We took the leftovers home, to have for lunch tomorrow.  The portions from Firdous Express are pretty big . I ate most of the salad before the pic, and part of the main dish.  One meal, plus some hummus could totally feed two people, but we didn’t want to share.  We wanted leftovers for a lunch, cause that’s totally cool too.  Shopping and eating local, enjoying local music out on the patio – lovely date with my husband, even if it didn’t last a whole hour – I totally relaxed and forgot about all my work frustrations and stress (and recently,  boy there have been plenty).

One of my favorite things to do in the lovely weather is to sit outside and enjoy the company, the fresh air and good food.   Everyone should find their spot to sit back, relax and unwind and enjoy a date every now and then, I hope you take the time to.

His plan – to sneak off and pick me up a box of chocolates from the Pure Imagination Chocolatier while I stopped off at the Greener Grocer for some veggies, grains and dried beans – spelt and amaranth along with cranberry beans were some of my great finds.   We went to Mozart’s to see about cake.  I didn’t want a whole cake since it was just the two of us, so we went for a couple of slices from three different cakes for fun.  A must have was Jeni’s ice cream. I chose Lime Cardamom yogurt along with Wild Berry Lavender, my nutty husband chose Brown Butter Almond Brittle.  Spices from North Market Spices and a couple of take home pizzas from Clever Crow Pizza were the next stops before we got lunch from Kitchen Little.

This was our first time we chose our lunch from North Market Poultry and Game but it was a winner.  I had a bison pot pie in a wine reduction along with carrots cooked in duckfat and a thick slice of fresh bread.  My dear husband loves turkey and decided on the roast turkey with mashed potatoes and carrots plus a slice of bread also.  I recommend lunch fromNMP&G, they’re offerings change everyday based on what is delivered that day.  Such delicious yummy food,  Wow!!

After putting everything away and  basking in the sun, it was agreed that we should take our energetic dog and go for a walk to see some bison – only this time they were walking around the metro park.  It was a perfectly glorious day – the sun was shining, it was a little chilly, but not too cold and a lovely lovely day.  My husband tried to get a few photos, but we’re too far away for a good shot.

After dropping the dog off, we still had time for a movie.  Does it get any better than this?  Well, no – though it was disappointing when I had to call the theater to tell them to put the movie on because we were looking at a logo and nothing was happening.  My husband thought it was funny.

-  Hello Regal Cinemas Georgesville – how may I help you today.

- Hello, I’m calling from inside theater 13 and nothing is happening.  The movie was supposed to start about 8 minutes ago.  Do you think you could get someone to put the movie on?

- Well, yes, we’ll have someone do that right away – theater 13, is that where you are?

- Yes, theater 13.

- Okay someone will be right there.

Seriously, that’s the truth.

After the movie we went home to relax.  I wanted to cook a veal chop dinner with asparagus, but after the huge lunch and all the running around I didn’t want really do a lot of cooking, so we took out one of our Clever Crow Pizzas.  Another Wow!  A cornmeal crust, a layer of butternut puree, sliced red potatoes, cheese, carmelized onions, corn and green onions.  A perfect birthday dinner.  Dessert from Mozart’s – we had strawberry cake that was delicious.  I recommend their tiramisu too – it’s divine.

My husband, the sweetheart  I love, took on the task of singing Happy Birthday to me all by himself.  This is the first birthday both of my kids are away at school and aren’t here to celebrate, so he did it alone.  Isn’t he sweet?  I am thrilled to be turning 50, it seems like so much fun is ahead of me.  I’m trying to figure out where to go from here.  What should I do for the next fifty years?  My daughter came home last weekend(and then left again)  and after listening to our itinerary she said -” Who are you people and where did you get a life from?”   We haven’t decided what’s next on the agenda, but we’ve got a few ideas and it looks like a fun ride.  I’m Fantastic, Fabulous, Wonderful Fifty and I think it’s only going to get better from here on out.

