Summertime and Simple Pleasures at the Farmers' Market

Hope you cruelty-free dads had a Happy Father's Day. While I spent yesterday with, who else, dad, the prior Sunday morning, I stopped by Tenafly, NJ's Cafe Angelique.

On their outdoor patio, I enjoyed a vegan strawberry peach muffin and a soy cappuccino.

Afterwards, I hit the Tenafly Farmers' Market, which is open every Sunday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. from now until November 21st. NorthJersey.com visited the market as well, and Second Helpings provided this list of other northern New Jersey farmers' markets.

I spotted this organic produce vendor, along with an organic bread vendor.

I love the delightful marriage of strawberries and...

...rhubarb. Veganize strawberry rhubarb pie, or check out this recipe for rhubarb bread.

One vendor had samples of sugar snap peas. Sauteed in olive oil, with some fresh mint and a touch of salt. So simple, and so good!

In "A Pig in Provence," Georgeanne Brennan talks about the pleasure of eating radishes with butter and salt. I'll have to try this, but with Earth Balance.

While Brennan is far from being a vegetarian, I did appreciate the themes she talked about in the her book: seasonal eating, appreciation for food, and being connected to the land, people, and our past through food.

She writes that in Provence they "Prepare not just good food, but food that lives on in memory, refueling the spirit each time it is eaten. In listening to people recount their food memories around a table, I’ve seen their eyes glow and their body language soften with the telling of the taste, smell, and texture of a beloved dish, and heard the smack of lips in reply."

Americans seem to so often associate food with guilt. How many times have we heard someone say, "I shouldn't have eaten that" right after they've eaten?

While I haven't checked it out yet, Port Authority Bus Terminal commuters can now shop at a year-round greenmarket, open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m, for fruits, vegetables, and other goods from Katchkie Farms in Kinderhook, NY, and Prospect Hill Orchard in Milton, NY. Learn more. The Daily News gave a spy report of the greenmarket. Read it here.

Happy Summer.

European Flair (and Vegan Food!) at Cafe Angelique

Whenever I go to Cafe Angelique in Tenafly, NJ, I feel like I'm transported back to Zurich, Paris or some other desirable European city. So it was fitting my recent visit there was after catching "Shall We Kiss?" a French film at the theater across the street.

Located in a restored railroad station, this charming cafe also has outdoor seating. On a leisurely, sunny weekend afternoon, I enjoyed the Vegan Angelique: avocado, greens, tomato and olive tapenade on toasted seven grain bread, served with a mesclun salad, $9.95, and a lemonade with fresh mint, $2.75.

I didn't have room for their chocolate whiskey cake, $7.50, which the waitress said was vegan. Sounds intriguing, although a bit pricey. Soy is also available if you want to indulge in a cappuccino, although they charge 40 cents extra. Definite discrimination, but at least they have it as an option.

Visit Cafe Angelique, 1 Piermont Rd., Tenafly, NJ. They have two New York City locations: 49 Grove St. and 68 Bleecker St.