Waukesha Farmers' Market

Last weekend, my parents and I decided to get up early Saturday morning and head out to the Waukesha Farmers' Market. I had only been to it once before this season, so I was due for a trip. 

The farmers' market runs every Saturday from May to October, 8 am to noon on Riverfront Plaza. If you aren't familiar with the road, it is one block north of Main Street along the river. The road is now closed off completely on Saturdays due to the increased size of the market. If you can find the river in downtown, you found the market. 

We parked at my job because I had to drop off my bike for a bike/bar crawl later that night and just walked over. But if you park in the parking lots by the former antique malls, be ready to donate $1 to a great non-profit organization. Because the antique malls are no longer open, but the property is owned by a private company, they need to instill the parking codes still. Berg Management manages the lots and decided to offer up the lots to different organization to collect funds each weekend. High School activities and athletics have been fortunate to reap the benefits of this collection already. If you aren't willing to pay $1 to park, there is still plenty of free parking throughout downtown Waukesha, you may just have to walk a bit further. 

We started by visiting the two booths on the north side of the river. This leaves room for plenty of expansion for the market. One of these booths was the only booth at the market to have any fresh dill as we found out when my dad was asked by every person walking by where he got his dill. The other booth was a jewelry booth that makes really cool bracelets from license plates. You have to see them to understand but I hope to get one before the market is done this Fall.

Yummy mixes at the Waukesha Farmers' Market

 We crossed the river by Main Street Plaza and headed into the market. The market literally has everything - vegetables, fruit, plants, flowers, bread, meat, eggs, jewelry, soap, honey, clothing and more. And each week its a little different too.

Fresh produce at the Waukesha Farmer's Market

Jewelry at the Waukesha Farmers' Market

We stopped at Decatur Cheese first because I remember trying the cheese at the Fort Atkinson market and it was delicious. We bought some muenster and we found a cheese curd that my mom didn't mind - ranch flavored white cheddar curd. We didn't buy any but it went on the list.

Decatur Cheese at Waukesha Farmers' Market

I was on a mission to get some fresh local produce for a Greek dip (found via Pinterest) I was making for my MKEFoodies picnic the next day (more on that to come next week). I needed cucumbers, dill and red pepper. We found some gigantic cucumbers, mini peppers and of course the dill. My parents got tomatoes, the cheese, pickles, the dill and a mixed basket of onions. The pickles are currently sitting in a crock in the kitchen doing their pickle thing. I can hardly wait to have one!

Local produce at the Waukesha Farmers' Market

I also bought myself a spinach asiago mini bread and my mom got an oatmeal raisin cookie that we called breakfast. I got the bread after having a bite off my friend Carolyn's a few months prior at the market and it was heavenly. The cookie was gone after I was handed just one little piece so I'm guessing no complaints.

Beautiful quilt at the Waukesha Farmers' Market

Some of the local downtown restaurants and shops are setting up as part of the farmers' market as well and I find this a really smart idea. Montecito restaurant had plenty of ooey-gooey desserts that looked delicious, Oh What A Day Cupcakes had a small booth with some of their offerings, The Steaming Cup had tea and coffee available, the Record shop on Clinton brought out some of their CDs and DVDs to sell, Plowshare had a booth with baskets and Key Westconsin serves up breakfast seeing as they are on Riverview Plaza. There may have been others, I might have just missed them.

If you get a chance, I highly recommend checking out this market. On Sept. 8 is the annual Art Fest in Waukesha that closes down Main Street with local artisans on display. Come make a day of Waukesha, enjoy the farmer's market, some breakfast/brunch/lunch and then the Art Fest and come see what Waukesha is all about.

MKEFoodies Holiday Bake Sale

Image from cookiesforkidscancer.org

 

This coming Saturday is the MKEFoodies Holiday Bake Sale that supports Cookies for Kids' Cancer. I am very excited to be a part of this amazing event. Area bloggers and friends are working hard this week to bake delicious holiday treats that will be sold at the bake sale. We do the baking, you buy the treats and make a donation to a great organization. Treats are sold in various sizes and packaging that could be easily given as a gift with no work on your part.

About Cookies for Kids' Cancer:
From the website "Cookies for Kids' Cancer, a 501(c)3 non profit, was founded by parents inspired by their son Liam's battle with cancer. They were shocked to learn that the main reason over 25% of kids diagnosed with cancer do not survive is because of a lack of effective therapies. And the reason for the lack of therapies was very simple: lack of funding. They pledged to support the development of new and better treatments by giving people a simple way to get involved."

The organization's mission is to Cookies for Kids' Cancer is committed to raising funds to support research for new and improved therapies for pediatric cancer, the leading cause of death by disease for children under the age of 18. Through the concept of local bake sales, Cookies for Kids' Cancer provides the inspiration and support for individuals, communities, and businesses to help fight pediatric cancer. 

This November and December, Cookies for Kids' Cancer's long standing partner, the Glad products company, will match up to $100,000, one cookie at a time.   We will count baked goods are sold at our event and report the number, as well as the total $ raised, to gladcookies@cookiesforkidscancer.org when the event is over. Every cookie counts, every dollar counts.   

Here are the details of the Milwaukee Event

MKEFoodies Holiday Bake Sale
When: Saturday, December 10
Time: 12 pm - 4 pm
Where: Best Place at the Historic Pabst Brewery
901 W. Juneau Ave.

Here is the Facebook page and please share it with your friends to let them know about the sale.
If you can't attend, but would like to donate, click here for the donation page

This next week, I will be baking a lot and hoping to blog about all the yummy treats that I came up with for the event. A few highlight that I know for sure I'm making are cocoa gluten free cookies from A Gluten Free Frenzy, gum drops and snickerdoodles. I'm still looking through a few other recipes as I really want to raise a lot of money for this group. I'm very excited to package them up as I found a ton of pretty bags, boxes, cups, etc. to put everything in and look very festive.    

About a year ago, I was introduced to the #mkefoodies group via Twitter and attended a few events in the past year. About once a month, the group gets together at a Milwaukee food establishment and we get to sample some of the food that makes the restaurant famous. There are usually drink deals for the group and just being around people that enjoy talking about food as much as I do, really increases the experiences. I have made new friends and introduced a few of my friends to the group. I am looking forward to attending more events in the future and possibly getting the #mkefoodies to come to a Waukesha establishment for food and drinks. I think that Waukesha has a lot to offer that they may not be aware of.

So check back to my blog for updates about the event and recipes I'll be cooking up. Until then - Happy Eating!