The first pears are in, the plums are sweet and the tomatoes are perfect - it must be September.
One of my favourite dinners at this time of year is bruschetta, and all the ingredients are fresh in the store.
Sweet tomatoes, fresh garlic and olive oil on rustic Italian bread, and perhaps a little of Axel's feta or pecorino. We have pine nuts too if you're making pesto out of your basil crop.
Plums are a great school snack. Kristy brought over a delicious plum streusal coffee cake the other day - ask us for the recipe.
Kelsey apologized for the shortage of sticky buns and white loaves last Saturday. She was rationing white spelt flour. The mill at Grass Roots Organics, where we both get our flour, generates its own power and its generator was "under investigation". Customers who were able to get one of the limited edition cheddar and sage breads were delighted - if there were ever one left for me I'd make a tomato, lettuce and summer sausage sandwich with it.
Grass Roots was having a challenging week because they were also waiting for a specialized part for their cereal puffer - a part the company said they could not sell to a Canadian!
Welcome to the fragile world of food provided by your neighbours. Soon your favourite multi-grain and kamut will be back with the puffed basmati, barley, millet and spelt on the shelves.
If there's anything you've seen out at Grass Roots that you'd like us to stock, just ask and they'll bring it in - same price as in Desboro. I've added millet, oat groats, spelt kernels and bulgur after just such requests. They'll also deliver large bags of flour or oats to Around the Sound for your convenience.
Cathy from Over the Moon Farm has brought us some 8 - 12 pound organic chickens - they'll make a week of back-to-school meals. Twin Creeks has brought schnitzels from their pastured pork, perfect for a hearty breakfast or quick supper.
If you had no luck at the Salmon Derby, we have pickerel, whitefish, lake trout and rainbow. Did I mention how good Ken's Wow Wasabi sauce is on fish? More Estevan tuna (truthfully the best I've ever eaten) is en route from Dianne (Cheadle) Deveraux in BC so we expect to add the olive oil and smoked varieties back to the shelf by the end of the week.
Look for Ron's full line of Windy Hill preserves - I particularly recommend trying the rhubarb and onion relish, on sausage or ham, or as a chutney with curry.
Last week I mentioned Tuesdays and Sundays, but I hadn't seen it myself. Now that I have I can honestly say it is a gem - 50 minutes that you will be so glad you spent in that lovely little theatre at Grey Roots.
My assistant David is back to McMaster for his second year - what a terrific help he was this summer. I won't be alone though - I'm very pleased that Owen, a grade 12 student from West Hill, will be working with us around his studies, and Susan will be back on Fridays after a little well-earned vacation time. This week please welcome Kelda who is visiting the store from Calgary.
Around the Sound is open Thursday and Friday from 10 until 7 and Saturday 10 until 4 at 972 1st Avenue West, one block north of the library. Call if you need anything special at 519-370-2333.
See you there.
Anne