First customer.

My first customer for a custom Red Rover collar and lead for none other than Sparrow sister Ember in Maple Ridge. She's the perfect model since they are both a lovely red and the same size.

Steveston Farmers Market

Living in Steveston can sometimes make a person quite jaded... In the summer, we rarely go down to the dock unless its a week day to avoid the hordes of crowds. It's a cross we share with locations like White Rock, Kits beach, and likely any other tourist trap hocking a waterfront experience and ice cream flavored summers. 

I will make some exceptions however, like these last few weeks of Spot Prawn Season... I braved the unwashed masses to get my last batch of fresh sweet prawns.

Every other Sunday, one of the local business owners hosts a Steveston Farmers Market, and since we believed most non-locals had gotten Steveston out of their system during the Canada Day Salmonfest BBQ on Friday, we felt it was safe to ride down on our bikes to check out this year's market. (re: the Barbeque, the salmon lineup began at 9am!! the Philipino BBQ Pork Skewers were TEH WIN as usual, but the Church's Strawberry Rhubarb Pie - which is my whole reason for going... was disappointing.)

The usual suspects of jewellery, soaps, Belts, Granola, and produce... Pies at a shocking $14 a piece (John should be sooo grateful whenever I bake a pie!). We came across this delightful little bakery booth. Don't get my wrong, alot of the bakery booths are pedestrian, dry cupcakes, overly sweet cookies, and mushy pies, but this place was a cut above with their giant chocolate crumble cookies and ginger sparkles... also juicy looking pies and tarts. We opted to pick up tarts for dessert - Sour Cherry for John, Pear for me and Chocolate Pecan. All three were a huge hit. 

Also an impressive newcomer to the fair was a japanese potter. Her work was exceptional but above my price point ($80-$120 a bowl) Wish I had thought to take photos but often crafters do not like people to take photos of their product for fear of stealing their idea. I also met a gentleman leatherworker, whom I've managed to convince it would be FUN to teach me how to do leatherworking.... working my way up to making leather leashes and collars for Red Rover!  Can't wait!

I also came home with my usual Farmhouse Fresh Chevre from Agassiz. Check out this picture of a baby lamb from their farm. Cute right?

We were surprised to see La Brasserie at the Farmers market! Food carts represent!

We shared a sandwich, then savored fresh organic lime and mango ice pops (basically frozen organic fruit puree) from Soylent Green. Yummy, and I bet pretty easy to make, if I had the patience and will to peel and mash enough mangos to make a pop! In that moment, it was absolutely worth the money to enjoy the cool refreshing sweetness with my man and our bikes.

In true Ivy Fashion, I decided to cook a dinner last night without a recipe... Anything kicking around the kitchen...

Looking around the house, I had slim pickings. I had recently bought some fresh shrimp from steveston that afternoon, but after spending 30 mins peeling the tiny shrimp (and them disappearing into my mouth), I knew I wouldn't get enough to make an appy for one.I settled on a butternut squash I had scuttled away and set about roasting it in the oven at 350 until tender. I let it sit to cool a bit while I dug out the Pasta Machine.

I scraped out the soft pulp and tasted it... Roasted butternut squash is a good thing - sweet and caramelized, but its also bland so I seasoned in with cayenne and cinnamon liberally, feeling a bit of anxiety and remorse over seasoning with such gusto without trying it on a small amount of the pulp first. Nothing lost nothing gained, I supposed. Thankfully, it was delicious with a little bit of sea salt and fresh ground pepper to bring out the flavors. I then caramelized some white onion, shallots, and 4 cloves of garlic in a fry pan, then added them to the mix, with 4 drops of white truffle oil.

I whipped up a simple pasta dough, then cranked it through the machine at 2, 4 then 5 settings, to make long flat sheets of pasta dough. Carefully I used a small teaspon to stack the squash mash on the dough and formed the raviolis with a stamp careful to be as generous as possible without the ravioli leaking. 

Voila.

Home made Roasted Butternut squash and caramelized onions,shallot/garlic Ravioli. The recipe called for 2 mins of cooking, but it actually took 15 mins to get then tender. I would even dare make the pasta even thinner for a more tender product. I might try coloring a future batch with beets. Fun.

Served this with a Rose sauce, a dollop of fresh chevre, fresh parmesan, and bbqed italian sausage. While it was subtle, the white truffle oil was the secret ingredient to this dish adding an amazing depth and richness to an otherwise average meal. Highly recommend the investment in it as it lasts forever, due to being extremely pungent and only requiring a few drops here and there.