Posted by Anita on 10.13.06 8:37 AM
It’s taken me a week to realize that I didn’t (and don’t) have time to write about last Saturday’s highly enjoyable trip to the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, which was all the more fun for having been out of town for too many weekends.
The stalls were filled with all manner of picturesque veggies & fruits. I actually ate a red apple that I loved, which shocked me… I usually despise the mealy things, but this one was crisp, tart, and lovely.
The morning’s only (minor) disappointment was the lack of chilaquiles at Primavera… but an order of Huevos Rancheros and a chili verde pork tamal were aceeptable stand-ins.
Plenty of pix on Flickr… the light was downright Flemish. I hope tomorrow’s as nice.
farmers markets, shopping
Comments Off on Autumnal abundance
Posted by Anita on 10.01.06 6:22 PM
It’s almost a law: You can’t drive down Interstate 5 without stopping for a burger and fries. Back home in California, of course, it’s In-N-Out that’s everyone’s favorite I-5 stopover. In the Northwest, no sooner will the phrase “road trip” cross your lips than someone will mention Burgerville.
Burgerville — at least the location in Centralia where we stopped yesterday — looks and feels much like any major fast-food outlet. Unlike other specialty burger spots, there’s nothing retro, chic or upscale about it. But when you take a closer look at the menu, you notice some telling differences: Tilllamook cheddar cheese, seasonal fresh berry shakes, Diestel Farms’ free-range turkey, and Oregon Country natural beef — just like at Palace Kitchen.
Holy cats! It even says “fresh, local, sustainable” right there on the brightly-colored menu board, in huge letters… and yet, everyone eating (and working) here looks like normal semi-rural folks, just like you’d probably see in the McBurgBox down the road. Nobody’s a hippie, nobody looks like Alice Waters. It’s downright tear-jerking to see so many of My Fellow Americans choosing to vote with their wallets and feed themselves something other than crap.
The fries are pretty good, with a nice potato-y taste; the so-called ketchup we’re dipping them in is ghastly, worse than you’d find at a cheap diner. The burgers are merely serviceable: They may be made from happy cows, but they’re typical machine-made smashpatties, cooked to within an inch of their lives. They’re saved from snackbar status by fluffy sesame-seed buns, leafy lettuce, truly ripe tomatoes, and tasty cheese. And Cam’s Mocha Perk milkshake — made with real ice cream — sports little flecks of espresso.
As much of a sustainable-food geek as I am, I’m not sure I could give up In-N-Out for Burgerville; the food’s just not as tasty. But it’s a damn sight better than McD’s or any other mainstream greasepit, and a worthy stop when hunger strikes on your next Northwest road trip.
Cameron says: I’m not in love with B-ville — certainly not enough to give up In-N-Out. But Anita pegged how I feel about the place as we were pulling out of the parking lot: “I don’t feel like I just ate a vat of chemicals.” A poignant note, particularly with the memory of a desperate, nasty, late-night trip to Jack-In-The-Crack in Seattle still fresh in my mind.
Burgerville
818 Harrison Avenue
Centralia, WA 98531
360.736.5212
(and 38 other locations in Oregon and SW Washington)
locavore, Portland, restaurants, travel
3 Comments »
Posted by Anita on 09.13.06 8:13 AM
Over at The Traveler’s Lunchbox, Melissa posed a challenge to her fellow food-bloggers: List the five things everyone should eat before they die.
Erin tagged us to participate back at the end of August, and we’ve been bickering about it ever since. Does it mean five natural foodstuffs? Five prepared dishes? Five culinary experiences? Five meals? Being a rather ecumenical gal, I’m inclined to interpret the question in the broadest terms; Cameron’s being a little more dogmatic, and — hey, no value judgement here — is not surprisingly having a very hard time coming up with his answers. I, on the other hand, am having a terrible time limiting myself to just five. Argh.
But, after a couple weeks of pensive nail-biting, I think I can safely say that you, my foodie friends, should go forth and eat the following five items. But don’t go dying on me any time soon, ok?
