Monday Markets and Strawberries

It was a perfect day today, it even managed to get sunny for a while. I started out by walking to the Union Square market to get some shade plants for Neil's plot at our community garden La Plaza Cultural. I also picked up some asparagus and a quart of Strawberries.
I love the Monday Market at Union Square, it's got a great collection of farmers, some of whom are only there on Monday and when you add in the laid back vibe minus the mob scene of the Saturday market and I think Mondays are my favorite. If you haven't had a chance to sample the first Strawberries of the season don't wait, they are the best we've had in a few years and well worth gorging on while you can.

After our gardening adventure Neil headed off to work and I headed home, I had eaten all day and was starving! My search for the perfect salad on the Lower East Side lead me to Inoteca where I had a very gratifying and delicious lunch.

Even though I really shouldn't have I had two courses, the first was a wonderful crunchy, spicy chewy salad of calamari and celery with a spicy tomato vinaigrette.
I inhaled it and then pondered how to make a tomato vinaigrette.
The second course was an eggplant lasagna (no noodles) with goats cheese and top with melted grana padano. It was rich and unctuous and totally delectable.
I didn't have any wine or dessert, but certainly the wine list looked very extensive and the people next to me were raving about whatever it was they were drinking. Of course they were also regaling the restaurant about how there mother freaked out on Thanksgiving because someone did her last line of coke and she had a melt down and started yelling at her daughter (the one eating lunch at Inoteca and telling the story). I thought it was peculiar that we now live in a time where adult twenty something children have relationships with their parents whereby they can have such an open knowledge of each others drug use. I personally don't think I would want to have know if my mother was doing coke. Nonetheless it made for a very entertaining overheard lunch time conversation.