My friend Nancy is the best and suggested that we go to the FlowerMart festival in downtown Baltimore on Saturday.

Our allergies behaved and we had a fab evening walking around and exploring the sights!

There were tons of plant vendors and we loved looking at the pretty flowers

and herbs!

Both Nance and I stopped in our tracks when we smelled this chocolate mint. It smelled like a peppermint patty.

I originally wasn’t going to buy anything because I tend to kill any plant that comes into my possession, but I’ve been cooking with so many herbs lately that it makes sense to try to grow some of my own! A small bushel of mint is like five bucks at Whole Foods, and each of these herbs were going for three bucks a pop.

I settled on some regular mint since I’ve been putting it in my water lately and I can use it in my new JUICER!

We stopped again to giggle at the homemade chia pets. If only I could somehow grow my own chia seeds for my overnight oats….now that would save me some $$.

It was time for food! YUM. Hello weekend reward meal(s).

Tip: arrive at a food festival toward the end and you will get lots of free food.

The falafel guy was packing up his tent and I asked if I could pretty please still buy some falafel.

He agreed and gave me two pitas for the price of one! The falafel was some of the best  I’ve ever had – though I know that’s not saying too much since I just started eating it about a year ago. 😉

Nancy got a pulled pork sandwich and some delish fresh french fries that I snarked half of.

Our sampling continued with some dips.

The cajun was our favorite by far. I need to find a healthy dip recipe for the summer!

I  was enthralled by the giant vat of kettle corn. I definitely need one of those cool popcorn protection masks when I make my stove popped popcorn.

We thought we’d grab a few hush puppies on our way out and used our powers of persuasion to have the guy give us all of the remaining hush puppies and a shit ton of fried shrimp for five dollars.

Don’t worry, we saved most of it for a late night snack.

We smelled the tulips on our way out.

I think our trip to the FlowerMart was a success. Good find, Nance!