Shout Outs: Abma's Farm, Ridgewood Farmers Market, Our Pool Company

Hi faithful readers! I've been absent for some time now because I've been working on two projects (a novel and an children's book) that have kept my keyboard very busy. I have been cooking, though and I'll share some of the successes and failures in the next installment. However, I know you all might think my blog is totally food-oriented, but it was not meant to be. It was meant to encompass all my 'finds' around town and further that might be of interest to other family-minded readers.

Well, I of course want to give a seasonal shout-out to Abma's farm. I've been there three times in the last few weeks and I tell you, you can't beat it. They have the only homegrown strawberries for miles around (although the season may be over now) and their salad greens, celery, arugula and other seasonal veg are delicious. So superior to supermarket veggies that come from God knows where, I can't imagine why the parking lot is not crammed to Sunday at Whole Foods proportions (maybe they aren't charging enough?)

Second, I want to say the Ridgewood Farmer's market is alive and well and filled with the friendliest and most helpful folks around. Last week, hubby wanted to take a hike and I said, 'Go ahead, I've been telling you to for years," but he meant the family kind so long story short, we got back to the 'Wood at 2:40 which was just enough time to race down to the market. The good folks there were packing up, which meant sort of slim pickings, but I'll tell you, they filled up my bag with lots of extras for free because they did not want to lug everything home.  

Now I can't recommend going late just for the freebies because the best stuff is what you want and that goes quickly. However, keep in mind that even if you go late, it's worth it.

Last shout-out is not food related. If you don't have a pool, you can be excused for the day. If you do, please check out Our Pool Company on Godwin Ave. in Midland Park (across from BK). I discovered them recently when our pool had gone all green and cloudy and gross. Mary Anne Brown, the owner, worked with me for probably three hours total, reading my pool water several times and advising me on how to best balance it. As it turned out, I had off-the-charts nitrogen which was messing with the salt cell. This she did for FREE, knowing that we use another company that has been most unhelpful.

The second thing that happened was our remote control went bockety. It was going to be (brace yourself) $1,000 to fix it and (gulp) $2,100 to replace it. Well, of course we said 'fix it.' But then a strange thing happened a few weeks later.  The remote was left on our porch and it mysteriously worked. I found out today that one of their technicians "refused to be defeated." He call Jandy and came to our house and did the trouble-shooting here. It worked and he saved us a ton of money.  

I really can't say enough about the level of professionalism and the caring service we have gotten from a company we don't even have a contract with. Not for long, though!

That's all for now, but I do have some lovely recipes to share soon.