1. street food in Thailand, preferably breakfast at the Damnoen Saduak floating market. I recommend kanom krok, soup noodles, thai coffee, and a mango, but feel free to sample whatever’s being made by the ladies with woks in their wooden boats. We spent 3 weeks in central and northern Thailand this past January, eating street food every day. And while we did have some nice meals in restaurants, it’s the noodle-shop nosh and street-stall snacks that still haunt me.
2. heritage pork in Britain. Your choice: a pork & stilton sandwich at Borough Market, or roast middlewhite at St. John. Or both, hey… don’t let me stop you. Even the best pig I’ve eaten stateside is a pale, pasty shadow of the succulent swine they’ve got over in Blighty. Despite the weakness of the dollar and the superstrength of the pound, it’s a taste-memory that’s worth the cost of airfare.
3. tacos from a taco truck, preferably carnitas at the El Asadero taco bus on South Rainier in Seattle. This was the year I got over my fear of street food. I shudder to think of all the amazing food I missed. I’m not particularly squeamish or germ-phobic, but I am a total wimp when it comes to busting out of my cultural comfort zone. For some reason, having mastered the the taco truck experience over the last couple of years made it easier to go outside the boundaries and let 2006 become the Year of Eating Dangerously for this former fussy eater. So far this year, I’ve eaten sushi at 6am in Tokyo (prepared by chefs with whom I shared absolutely no common language), all kinds of crazy nutty wacky stuff in Thailand, escamole in Mexico, and a host of other oddities… and the year’s not yet over.
4. a meal made entirely from peak-season farmer’s market finds. Although I’ve always been dedicated to the idea of seasonal and farm-direct cooking, this summer was the first time we could honestly say that 100% of the ingredients for certain meals — including staples like oils and salts — came from the market. The cynical me is surprised that it really makes such a difference, but the nutty-crunchy side of me realizes this is one of them-there culinary no-brainers.
5. the tasting menu at The French Laundry. A quick glance at other blogger’s contributions to this meme shows I’m not alone on this one. But really… it’s one of the few high-end dining experiences that’s objectively worth every penny that you pay for it. This meal will genuinely change the way you think about dining out and — if you’re particularly introspective — about cooking as well. My photos certainly don’t do it justice, nor do any of the (admittedly plentiful and generally well-written) first-hand accounts you’ve read online. Clear your morning schedule, put the phone on speed-dial, and pray for an opening: I promise you won’t regret it.
————–
Oh, I almost forgot to pick the next five other bloggers — which is getting really hard, as it seems like nearly everyone‘s already taken a crack. So, tag… you’re it!
- Sean at Hedonia
- Lucy at Lucy’s Kitchen Notebook
- Cheryl at Cupcake Bakeshop by Chockylit
- Matthew at Roots & Grubs
- Mary at Jalapeño Girl
breakfast, cooking, farmers markets, meat, Mexican, other blogs, restaurants, Thai, travel
6 Comments »
Posted by Anita on 09.11.06 1:20 PM
Ok, I guess it’s fall. Where the heck did our typical gorgeous Indian Summer go? (For those of you elsewhere, the Bay Area usually enjoys its best weather in the early fall. Just as everyone else in the country is resigning themselves to wool trousers and coats, we’re finally breaking out the linen.)
Well, the weather may be all messed up, but I’m not really complaining. It’s fun to have cooler weather when the fall produce starts coming, and plenty of excuses to try those autumnal recipes that have been waiting for their chance in the spotlight.
The farmer’s market this weekend was full of fabulous finds, including the white pomegranates pictured above (they didn’t taste like much, unfortunately.. but they were too gorgeous not to ogle) and some luscious heirloom apples. Even our friends at Primavera busted out with some less-summery breakfast options: chilaquiles verdes, plus pork picadillo-filled chiles rellenos made on a griddle — que macho! Unfortunately, we’d been out partying the night before and slept late, and they sold the last chile to the woman in front of me…
For our first fall recipe, we tried out the braised meatballs and gorgonzola polenta featured in the wine section of Friday’s Chronicle. Man, they were good — definitely one for the “keep” file. We also made a batch of chili from the Prather Ranch blog. Hmmm: It’s very tomato-y and the black beans are a strange choice for such a red bowl of red. This one reminded me why I always make half recipes of new things. Oh, well… maybe it will be good over burgers?
cooking, farmers markets, Mexican, shopping
4 Comments »
Posted by Anita on 09.06.06 10:01 AM
Everyone knows about the natural affinity of pears and blue cheese, but unless you’re a fan (as I am) of the Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market Cookbook, you might not have though of trying peaches avec bleu.
