Garden Fresh In Mid-December

It's freakin' cold here, y'all. Like 34 degrees cold. That might not seem so bad in some parts, but I'm not a fan. I like warm — no, make that sweltering — summer days when the humidity is so high you can barely catch your breath. I like the sunny Saturday mornings at the Memphis Farmers Market when juicy tomatoes and crispy cucumbers are beckoning me from cloth-covered booths.

So despite the subarctic temps (hey, 34 degrees is totally subarctic if you live down South), I braved the cold and rain last Saturday for the special one-time-a-year holiday farmer's market downtown. The holiday market features the same vendors who come to the summer market, which ended in October, but they sell winter produce and crafty holiday gifts. Having not had a farmer's market experience since October (and knowing there won't be another until April), this holiday market was like a shimmering light in the dark, dark tunnel of winter.

I even picked up a few hydroponic tomatoes from MicMac Farms. That was pretty much fate since I needed to test my Raid the Garden Spaghetti one last time for the cookbook's sake:

This homemade veggie-heavy sauce is obviously best made in the height of growing season. However, with cookbook deadlines looming, I had little choice but to test this sauce in frigid December. But thanks to those fresh tomatoes, you wouldn't even know this sauce was made out of season. It tasted like summer!

To really throw my seasons out of whack, I served my pasta with a side of raw Rainbow Kale Salad from 30 Minute Vegan. I just cranked up the heat and the gas fireplace, closed my eyes, and imagined myself in mid-July.

How do you overcome the winter blues? Are you into denial (like me) or do you embrace the cold days?