Market pickings

Today I had a wonderful morning at our local Tamahere market. I came home with the freshest possible macadamia nuts (I'm so glad we've planted a macadamia tree - the nuts are divine), avocados, new potatoes, handmade funky fridge magnets and a headband for Christmas gifts, and hemp seed oil.

A small selection of my purchases.

I feel quite excited about the oil. The hemp is grown in New Zealand, and cold-pressed and stored to avoid to avoid any rancidity. That is super important in this house - a husband who did his PhD research on fats and oils chemistry does not allow oxidised oil across the doorstep because it's unhealthy and tastes bad. Hemp oil's health properties are such that it makes fish oil look dodgy. It's got lots of the right kind of polyunsaturated fatty acids. The lady selling it had skin so outstanding that I noticed it just strolling past. I think I'm going to buy some of the face oil she also sells.

For dinner I found myself strangely alone, possibly for the first time in years. Very weird feeling. I plundered the garden of its first runner beans and zucchini, and plucked flat-leaved parsley from the wild forest of self-seeded stuff we have out there. Combined with some avocado and boiled new potatoes, it would already have been a good salad, but the hemp seed oil dressing* made it amazing - it was quite possibly the best salad dressing I've ever had. But then I spoiled the salad on my plate by adding more, which reminded me you can get too much of a good thing - it's quite strong!

Before the market I went firstly to an antiques and curios fair that's a monthly occurrence. It was my first visit because I'd always imagined it as stuffy and overpriced. How wrong I was. It was heaven for a vintage freak like myself, and I liked the prices! I was overwhelmed and had to stop shopping after I bought the vase below ($18) because I could sense a complete loss of perspective coming on with the gorgeousness of it all. How sad I was to have forgotten my camera so I could show you a selection of the offerings.

*I ended up only using half the amount of honey stated in the recipe, simply because only half of it would dissolve in the jar, so I fished out the undissolved bit out with a spoon. Once I tasted the dressing I realised I wouldn't have wanted it any sweeter - it was just right. I used a manuka-bush honey mix, not pure manuka honey.