Pesto whole wheat penne and baked caprese salad.

Need I say more?

This photo is from last week . . . I haven’t snapped any of this week’s foods yet. Nonetheless, this was another hardy local meal — cept for the pasta, which wasn’t local. I resisted the urge to splurge on the superb fresh mozzarella and pesto again at this week’s farmer’s market. I am trying to keep it to one splurge a week — maybe that will be next week? That way, the splurges are special and don’t end up being wasted.

While inspecting the lettuce heads, I heard a familiar voice wafting through the stand. The farmer, a white-bearded man with kind eyes, was chatting with another local farmer — a woman with long sandy hair and freckles. She held a baby on her hip and laughed in the hearty, easy way she has since childhood. No, I am not making assumptions, she happens to be my cousin . . . Small town. So, of course I yelled over, “Hi, cousin!” It’s a phrase that has come into our vernacular in recent years. Her mother says it, her husband to my mother . . . just one of those things I guess.

Small town or not, it’s nice to see a sense of community forming at the farmer’s market this year that I haven’t seen in the past. The clam guy talks to the other vendors, complimenting one’s big, juicy, red tomatoes and recommending another’s delicious tarts . . . It’s nice to see.

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This week’s purchases:

2 tomatoes (plus a half dozen seconds that the farmer gave me)
1 head romaine lettuce
1 bunch Swiss chard
a handful of garlic scrapes
1 bunch radishes
about 3 cups baby spinach
1 pint strawberries
1 loaf rosemary bread
2 dozen clams

Total:$35