Purple Potatoes

I met a new friend last Tuesday. Actually, it’s a new store. It’s been around for almost a year but it’s new to me. Why would I need a new store when I’m running out of savings and the prospect of a job is infinitesimal? Because it’s a produce store!

An old friend told me about Top Crop Produce in Venice, Florida. He mentioned they have purple potatoes. I had to go there! I made plans last Tuesday to go to “unemployment” which is about two blocks from the store. Top Crop was the most helpful part of the trip.

I went for purple potatoes and bought purple potatoes. The plantains looked perfect. All the lettuces looked perfect and very crisp. Everything in the store looked perfect. Nothing else could make me insist on taking it home. Such a narrow vision isn’t like me. I usually end up with one impulse purchase but not last Tuesday.

One last stop on the way home found some discounted meat. That’s been the bulk of my meat purchases lately. Found a small tray of ground round for less than the price of ground chuck and a large (for me) tray with five little loin end pork chops. I went home with plans for the week. Like most plans, they were flexible. This plan, however, had to include purple potatoes.

Tuesday night, after a lunch of Sunday’s leftover dinner with the addition of some steamed carrots, was a simple plate of boiled purple potatoes cut and covered with whipped butter. They were the best potatoes I’d eaten since I was a kid when my father dug a hole in the garden, filled it with straw, and planted potato eyes. The potatoes grew up clean but we washed them anyway. That garden was how I learned the taste of fresh vegetables and fruit. (Stuffing freshly-caught fish in the freezer to prepare for the ride home from Wisconsin was how I learned the taste of fresh fish. The fish swam in the sink at home before my father cleaned them. I never wanted frozen fish again.)

Top Crop Produce has become my choice as a farmer’s market. It’s open seven days a week. It’s air conditioned. I don’t have to prepare for an hour or more in the sun. (The parking lot is a short trip to the door. I may be sorry for telling others about it because I’ll need a hat and sunscreen for that trip.) And did I say they take requests? If they can get it and it’s local and good, they will. They also sell coffee in packages and by the cup. I hear it’s good. I don’t drink coffee so I don’t know but that doesn’t mean I don’t care.

What else did I do with Tuesday’s treasures? Haven’t found a job yet but did have a great dinner. I pan fried three pork chops in a dry non-stick pan with just a bit of salt and pepper. Then I used the same pan to fry some lardons, slices of bacon I happened to have in the freezer cut into about a quarter inch slivers. Leaving the bacon fat in the pan but taking out the lardons to drain on paper towel, I added some butter, about a tablespoon, half a small Vidalia onion cut into thin rings, and four ounces of sliced mushrooms (I used crimini) and cooked them until everything started to soften. Again, I boiled the potatoes while cooking everything else. The plate was simple. Two of the tiniest pork chops, one potato cut into wedges and slathered with more butter, the onion, mushroom, and bacon mix all put on a plate.

Izzy got a little pork chop, a couple of pieces of potato, some of the bacon, and a mushroom or two carefully cleaned of onion. We both gave dinner rave reviews.Wonder what I’ll get next week at my new BFF store. Think I’ll lift the limit a bit and buy more than one thing. That kale sure looked good.