Saturday was a fun and successful day for me at the Troy Waterfront Farmers Market. I got to catch up with some vendors I haven’t seen forever, look around to see what new things are available at the market, and I got to meet a lot of customers. Marty said most of the customers we had in the morning were new to the market, so we both got to meet them.
The highlight of our day was when a young couple came to buy spatzle. They came the week before, and Marty gave the whole spatzle spiel. Besides getting more spatzle, they wanted to show us a video of their daughter; I’m guessing about 15 months old trying the spatzle for the first time. She watched her parents show us the video, I gave her a wink and a smile behind my mask, and she lit up. In the video, sitting in her highchair, she was eating her spatzle from a bowl, using a fork better than some adults. Then she said how much she like it. It was one of those moments that keeps us connected to our customers; it keeps us pumped up that so many people love our product. The ultimate testament to “Spreading the Spatzle Love!”
When they went into their daughter’s room that morning when she woke up, the young couple said that she must have known it was Saturday since both of them were there. The first words out of her mouth were, “Go get more spatzle today?” I can’t even put into words how special this makes us feel.❤️
Another great moment was when a group of big, tall, polite guys from RPI College came back to thank Marty for hooking them up with spatzle the week before. These guys are all brilliant geniuses majoring in Aerospace, Aeronautical, and Astronautical Space Engineering. They come to the farmers market to buy food to cook for themselves. RPI is within walking distance of the farmer’s market in Troy.
They all kept saying how amazing the spatzle was with some pesto they got from another vendor called Buddhapesto. Their pesto and our spatzle is a match made in heaven. The guys were walking around the market picking out dinner. Suddenly a cute blonde guy walked up to our table, smiling ear to ear. He held up a bag of a whole chicken. That’s what he picked to make for dinner. The rest of them were looking to see what they were going to get to make.
How great is this? These guys were all clean-cut, preppy college sophomores, and the fact that they cooked for themselves with local and fresh ingredients made me want to hug each of them. Of course because of covid I couldn’t. They were all sad that they would go back home in 2 weeks and miss the market and our spatzle. They all totally reminded me of my son Sam who grocery shops, picks up what’s on sale, and makes real dinners for himself or friends every night.
Another customer group came by and told us with somber faces that the vendor that sells Swedish Meatballs were sold out already. They were planning on the meatballs with our spatzle for dinner. Two of the people didn’t cook and were beside themselves with what to do. We gave them a couple of suggestions, let them take photos of our recipes on our display table, and sent them away with enough encouragement to handle Saturday night dinner.
They were not even 2 feet from our tent when I said to myself, “Dammit, now I have to have Swedish Meatballs!” It’s all I’ve been thinking about since Saturday afternoon. Yesterday I pulled out a package of meatball mix from the freezer and planned to make them.
Mid-day, I got a text from our friend Martin who lives across the street. Would we like to come for dinner? When a chef invites you for dinner, you don’t decline. When a friend is a widow and only eats real meals when he cooks for someone else, we would never decline. So I threw the meatball mix into the fridge for the next day; we enjoyed T-bone steaks with potatoes and asparagus. The highlight of the night was watching Martin make a Zabaglione with fresh berries. It was delicious, and I also love watching how 3 ingredients…egg yolks, sugar, and marsala wine can be whipped into a light Italian custard—a home run of a dessert that I have yet to make myself.
I love, love, love Swedish Meatballs! My Swedish Meatball recipe is from my 1950s Betty Crocker Cookbook. It’s a recipe I don’t screw around with, except instead of adding boiling water, I add beef stock. Swedish Meatballs always remind me of the store Ikea. You can smell the Swedish Meatballs as soon as you set foot on the crazy maze that leads you through the gigantic store. Ikea has a cafeteria in the store and has other Swedish food on the menu. The last time we were there, Swedish food items were available frozen to take home and enjoy. Since we had to go gluten-free and there aren’t any Ikeas in our area, I haven’t had their meatballs in over 25 years.
Now it’s after 8;30 pm, and I am waiting for Marty to get back from a rescue squad call. We were going to eat at 6:30 pm, but tonight he is on call. I have everything made and just have to reheat everything. I am sipping a gorgeous Rose wine while I am typing this blog post. On the menu tonight…Swedish Meatballs, Cauliflower Mash, and Broccoli Au’Gratin. I can’t wait to dig in!
*** We finally had dinner at 9 pm. It was exactly what I was craving, try the Betty Crocker recipe (photo above) if you are now craving Swedish Meatballs too. 😉
I remember loving the Waikiki meatballs from the Betty Crocker Cookbook. That was our go to cookbook when I was a kid. Great memories!
Julz, now you have me craving Swedish meatballs! Go figure! Great article. Love your enthusiasm and zest!