This Week at the Market: Cakes by Ruthann

What's a party without cake? Cakes by Ruthann will have an assortment of dessert (pineapple upside down cake, rum cakes, and cookies) as well as their absolutely delicious homemade Sorrel, Ginger Beer, and Caribbean Limeade. And when you have worked up an appetite with all that partying, you'll want hot Jamaican patties (beef, curry chicken and spinach) -- Cakes by Ruthann is geared up for celebrations this Cheverly Day at Cheverly Community Market. Stop by for all sorts of wonderful Jamiacan treats to make the day yummy!

Get your Cheverly Day 2013 T-Shirts at the Market!

Have you seen the design for the 2013 Cheverly Day T-Shirt? We think Pat Nelson has outdone herself this year. We're very happy to welcome Pat to Cheverly Community Market as part of Cheverly Day festivities -- you'll be able to purchase your very own t-shirt and wear it all day long!

The shirts, inspired by an iconic New Yorker cover, are white cotton, and include "Best Place on Earth". They're just $12 and proceeds go toward continuing Cheverly Day activities for years to come. Shirts will also be available at the Midway throughout Cheverly Day, but be first among your friends to get this great annual memento!

Cheverly Day website
Cheverly Day blog story about the t-shirts and Pat

This Week at the Market: Two Oceans Seafoods

We're always glad to see Gaylord Clark of Two Oceans Seafoods. In 2003, after 18 years living and working in the Pacific Northwest, Gaylord and his wife, Lee Ann, returned with their two daughters from Seattle to the family farm outside of Baltimore. In the same year, they started the company which has become Two Oceans True Foods, Inc. At the heart of the company are two distinct businesses with a common purpose: healthy, sustainable foods of the highest quality. With that purpose in mind, the farm grows heritage and broad-breasted turkeys and free-range chickens for meat and eggs; and the seafood business which derives from Gaylord’s thirty-year involvement in commercial fisheries on both the East and West coasts. He continues to participate in the commercial salmon fisheries with our vessel, the Jack of Hearts, in Bristol Bay, Alaska, home to the world’s largest, sustainable wild sockeye runs.

Gaylord brings delicious salmon, smoked salmon, mahi mahi, halibut, ahi, scallops, chesapeake rockfish, and cod, as well as free-range chicken and eggs, olive oils, vinegars, and honey to us -- make sure to stop by and stock up at Two Oceans -- lots of good food for grilling! 

Need some recipe ideas for fish? Visit us on Pinterest.

Music at the Market: Nicole Saphos & Ele Rubenstein

photo via Nicole Saphos website

photo via Silver Spring School of Rock

We're very happy to welcome jazz musicians Nicole Saphos and Ele Rubenstein to Cheverly Community Market for an abbreviated set (10am to noon) this Saturday!

A California native, Nicole studied jazz bass and vocal performance at Temple University in Philadelphia. Since emerging onto the DC jazz scene, Saphos has established herself as a compelling and skilled bassist/vocalist. Ele studied drum set and jazz performance at Temple University, earning his degree in musical performance. He has performed at many notable venues in Philadelphia, Washington D.C., and New York City, including the Black Cat, the Rock & Roll Hotel, Twins Jazz, Chris's Jazz Cafe, Ortlieb's Jazzhaus, The Kimmel Center, Lincoln Center for Jazz in NYC, Bohemian Caverns, and Blues Alley, among others.

Please hep us welcome these wonderful performers to Cheverly Community Market!

Community Groups at the Market: American Legion Auxiliary Unit 108

image via American Legion Post 463

Thanks to Aimee Olivo and Lane Thompson, we've recently become aware of a lovely tradition: the placing of small handmade poppies on the graves of United States veterans on special national days of remembrance. Since 1921, the American Legion Auxiliary has had a Poppy Program. On Memorial Day and Veterans Day, millions of red crepe paper poppies — all handmade by veterans as part of their therapeutic rehabilitation—are distributed across the country in exchange for donations that go directly to assist disabled and hospitalized veterans in our communities.

We learn more about the tradition of poppies from the American Legion Auxiliary website:

"From the battlefields of World War I, weary soldiers brought home the memory of a barren landscape transformed by wild poppies, red as the blood that had soaked the soil. By that miracle of nature, the spirit of their lost comrades lived on. 

"The poppy became a symbol of the sacrifice of lives in war and represented the hope that none had died in vain. The American Legion Auxiliary poppy has continued to bloom for the casualties of four wars, its petals of paper bound together for veterans by veterans, reminding America each year that the men and women who have served and died for their country deserve to be remembered. 

"The poppy, as a memorial flower to the war dead, can be traced to a single individual, Moina Michael. She was so moved by Lt. Col. McCrae's poem, "In Flanders Fields," that she wrote a response:

. . . the blood of heroes never dies
But lends a luster to the red
Of the flower that blooms above the dead
In Flanders' Fields.

"On impulse, she bought a bouquet of poppies – all that New York City's Wanamaker's Department Store had – and handed them to businessmen meeting at the New York YMCA where she worked. She asked them to wear the poppy as a tribute to the fallen. That was November 1918. World War I was over, but America's sons would rest forever "in Flanders' Fields." Later she would spearhead a campaign that would result in the adoption of the poppy as the national symbol of sacrifice."

Please join Cheverly's American Legion Auxiliary Unit 108 this Saturday at Cheverly Community Market table. They'll have membership application materials and will distribute poppies (paper lapel types, handmade by disabled veterans) for a donation, which go to a fund for veterans' rehabilitation programs (mainly VA hospitals).

This Week at the Market: Martha's Jams

We are great fans of Cheverly's own Martha Allen and her wonderful jams and preserves. Have you tried her spiced blueberry? Absolutely delicious! Martha's Jams are a great secret ingredient, too. Add a bit of the hot peach to your shrimp, pork or tofu glaze, stir a little spiced blueberry into your cocktail, brush pineapple and a little hot sauce on those chicken legs...use a little cherry in those homemade pop-tarts. Whatever you do, we promise we won't tell. And don't forget to stock up on a few extra jars...of course, it's great on toast, too.

We're excited to have the option of smaller jars, too. It's a great way to sample all sorts of new flavors without that nagging fear of commitment. Honestly, who doesn't have a jar or two (or four) of something in your fridge that you thought would be your new favorite but just turns out to be not to your taste? The other great thing about the small jars? They're the perfect amount for a weekend. Have a little on your morning toast, a dab over some cheese at cocktail hour and incorporate a bit in that great marinade or glaze in your super-secret BBQ or grilling recipe. I'm looking at you, Hot Pepper Jelly.

So buy a big jar of your favorite -- it's time to start thinking about those school lunch bags again -- and a smaller jar or two of something you've wanted to try. You'll be happy you did.

From classic to daring combinations, there's something for everyone!

Community Groups at the Market: Cheverly Compost Program

Get your Compost Bins this Saturday at Cheverly Community Market! Additional compost bins have arrived, and 50 will be available at the Market. 

The Friends of Lower Beaverdam Creek, the Cheverly Garden Club, Progressive Cheverly, and the Town are working together to make SoilSaver compost bins available to Cheverly residents for just $20 (regular price up to $99.98 at Amazon and other locations). The low price has been made possible by grants from the Town of Cheverly, the Cheverly Garden Club, and Progressive Cheverly. This is a comprehensive plan to encourage all residents to compost. The Composting Program has already reduced Town tipping fees and improved overall waste management. You’ll also produce great compost to amend your garden, bushes and lawn. The goal is to place 400 bins over three years that will save the Town over $56,000 in tipping fees over the next ten years.