This recipe is good even when you make it with supermarket stuff, as we did… finding local produce in Vegas is virtually impossible. But I promise that you’ll make little grunty noises if you try it with good gorgonzola, perfect peaches, and Acme bread.
Peach Bruschetta with Bleu Cheese
Adapted from Becky Smith’s recipe, as told to Peggy Knickerbocker
4 slices country bread, or 12 slices good baguette cut on the diagonal
2 of the best peaches you can find
extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 pound soft gorgonzola
Halve peaches lengthwise, and remove the pit. Cut each half in half again, and peel each peach quarter. Cut the quarters into 1/4-inch slices, keeping them as flat as possible.
Place the bread slices on a medium grill, and cook until golden brown. Remove from heat and brush with olive oil. Spread with the cheese, and top with the peaches. Eat standing over the sink, slurping the peach juice from your hands.
cookbooks, cooking, farmers markets, recipes, shopping, Vegas
Comments Off on A peach of a pair
Posted by Anita on 08.21.06 4:55 PM
Boy, did we have a blast this weekend… so much so that I’ve been too beat to blog.
Saturday found us in the usual place: Breakfast at Primavera — ack! no chilaquiles? I suppose migas are close enough — then a long wander around the Farmers’ Market. Highlights included taste-testing about a gazillion peaches (oooo… Frog Hollow didn’t make the cut), looking far and wide for the best heirloom tomatoes, having an excuse to splurge on burrata at Cowgirl, discovering the previously mentioned tri-tip of luv at Prather, and scooping up the weekly bag of gloriously bacony avocados from Brokaw … mmm, mm!
Back south again with a stop at In-N-Out Burger en route to Target and the Colma BevMo for their big Grand Reopening sale (had to use that $10-off-$40 coupon!). Then back home, for a bit of prep cut short by realizing that we’d forgotten a few things… Off to Noe Valley on a “bourbon and bouquets” run, stopping at French Tulip — where we ran into Sean, quelle surprise — for hydrangeas and such, then on to Urban Cellars for a shockingly overpriced bottle of Knob Creek.
Whew. No wonder I’m tired… that sounds exhausting. But at the time, it felt like a nice and leisurely preparation for the dinner party we hosted on Saturday evening, jokingly (but accurately) called “bounty of the market, plus cheese”.
As our guests arrived, we started with a round of Currier cocktails on the back deck, accompanied by gorgonzola-and-peach bruschetta from the Ferry Building cookbook. Moving to the table, we paired a surprisingly affordable Yalumba ‘Y Series’ viognier with a salad of heirloom tomatoes, rosemary salt, burrata, and toasted pain-de-mie breadcrumbs (photo, above).
For the main course… there goes that tri-tip again, offered with a side of our friend Wendy’s luxurious penne-and-cheese, the winner of a recent mac-n-cheese cookoff among our old Seattle crew, and a Galante Vineyards Carmel Valley cabernet. (We won’t talk about the haricots verts that we forgot to serve… oops.)
Dessert was easy but good: We stole a page from our friends Russ & Nick’s dessert tricks, sweetening mascarpone with honey… which we then drizzled over Ciao Bella grapefruit-Campari sorbetto, topped with a few perfect raspberries. Then coffee in the living room, served with a platter of kumquats and shortbread, and another of madeleines and macarons from Miette, and some Recchiuti fleur de sel caramels.
