DTR Anniversaries - Liberty Cafe and Common Ground Coffee and Cupcakes

Today was the day to be in the DTR corridor my friends. Both Liberty Cafe and Common Ground Coffee and Cupcakes were having anniversary celebrations and fun was to be had all around. Liberty Cafe celebrates a year in our fine, historic downtown Renton area and Common Ground Coffee and Cupcakes has been serving us for three years now. How quickly time passes when you are drinking caffeine and eating frosting yum yums.

Let me take you to the Market - Week 13

Jessie's Berries professed "We've got the Blues!" today at the Renton Farmers Market, and they most certainly did. Blueberries, blackberries, raspberries - luscious berries. Buy a little, buy a lot - every berry your little heart desired.

You know me - gotta plug the absolutely gorgeous $5 bouquets of flowers that are everywhere in our market. I have recently been down Pike Place Market way in Seattle, and let me tell you, our fleurs are more plentiful and wonderfully priced than those I glimpsed there (personal opinion, of course).

Future generation of flower shopper in the making.

Sign up to have delivery of milk and eggs directly to your home by Smith Brothers. First week that both eggs and milk have been available for purchase at the market - wonderful. Makes for a one stop shop approach at the market and helps add further appeal to our ever growing market selection. Want to find out more? Head to the Smith Brother's website.

Oh Fudge! has more than just candy to offer - this week, they had the largest squares of 7 Layer Bar Cookies imaginable and the price that could not be beat! $3! Don't lick the screen, it's bad for you.

Fall is coming - you can feel it in the air and the crops are beginning to change, and so are the fruits. I know that you can always find at least one vendor with apples, but I am already thinking of those cherries who are having their last week at the market, making way for other goodies to come. Like soon to arrive fresh fall apples.

Life is always colorful at the Market. That's why you should stop by.

I had never seen so many colors of carrots before until this week at Full Circle Farm - where all the produce is certified organic and all the colors are mesmerizing.

If you buy no other herb or spice than this, you will still have the best basic ingredient in your kitchen. Onions - they can make any savory dish taste even better

Free Range Eggs! Only $4 a dozen or bring your own egg carton and knock down the price by 50 cents. They looked so warm and fresh - straight from the hen.

Don't forget your veggies! I know that the tasty market desserts are calling your name, but not before you have your basic colorful greens and lycopene filled tomatoes first, please.

Music is always an element of the market. Sidewalk busking, guitar melodies making the shopping that much nicer. Today was supposed to be Public Karaoke at the microphone. Our citizens with singing skills were somewhere else this afternoon. I did not hear a peep or a squeak from the stage while skirting the edges of the booths. Okay - maybe that was for the best. I wouldn't want to accost anyone with my singing, maybe everyone else was being just as considerate.

Renton Farmers Market
Tuesdays from 3pm till 7pm
The Piazza/ S Third and Burnett

When the internet meets the real world - Renton Bloggers at large

Today was the day that the ethernet/internet materialized for one brief moment in time in Renton. The first Renton Bloggers Meetup took place at noon in the streets of the DTR . Although much publicised by Rich Zwicker, who called this meeting together, it was mostly just those of us who write on, about or around the topic of our little ole town that showed up, had coffee at Liberty Cafe and shot the shit.

A glaring exception would be RentonBen and Daves Not Here - notorious commentators on Randy Corman's blog Renton Community Update and occasionally weighing in at Rich Zwicker's Renton425 and Miss Lynar's AllaboutRenton blogs. The Picaroon avoids such verbal lacerations and shenanigans by monitoring the blog comments, left in the ever capable hands of Mrs. Heimlich Mortimer, staff Blog Monitor and spokesperson for The Picaroon at today's gathering. However, RentonBen must have sent a younger, more kind spoken stand-in today, for much to The Picaroon's (and everyone else's surprise) RentonBen was not as heinous as previously thought. He insists that a good 25% off his blog potty mouth is to incite a little blog blather, and seems to think that he comes off as a "liberal conservative" (huh?!!). Whatever the source of his diatribe, his persona today did in no way match his online caustic antics. This is rather a worrying conundrum - there is still more digging necessary to get to the bottom of RentonBen, but I don't have enough garden gloves to spare.

