Yesterday we braved the cold to enjoy some sunshine and a rare day off from recipe testing.  Rick, Lucky and I headed to the lower east side for a free family portrait and to scope out one the year round greenmarkets at Tompkins Sq. Park.  

In an adorable little garden, aptly named, Creative Little Garden, Lucky did his best to ham up our family picture. Lucky worked hard all day Saturday supervising the baking and his antics were just the thing to remind us that all work and no play isn’t good for anyone. I was sure that in his playful mood, Lucky would find plenty of fur buddies to taste test the new recipes we worked on: salmon cookies and pumpkin squares. We found plenty of volunteers and even “picky” pups came back for seconds! I’ll get those recipes posted as quickly as I can.

Tompkins Sq Park isn’t exactly “close” to the apartment, but I wanted to see what I could expect from the greenmarkets as the weather gets colder. I found a real treasure at Ronnybrook Farm’s stand.  Their milk still sold in glass bottles but even better, while pasteurized it’s not homogenized -- so the cream floats to the top. Since I make my own yogurt, I’m always looking for high quality milk that is processed as little as possible. I can’t wait to start a new batch of yogurt!

Manhattan has several green markets open year round, so even in the winter is possible to buy local and support greenmarkets.

· Saturday: Abingdon Square, Inwood, Tribeca, Tucker Square & Union Square
· Sunday: 77th Street, Columbia & Tompkins Square
· Monday: Union Square
· Tuesday: Bowling Green & Staten Island Ferry/Whitehall Terminal
· Wednesday: Dag Hammarskjold & Union Square
· Thursday: Bowling Green, Columbia & Tucker Square
· Friday: 97th Street & Union Square

For location maps and listings for other boroughs check out the CENYC’s website