Hard to imagine we had the strength to get up the morning after such a glorious evening, but shopping waits for no woman! Another early stop at JoAnn’s en route to Toys ‘R’ Us — our niece is on her West Coast tour and must have Dora! — then home for a quick nap before the family arrived. Thank goodness we have an appreciative audience for our leftover mac and cheese.
breakfast, cooking, dessert, entertaining, farmers markets, food boards, Noe Valley, shopping, wine & bubbly
3 Comments »
Posted by Anita on 08.14.06 11:13 PM
One of the lessons that shopping at the Ferry Building Farmers Market is reinforcing: When you buy good food, you don’t need to do a lot to it to make it taste fabulous.
Sure enough, tonight Cameron made an amazing meal out of many of our Saturday finds, sans recipes: He roasted up some freshly dug Yellow Finn potatoes, grilled the Fatted Calf Toulouse sausage, and tossed together a salad of Little Gem lettuces, red shallots, queso añejo, Bariani olive oil, and sherry vinegar. Served with a little Maille dijon and a bottle of Aussie shiraz, it made the perfect late-evening meal after a too-long day at the office.
cooking, farmers markets, shopping
Comments Off on Simple, but not ordinary
Posted by Anita on 08.12.06 10:24 PM
We’d been doing really well, getting to the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market every Saturday morning, for a while. Then houseguests descended, weekend trips took us away… and we kicked ourselves all week long as we suffered with crappy food from the supermarket at the time of year when no sane food-loving soul should ever tread the fluorescent aisles.
We finally found our way back to where we belong today, and with an added bonus: Our friend Carla was in town, and staying right across The Embarcadero from the market! We kidnapped her from her hotel, dragged her to the market for Blue Bottle coffee and chilaquiles at Primavera, then made our rounds: June Taylor for more preserves, Andante cheeses, Frog Hollow peaches, some amazing Charentais melons and bacon avocados, herbal salts at Eatwell Farms, Toulouse sausage from Fatted Calf, a pork shoulder at Prather, the usual assortment of things at Rancho Gordo… I could barely hold the bags when we were done!
Somehow, even in midsummer, it just didn’t seem that crowded, so we spent more time browsing, finding lots of tasty ideas for things to cook this week. And to get to spend the morning with one of my favorite Seattle people made it all the more fabulous.
breakfast, farmers markets, shopping
2 Comments »
Posted by Anita on 08.09.06 5:02 PM
From our normally sane friends at CUESA, the organization behind the beloved Ferry Plaza Farmers Market:
Special sightings of Gourmet Editor-in-Chief Ruth Reichl lunching at Boulettes Larder and shopping at The Gardener delighted shoppers & store keepers alike. Ms. Reichl intimated to someone at The Gardener that the food at Boulettes Larder was “sooo good”. Martha Stewart visited again – and showed off the Marketplace to friends – making a point to wave at her favorite mushroom man – Ian Garrone of Far West Fungi.
I had no idea Page Six was writing food stuff now…
Update: Mea maxima culpa… the email wasn’t from CUESA but from the Ferry Building Marketplace management. I should have realized this when they were talking about indoor shops, not farm vendors.
farmers markets, levity, shopping
Comments Off on Gag me with a silver spoon
Posted by Anita on 08.02.06 8:23 AM
In addition to selling her luscious marmalades, conserves and fruit butters at the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers Market on Saturday mornings, June Taylor now also opens her warehouse/kitchen for retail sales on Fridays, and on select weekend days for classes.
I took a class back in late winter that featured three-fruit marmalade, which I loved. Last weekend, I followed up with June’s summer preserves class, which focused on peaches and nectarines; we made a preserve with “Summer Sweet” white peaches. Was it good? Let’s just say the jar I brought home is already gone — it was the most gorgeous rose color.
The classes are pricey ($125) but you go home with a good understanding of how to create your own preserves, plus a jar of the goodies that you and your classmates make in class under June’s direction. And you’ll never balk at paying $9 a jar again after you see what goes into it.
June Taylor Company/The Still-Room
2207 4th Street
Berkeley, CA 94710
510.548.2236
Update 08.14.06: June’s classes got an endorsement today from Shuna at eggbeater.
classes, East Bay, farmers markets, preserving & infusing, shopping
2 Comments »
