bruschetta + brussel sprouts + salad

We got to go to San Antonio's Pearl Farmers Market. San Antonio has 1.3 million residents. The town in Oregon that we moved from has roughly 50,000. That being said, the Farmers Market in SA was not too impressive. It was about 1/3 the size I'm used to. Buuuuuuut, it was a Farmers Market and I was completely grateful. We bought those lovely brussel sprouts you see and an awesome sourdough batard (loaf), as well as a beatiful, still-roots-on basil plant.

Is basil not one of the most intoxicating smells on this planet?

I chopped up some tomatoes, kalamata olives, garlic and basil and thew them in a bowl. I squeezed half a lemon over them all and added some salt and olive oil. While I made the green salad (romaine and carrot, it was very difficult) I let the mixture marinate. I grilled some thick slices of the sourdough, piled on the tomato mixture and sprinkled mozzarella on top. After a few minutes under the broiler, my bruschetta were finished.

I had never cooked brussel sprouts before. I followed Alton Brown's method and they turned out tasty. In hindsight I should have trimmed the hard stems off but we just ended up holding them by the stems and biting the tender baby cabbages off. It's always funner to eat with your hands, right?

Salad = good enough = nothing special = borderline boring.

Very yummy meal. I ate two slices of bruschetta, but I couldn't fit them both on the plate at the same time. Technically that means I went back for seconds, but I'm pretty sure that doesn't count. It's one of those "spirit" rather than "letter" of the law situations, I think. Don't you?