The brats we picked up at The Ferndale Market were a winner, they were produced by Lorentz Meats which was featured in Omnivores Dilemma for their transparency into animal production and how they are butchered. They had good flavor and a bit of spice to them, we would definitely purchase these again. To go along with the brats we had corn from the market and it was super sweet and very fresh. A gigantic fresh heirloom tomato was also enjoyed, I love this time of year when we are still getting local tomatoes and corn and the apples are starting to be ready at the orchards as well.
I am off to give myself a much needed pedicure!
Mike had read about a market in Cannon Falls, which is about 30 minutes south of the Twin Cities and on our way home from Madison (depending on the route we take). Before we left on Friday we looked up the address and hours and planned on stopping on Sunday.
We pulled into Cannon Falls on around 12:30 and knew they would be open so we headed in, its a cute little market that caries local and organic meat, produce, baking mixes, pasta and sauces. The Ferndale Market has a great system for letting you know where the product is from and weather it is local, organic or both. Anytime you see a green label next to the price you knew it was locally grown! 
Our purchases today were 2 pounds of ground turkey, a whole chicken, ground beef, nitrate free pepperjack brats and some 2 year aged cheddar and corn on the cob. So excited for all of this! All the meat was sourced from humane farms near Cannon Falls and the animals were fed a good diet. The total for all of this was around $35, which I find relatively reasonable.
My afternoon snack was a Green Monster (well more like a Purple Monster) made with almond milk, 2 big handfuls of spinach, a banana, a handful of frozen organic blackberries, 1 squirt of agave, and a scoop of chocolate Amazing Grass powder. This monster was nice and thick and a nice treat after all of the other food I had eaten this weekend. The brats will be enjoyed this evening for dinner… I will be back with a review after dinner.
We had a blast last night with Jeff and Nicole at Eno Vino in Madison! The lighting wasn’t the best so I opted to not take pictures of the food. We started with a Thai Chicken Flat Bread and a Cheese Plate. These were the good items of the meal… after more wine we spit a stuffed chicken dish and goat cheese gnocchi. Neither of these were very good, which was disappointing. Everything else about the restaurant was great- the bar has two flat screen tv’s that we could check in on my Gophers (and they won!) and they had a great wine selection. The four of us shared a bottle of Brunello, another Italian Red and a Cline Zinfandel. I definitely had my fill of wine for the evening, thankfully it was only a few glasses since I am very slow wine drinker but it was enough. Around 11 we headed back to the hotel and crashed! It was a fun but very busy day.
7:30 seemed to arrive quickly, and we were both up so we decided to get ready and get on the road. Since we had the breakfast coupons we took advantage of all the offerings. The special today was an omelete, I had a ham and cheese one and some mixed fruit.
We left around 8:45 for the 4 hour drive and were able to avoid traffic but not road construction. A big portion section was down to one lane, so we just kept moving along. I read about half my book and even managed to sneak a nap!
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