Shopping Local Chicago Style

Luckily, Bev loves a good challenge and shopping for local fare, so 

she set out on a mission to find a place where we could get some 

local veggies.    As it turns out, there is a year round "farm stand" in Downtown Chicago that is aptly named Chicago's Downtown Farmstand.  This centrally located store front had a variety of vegetables, eggs, butter, cheeses, prepared foods  and locally made products.  It's even run by the city!

We bought spinach and shitake mushrooms as well as some wonderful apple butter.  There were beautiful baked goods and we bought bunny cookies and handmade marshmallows for their kids' Easter baskets. We also bought lollipops from Das Foods that come in crazy flavors like maple bacon (named "Man Bait) and ginger ("Naughty Ginger").  It'll be interesting to see what they taste like - the names are a scream.

I was particularly interested in some spice mixes from The Spice House.  Each spice mix  represents a different ethnic neighborhood  in Chicago.  I bought 4 at $2.00 each (which seemed like a great deal):

Bridgeport Seasoning - representing an Irish neighborhood, good for potatoes and steamed veggiesGreektown "Billy Goat" Seasoning for making gyro sauce or sprinkling on chicken, fish or pork chops.Back of the Yards Garlic Pepper Butcher's Rub - great for steaks, chops, chicken and roastsBronzeville Rib Rub for baby back ribs.I can't wait to get home and try out the spices.  I think I'll use the rib rub on some of Countryside Farms wild boar ribs (stay tuned for that recipe).

After the Farm Stand, we headed to a cheese and wine shop called Pastoral.  They carry cheeses from around the world, but had a number of cheeses made nearby in Wisconsin, Michigan and even Nebraska.   We bought a Carr Valley Billy Blue, aWisconsin goat's milk blue cheese that was incredible, and a Zingerman's Creamery Lincoln Log, another goat's milk cheese but from Michigan.