Local Lunch

Even though it's Labor Day weekend and I'm trying to stay far away from the computer, I'll try to post a few short things to keep my blog momentum going.

This morning started with a trip to Columbia's all-local farmer's market, which now has a permanent home at 701 Whaley Street. A cup of locally-roasted Turtle Creek coffee got my brain going enough to pick out some things to fashion into lunch for us.

We picked up a pound of Carolina Wild shrimp, a bag of local tomatoes, a couple loaves of Heather's bread, and Thai Oakleaf lettuce, among other things. I boiled, peeled and roughly chopped the shrimp, and then tossed it with a mixture of mayo, yogurt, lemon juice and Old Bay seasoning. I served it over the lettuce with a simple salsa of tomato, red onion, fresh basil (thanks Sean), champagne vinegar, lemon juice, a touch of sugar and salt/pepper.

I garnished the plates with a little extra basil and...here's what I ended up with.

It was quite nice, even better with a tasty glass of white wine and fresh, crusty, sesame semolina bread. I poured a couple glasses of Domaine du Vieux Chêne Viognier VDP de Vaucluse 2007, which I've blogged about before in this post. That's good stuff, as we say around here.

A great start to a four-day weekend. Here's hoping you're doing something fun and slightly decadent as well.