newbo city market

There is seriously no better way to spend a raining Sunday than walking around a huge market full of unique, local, and delicious food vendors.

And that is just what Nic and I did this afternoon.

After a morning of baking, we made our way up to Cedar Rapids to check out the new NewBo City Market.

Despite the dreary weather, the market was packed with people checking out this fresh & fun environment:

The NewBo City Market is a dynamic public space where local entrepreneurs create an environment of fresh, wonderful food, products and experiences. Located in a reclaimed, flood-ravaged industrial site in the heart of Cedar Rapid’s New Bohemia district, it is a public market serving “Fresh Fun,” and all are welcome.

We wound our way through the market, checking out all of the vendors prior to making any purchases. Our first stop was Roasters Coffeehouse for a quick pick-me-up. Quality coffee (dirty chai for me, and the usual hazelnut latte for Nic), plus their non-dairy milk of choice was almond milk, which is a plus in my book.

A case chock full of colorful pasta caught our attention next, and we made a b-line for Pappardelle's Pasta. This might as well have been a case full of jewels; each case had us mesmerized trying to decide on a few to take home and try.



Our first choice was a no brainer for Nic, a unique spicy red hot curry orzo.



And then we selected to take home 1/2 pound of the owner's favorite (of the month) tunisian harissa fettuccne.



And lastly I decided to take home the first thing that caught my eye, sweet potato pappardelle. Curious on how to prepare it, the owner suggested a simple browned butter sauce, a sprinkle of brown sugar and topped with a few caramelized walnuts. Who's coming over for dinner??

Always on a quest for delicious bread, we stopped at Betty & Bobo's Better Bread.



All of the options looked delicious, but we practiced self restraint and brought home only one loaf - Barb's seed bread. A wheat based bread with millet, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds...and one other.

Our last purchase had me conflicted. Not really, because it was so delicious. How can you resist a case full of locally produced cheeses? NewBo Cheese Co. lured us in, offered up samples, and sent us away with two delicious cheese; Pleasant Ridge Uplands Cheese (a cow's milk cheese), and Big Woods Blue, a sheep's milk cheese from Shepherds Way Farm.

Our dinner when we got home was anything but vegan (because I am clearly not a vegan anymore) and  was simple, delicious and highlighted a few of our NewBo finds: Barb's seed bread, toasted with garlicky sauteed mushrooms, a fried local egg, spinach and Big Woods Blue cheese. I'd skip the egg next time and let the flavors of the mushrooms and cheese really shine through.

There were a few other vendors set up in the market as well for the holiday market. The one that stood out was Chicken Scratch Studio, run by a local artist who specializes in fused glass. The jewelry was beautiful and the name of the studio was super clever. When she was a child, the artist loved to doodle, so much so that her mom started calling her "chicken scratch." Clever, no?

Next time we make the trek to NewBo, we need to make sure we are hungry, so we can check out all of the other delicious food vendors. We'll also be taking a few culinary classes at the new Kirkwood Culinary Kitchen soon no doubt as well.