Brandie, Miss Lynar of AllaboutRenton, Mary Clymer of Happy Delusions Weblog and Mrs. Mortimer of The Picaroon.

The Picaroon was happy to meet a relatively new blogger to the Renton online scene, Rebecca Wright of the blog The Wright Up, whose link I will be syncing to my front page ASAP. Elizabeth Stewart of the Renton Historical Museum swung by to say "howdy" as did our Mayor Denis Law and Marcie Palmer with her photographer hubby Gary Palmer.

Mayor Denis Law, Randy Corman, Cathy Corman, Rich Zwicker, RentonBen and his son Alden, Freakazoid Freddy of the Displaced Hipster's Guide to Renton.

Blogging Celebrity status has it's perks - Mrs. Mortimer was dressed today by Deb of Girlfriend's Antiques,Gifts and Floral on S.Third St. Thanks Deb- our staff Blog Monitor looks great!

Bloggers meet in the real world

Mrs. Heimlich Mortimer

Noon tomorrow there is a few of us local bloggers that will be grabbing some coffee at Liberty Cafe and hanging at Happy Delusions, both to be found at the top of South Third Street in downtown Renton. Randy Corman from Renton Community Update, Rich Zwicker from Renton425, Lynar Deluca from AllaboutRenton, Mary Clymer of Happy Delusions Weblog and hopefully Freakazoid Freddy from Displaced Hipster's Guide to Renton and representing The Picaroon will be Mrs. Mortimer, our Blog Monitor. She won't be able to stay for too long, however - Mortimer needs his hourly dose of prune juice these days to keep regular, and there is always the daily dusting to be done, and the cats to be hand fed and the laundry to be folded - well, you get the picture.

Remember our date at the Market?

Today at the Piazza at the corner of S. Third and Burnett.
You promised to meet me there. I will wait from 3 - 7 pm, after that you are on your own, buddy! Don't make me watch the Chef Demo at 4:30 all by myself. It's Kid Talent Day today, and I am tempted to access the child within. One thing for certain, I will be shopping for the ingredients to the Pickled Jalapenos and Vegetables that Chef Bob Anderson served up at the Live Chef Demo on Mexican Heritage Day a couple of weeks ago. (Photos of that day here).

Pickled Jalapenos and Vegetables (Escabeche)

• 1 lb jalapeño chile peppers
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 2-3 medium white or yellow onions, thickly sliced
• 2-3 medium carrots, peeled and thickly sliced
• Florets from half a small cauliflower (optional)
• 1 head garlic, cloves separated but not peeled
• 4 cups apple cider vinegar, or White vinegar
• 2 Tbsp Kosher salt or sea salt
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 4 sprigs of fresh thyme or 1/4 teaspoon dried
• 1 Tbsp sugar

Wash the chiles, leaving the stems intact. Cut a cross in the tip end of each chile so that the vinegar will be able to penetrate the chile.

Heat oil in a large, deep skillet. Add the chiles, onions, carrots, cauliflower if using, and garlic. Fry over medium heat for about 10 minutes, turning them over occasionally.

Add the vinegar, salt, herbs, and sugar and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer 10 minutes. Make sure the chiles are entirely cooked through before canning. Add more sugar and salt at a 2:1 ratio to obtain the taste that you want.

Let cool and store in refrigerator for immediate eating and/or can following the process bellow

Pack 4 pint-sized sterilized jars with the chiles and vegetables. Top with the vinegar and seal. Process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.

Almost all the ingredients can be found at the Renton Farmers Market!!! Keep on the look out for new recipes featuring ingredients from the market!!!

Thank you to the Renton Farmers Market wonderful website that provided this lovely recipe. Click on the name above and go take a gander.