rolls and nalesniky stuffed with cottage cheese in a dill sauce. It also turns out to have a large Polish population of 45K and the vendor selling poppyseed cake in a roll gives us a run down of his families roots. After establishing that André only has a small grasp of the language he teaches him ” Moja kochana, chodź ze mną do łóżka” , which André reproduces beautifully. Translation:  “My love, come to bed with me” – we all have a laugh.
We are braving a never seen, tasted or experienced wild mushroom based on the recommendations of the Fungi vendor who assures us that it is deliscious and not like any other. It’s called Matsutake and they are held in high regard. For those that live in the Northern hemisphere you know, that eating wild mushrooms is at your own peril,  as many varieties to the newbie mushroom picker can be fatal. Yet again if this blog ceases to continue , it is the consequence of our trusting natures.

The general ambience of the markets is great and we manage to just catch the tail end of the season for the local organic blueberry, peach and plum grower. It is amazing to taste these  fruits as they are literally bursting with juicy flavor. I don’t think it is necessarily the organic nature of the growing alone, the vendor just seems passionate about caring for the fruit and making them awesome to taste. We tend to forget how fruit can taste when not fast tracked into cold storage ripening we get with large supermarkets. It has been a lot of fun talking to a number of the vendors . We leave stocked up in locally roasted coffee and more peaches and cream corn.

We now know where to head to for some migrating bird resting grounds and so tomorrow we will head out to Beaver Hill.