Seattle Visit: Ballard Farmer's Market Dinner

tags: Seattle Washington, Ballard Farmer's Market, fresh produce, fresh fish, wine, flowers

"Do you photograph every meal you eat?" Shannon sounded amused as I pointed my camera at the mushrooms in the frying pan.

"Well .. not exactly," I replied, thinking of all the meals that I had photographed, realizing that nearly all of them were meals I had eaten while traveling.

"After photographing parts of the Farmer's Market, it just seems to be the right thing to do, since we are now eating the spoils that we collected there."

I sat at Shannon's table and pushed the cheeses around on a plate, trying to get the perfect photograph.

A taste of cheese helped to inspire me. While I was photographing the cheeses, Shannon removed several fresh steamed beets out of the oven. The red beet was so dark that it was nearly black in color!

I also photographed the tomatoes, which, like the beets, included large fruits of both a deep red and a bright yellow color.

I've mentioned this before, but even though I am very allergic to tomatoes, I still eat them. In fact, I like to eat fresh, vine-ripened tomaotoes more than nearly anything in the world, including chocolate (I know; this is difficult to imagine, considering the depth of my fondness for chocolate).

Shannon also roasted fresh fish (halibut?) in olive oil with garlic (she removed the garlics before I managed to snap this picture, unfortunately).

By this time, several guests had arrived and the kitchen was getting crowded, so I focused my camera lens on the flowers that Shannon bought at the Farmer's Market.

And here's another close-up of the flowers;

Finally, dinner was nearly ready, so I put some of the food onto the table and managed to snap a picture before everything was eaten.

Not only was the dinner wonderful, but the day was perfect, capped off by a stunning sunset behind the Olympic Mountains that I photographed from Shannon's back porch.