The North Market is a public market on Spruce Street, just a few blocks north of Nationwide Arena.  It is filled with merchants, in individual market stalls.  Kind of an indoor open air market.  Dave Wilbe, the executive director of North Market gave us a brief background of the North Market and a tour of the building.  Dave is very personable and seemed to be a go to kind of guy that all the market owners and workers would call out to and let know they needed something, or had something nice to share with him. 

The North Market started as one of four public markets of Columbus that started 133 years ago and is the only one still surviving.  In 1948, the first building burned down and they were moved to a Quonset hut. A board was formed to protect and promote the vision of the North Market and in 1992, the North Market was moved to it’s current placement in downtown Columbus.  North Market is a not for profit organization, the property is owned by the city and it is staffed by four people who run its daily operations.  As we walked around, and Dave talked about the different shops, you could see how unique each shop is.  Also most of the shops source locally, in other words, most of the foods are from the local Ohio area.  That’s not to say that there aren’t exotics, because there are plenty of choices there also.  One of my favorite things about the North Market is that you can find plenty of organic, fair trade, artisan, handmade, homemade and specialty items. They also have really cool names for all of the shops, in fact, at the main entrance is a wall that holds individual cards for each shop with a description of the stall and it’s owner(s).

Some highlights:

• Hania’s Olde World Cuisine – one of the owners Hubert Wilamowski came out with a blueberry pierogie in a cream sauce that was absolutely divine.  He makes his own pierogies and developed this and the cream sauce himself.

• The Pasteria has lots of fresh and dried pasta, plus pasta dishes to nosh.  I asked about lasagna noodles, they had fresh sheets, which was great, so much faster and delicious too.

• The Greener Grocer - had a lot of organic, local produce and grocery store goods – including figs (read it and weep Deb), grains, milk, fruit and vegetables.  They had some purple carrots with a dressing that was delicious to sample. I went back and bought figs, raspberries, milk and faro.  Some of it for my Thanksgiving recipes, and others because I coveted them (figs and faro)

• There are so many ethnic eateries.  Italian, Polish, Vietnamese, Greek, Cajun (I know it’s not ethnic, but it’s there), Indian and Thai – were all represented. 
• Many startups – Many businesses start out at the North Market – because the quality of the goods is so wonderful they get national press.  Jeni’s ice cream and  Bubbles both are here and have been on morning shows.

• Dispatch Kitchen – Robin Davis films her cooking show for the Dispatch there, plus they have  cooking classes and a chef series .  I want to do this, it’s in my plan.  If I can get my husband to go to some classes that would be wonderful.

• There were non food items, wine, fresh local meat, fish, Belgian waffles and Pizza.  This is a go to place on your way home as well as dinner pick up or eat in place. Stop at Mozart’s for dessert, we did. Finish the table setting with fresh bread and flowers.

The North Market is a hustle bustle, happenin’ place. Upstairs is the dining area with tables and chairs.  What we found really cool is that you can look down into a lot of the shops and see them make pizza, cut meat, and prepare food.  It gives you a birdseye view and was fun to watch.  By the way – Dave says there’s wifi.  You could spend the day there.  Farm market time is on Saturday morning and continues until the farmers don’t have any more to bring in.  Plus they have events like the Ladies of the Market Cookie exchange December 3rd, and the Craft Extravaganza on December 5th and 6th. Last week, there was a leather show there. 

If you are in the area as a tourist, you should make the North Market your dinner destination. Seriously, if you are at COSI, the Art Museum, visiting the Statehouse, you can get here easily. If you work downtown, you are missing out by not stopping by.  Want fresh not frozen meat for dinner that hasn’t travelled 200 miles, come to the North Market.  What’s it missing?  It doesn’t have Hungarian Kolbas (though I suggested it should) and I couldn’t find a whole nutmeg, but I was able to complete the list I brought along otherwise. Visit North Market, you’ll fall in foodie love.

By the way – there are so many things I didn’t mention that I loved.  Go to their website and browse around, it’s pretty darn cool.