Kendall Square Farmers Market

My first thought emerging from the T was "oh no...did I do it again?" There were no tents in sight, and I thought I had arrived again on the wrong farmers market day (it's already happened once). I worked in Kendall Square for a year, at a seafood restaurant and I remembered the farmers market being right there. Luckily, I have a smart phone and looked up the location, just to make sure. Well, turns out, the Kendall Square Farmers Market had moved to a different location this year, and soon I was on my way to some awesome food.

The new location is so much better. Actually, Kendall Square is so much better. Over the past couple of years, they've put in new restaurants, kayaking stands, a small river walk, a farmers market, and lots of new things happening in front of the Marriott Hotel (it looked like they were setting up for an outdoor concert when I walked by earlier). Before, it was surrounded by office buildings belonging to MIT and labs..."buildings we can't go into", a friend said once.

Kendall's Galaxy: Earth Sphere Fountain

So, what a location. 

As I approached the street that the market is located on, I noticed a walkway along the river. What? Since when is this a thing? How did I work in this area for a year, and never gone beyond the walls of the restaurant and nearby bars? (Actually, it's pretty easy). So, with my newfound curiosity of exploring the city, and my new motto to live life to the absolute fullest, I stumbled upon this awesome little area today, a year late. The market is nestled in a little area between greenery and cool looking buildings, right on this little body of water that leads right into the Charles. 

The farmers market is located along the Broad Canal Walk. 

Before entering the farmers market, I had to follow this little walkway to see where it went.
Note: it doesn't go far, but it's a relaxing walk. 

View from the walkway. Here we have a view of the canal, the walkway, the redline, the statehouse, and the Boston city skyline from Cambridge...just a hop, skip, and a jump across the river. 

I found a kayaking place! 

 Since I'm planning on doing a big haymarket thing in the next few days, I wanted to save myself (and my budget) for the produce. I began this morning with a 7 am run over to the Charles (slightly short of 4.5 miles), and so by the time noon rolled around I was starving...which isn't the best state to be in when buying food. There was a small line forming at the Swiss Bakers, so I went to see what that was all about. Specializing in Swiss food, notably Swiss bread, and even more notably, Swiss pastries, I was sold. I had a sandwich on a pretzel baguette. Who knew such an amazing concoction existed? I also may have purchased a raspberry Berliner that I may have devoured shortly before writing this post.

Enjoying a lovely afternoon by the water, despite the clouds.

Then things got a little nutty. That...is a terrible pun. I've seen Fastachi stands around the other farmers markets before, so today I decided to take a closer look. Most of their delicious looking bags of trail-mix type snacks had cashews in them, which is wonderful!...if you're not allergic to them. So I decided to try a small bag of cinnamon glazed almonds. I figured it will make a decent afternoon snack (a handful, not the whole bag). 

I also noticed on my way out, a stand that had the name Sharp Foods: Energy for the mind and body. Okay...and there's a twice baked granola seed and nut mix. Let's check that out. Sounds healthy, and I'm into that...well mainly anything with carbs and protein to have before and after I run. Well, it's sweetened naturally with honey...and contains whole grain oats, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, almonds, flax seeds, chia seeds, and a touch of cinnamon. They offered a sample of the granola and oh, yes. That's where it's at. We had a little conversation about chia seeds, since I recently found out how totally awesome they are, and left with a bag of my own. So yeah, that's the Kendall Square farmers market for you. Small, simple, local, by the water, and full of awesome people and food.

So now comes the time when I apologize for yet again missing about a week and a half between posts. Here's what else has been going on. Besides working.

I had the amazing opportunity to spend the day in Lenox, Massachusetts with my mom where I ran a clarinet masterclass at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute...

I spent many a summer at BUTI, and nothing beats warming up outside.

The Berkshires <3 

We got lost for over an hour, but with this scenery, what is there to complain about?

At local coffee shop/bakery Patisserie

Firefly. My favorite restaurant. Besides Betty's Pizza...It was the first day of summer, a Friday, and the longest day of the year. I definitely think I made the most of it. It was a day to certainly live life to the fullest, and one that I will remember for a long time. 

 The next day I got quite the unfortunate sunburn at the local beach...But hey, I got to spend another day with my mom relaxing, surrounded by beautiful Rhode Island beach.

 We celebrated by Grandma's 93d birthday!

And most recently, I've been preparing for our first performance of Cosi fan Tutte, happing tonight and tomorrow night, so if you're in Boston, come to Faneuil Hall. I'm performing with NEMPAC (North End Music and Performing Arts Center). Beautiful music, in a beautiful place.

Waitress by day, musician by night. 

Oh yeah. I got to Cosi rehearsal early one day, to find the entire BSO Brass Section and newly appointed music director Andris Nelsons outside ready to play. It was a short concert, because he had to go throw the first pitch at a Red Sox game (not a big deal at all), but not before I was able to shake his hand and tell him I was really excited for this season at Symphony Hall, casually mentioning that I am also a musician. By the way...he has really soft hands. 

 Last but not least, as you can see, I'm helping out a friend store her mattress for the summer. My bed is now complete. I'm just glad she left a step stool for me.

So yes, I've been busy, busy, busy...but so far this summer has been awesome, awesome, awesome. I'm probably going to be bombarding you with posts about farmers markets all weekend, since I have performances at night, and time during the day...and also since this month is coming to an end quicker than I imagined.
So for next month, will I continue the farmers market excursions, or should we do something else? I guess you'll find out...when I decide :)

Have a good day, and come to my performance!

p.s....
I should also add two movies that I highly recommend. Let's just say that if Farinelli was around today I would marry him, and if Meryl Streep ever runs for Prime Minister, she gets my vote.

Farinelli, a movie for the musicians and music lovers. Great music, and probably highly romanticized story, but so good, nonetheless. And of course, nothing like a movie about Margaret Thatcher, who died just a few months ago. I was curious to see this movie before, mainly because Meryl Streep is the best, and it was definitely worth it.