We’ve visited a lot of Farmers Markets since moving to Chicagoland and our favorite is still the Skokie Farmers Market.

It isn’t as big as Evanston’s. And it’s not as good for people watching as Deerfield’s. It isn’t as close as Glenview’s or even Northbrook’s. It’s not as ‘interesting’ as Wilmette’s French Market.

It’s just a basic, small, Farmers Market. Open on Sundays (which might be part of why we like it…)

Last Sunday, it was a little disconcerting though. Some of the vendors were set up in the “wrong” spots! That totally threw us off. Vendors should set up in the same place every time, darn it.

After our weekly trip to the assisted living facility, we were almost home and TW mentioned the Little City Used Book Sale. I’d planned for us to go but didn’t think TW’s mom would be up to it after a very long morning/afternoon out. But, she heard “used books” and she was ready to roll.

So, I made a quick right onto Glenview Rd and after driving through the parking lot at Old Orchard Mall (a parking lot that I hate almost as much as the Butler Plaza parking lot in Gainesville) we found ourselves at the big tent.

It was late so there was plenty of parking right close to the tent, which is good since we had a wheelchair and the weather was beginning to look very much like rain.

We rolled into the tent, grabbed a shopping cart, and took off.

An hour later, we had a full basket of books and I was dragging TW out by her jacket. As I dragged her, she just kept saying “But I didn’t have time to look at any books!” Err, then how did we come home with five dictionaries, one of those huge one volume encyclopedias, eight cookbooks and a whole lot of paperbacks?

We’re pretty jaded when it comes to used book sales. We come from the land of the famous Gainesville Friends of the Library Book Sale and it’s hard to please us. Little City’s book sale tried hard to win us over and it did… even though there weren’t quite as many books, it’s in a tent, and it’s more expensive. This is a used book sale that’s a really nice replacement for our old favorite. We’ll be looking forward to next year’s sale.

Last Friday, it was our very last breakfast with Lizzy wandering time. Next year she’ll go off to middle school so we won’t have that hour to kill with her after dropping off the other two kids.

In celebration, we asked her where she would like to go for breakfast - out of all of the places we’d visited, what would she prefer…? She chose Kaufman’s.

So, off we went. We ordered a ton of food.

The bagels, excellent as always. The chocolate chip cookie Liz reports was amazing. The bialy’s very good. The pizza bread, fabulous. I impulse purchased a seven layer bar that defies words. Seriously. The onion rye bread was hot out of the oven and smelled amazing. I didn’t have any while it was hot but had a couple of slices with some of Kaufman’s amazing chicken salad - fantastic.

Black bean burgers and salmon patties were also purchased and I’m pretty sure reports will be good, once they come in.

Kaufman’s rocks.

Our most recent breakfast discovery is Kaufman’s Bagel & Deli, on Dempster in Skokie.

I’ve read a lot about Kaufman’s and I know we’ve passed it a million times without it sinking in that this is the Kaufman’s. So last Friday morning, before we headed out for the school run, I looked it up to see exactly where it was. Good thing because I know I’d have passed it a million times without ever really seeing it.

It’s right close to the Skokie train station and smack dab in the middle of a pretty busy series of intersections. It’s also a non-descript, white painted building set just enough off the road that you don’t see the sign until you’ve driven past it.

Don’t drive past it. You should definitely stop.

We started in the bakery section where TW got a dozen bagels and a loaf of Challah to take home. Liz ordered a HUGE (she wants me to explain to you that this thing is so huge, she’s still eating it two days later) chocolate m&m cookie. TW and I both ordered a chocolate donut to go.

Then we wandered into the deli section.

Liz grabbed a bottle of milk to wash down her cookie, we got a pint of cream cheese for the bagels and we ordered a 1/2 lb of chicken salad. Liz wandered around looking at the meat case, wondering what in the heck people need tongue for.

The Challah was excellent, the best we’ve had since we’ve been here. The bagels were also excellent - the everything and the pumpernickel in particular have drawn rave reviews. The chocolate donuts were more like chocolate iced Challah, which is really interesting. Besides being huge, Liz reports the cookie is yummy.

Next time we go, I’m ordering the egg salad. And maybe we’ll get some tongue so Liz can give it a try.

The New York Bagel and Bialy Company in Skokie is one of those places we drive by when it’s not “bialy time”. On the way home from eating elsewhere. Late afternoon when we’re thinking dinner, not bialy. When we don’t really have time to stop. Or, sometimes the parking lot has just been jam packed full and I don’t want to deal with not having a parking place.

Yesterday, between dropping of the Prince and Liz, I decided we’d give it a try. Plenty of parking, yay! Liz said “what’s a bialy?” which scared me because her mother is nuts for bialys (and it’s darn difficult to find them in Florida.)

I zeroed in very quickly on the cheese stuffed bialy. TW ordered an onion bialy. Liz, ever cautious, ordered the traditional chocolate muffin.

Yum, yum, and also yum.

Actually, Liz said the muffin was much the same as the one at Breadsmith but this one was better because it was bigger. (I also think it may have been a wee bit cheaper.)

And now that I’ve typed this, I feel a craving for a cheese stuffed bialy coming on.

One of the first bakeries we saw when we visited the Evanston area last April, while house hunting, was the Breadsmith in Skokie. Unfortunately, it was closed when we drove by because it is closed on Saturdays.

Every other time we’ve thought about going to it, it’s been closed. Saturday must be our normal day to explore food or something.

Last Monday, we had some spare moments between dropping of Prince J and RJ at school so we headed to the Breadsmith. The first thing Liz said was “It really smells like bread in here.” And she was right, it did and it was a good smell. You know how some bakeries smell too much of sugar? Well this was pure bread smell. Awesome.

Liz got a chocolate chocolate muffin, I got a Challah knot, TW got a cinnamon roll and we got a loaf of Challah and a loaf of Orange Cranberry bread. Liz loved her muffin and happily took it into Books & Breakfast at school to eat. TW’s cinnamon roll was good but would have been better warmed up (which she ended up doing the next day.) My Challah knot was fine, not exceptional but not bad. The Challah loaf was the same. The orange cranberry bread was excellent.

Next time, we’re going to try the pizza bread.