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George_J
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Saturday Market
« on: Aug 5th, 2006, 8:29pm » |
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We decided to put off fly fishing until Tuesday, and opted for a lazy Saturday.
Liz, El and I went downtown this morning to the Saturday Market to see about dinner. I like to eat, and I like to cook. Anyone who's a fan of cooking and fresh foods knows that you go to these markets with no preconceived ideas--you simply look for what seems best, and plan a meal around what you find.
The first thing that caught my eye were some small, sun-ripened strawberries. I sampled one, and it was just what I'd hoped--tender, not fibrous at all, intensely flavored and intensely sweet. They reminded me of the strawberries I'd had as a child--not at all like the supermarket variety. I bought some, of course. I'm waiting to see whether the fellow I read about who's trying to recreate the "moscara" strawberry of the nineteenth century manages to succeed. Imagine this: A berry with intense strawberry flavor, superimposed with musk. People used to be wild over them, but they are unattainable. It's a flavor I'd like to find.
Then I went in quest of sweet corn. El already knows how to choose corn. Now corn--if you're not an afficianado, you ought to be. Sweet corn the right way is food for the gods. We looked for ears picked this morning (you can tell, mostly by the scent of the tassels) that is just past the "milk" stage. This takes advantage of the early sweetness, but the flavor is more robust than pearly "milk" corn, and the texture is more tooth-worthy. We found some, variety "Bicolor" that looked just right.
I showed El how to choose a cantalope by sniffing the stem end. The proper smell is hard to describe, but unmistakable.
We picked up some aged ribeye steaks, intending to grill them all by themselves, but then I spotted a booth with fresh herbs, and went over to look. Summer savory. Boy, you don't see that too often. So the steaks will be grilled with crushed summer savory.
And mushrooms! There was a whole booth of mushrooms! I'm inordinately fond of mushrooms. There weren't any morels--too late in the season--but the chanterelles are in season, so I picked up a half-pound. I'll saute them in butter with a chopped shallot.
Simple food is the best.
Last, there was an old woman in a booth selling her homemade herbal jellies, all of which we sampled. El's favorite was cinnamon basil. I was partial to lavender. We settled on lemon basil jelly. Whoa. It sounds odd, but the flavor combination is penetrating, and it just blooms in your mouth, the way a good Australian Shiraz does.
So that was my day--a real pleasure, spent with my favorite people. Showing my kid how to choose food, for which she already shows a real aptitude. But all part of a larger lesson for her--one I've tried to impart to her all her life--"look", "see", "remember", "appreciate".
Yeah, I have cluster headache. If I haven't lived in hell, I know what it smells like. But I choose to live, and damned if I won't live as fully as I can.
Best regards,
George
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Ah! The foreigners put on such airs
Wearing the tangerine suits
And their harlequin eyes.
The pain they inspire
Draws in harmonica melodies
And the feathers of birds
Which flame up at their touch.
It all comes to light in the sheer
Debonair.
(Ellen)
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Grandma_Sweet_Boy
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Re: Saturday Market
« Reply #1 on: Aug 5th, 2006, 8:36pm » |
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Can you come to Canada and cook for me? 
Your descriptive ability with words just made that whole menu leap to life - my mouth is watering!
Carol
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George_J
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Re: Saturday Market
« Reply #2 on: Aug 5th, 2006, 9:33pm » |
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on Aug 5th, 2006, 8:36pm, Grandma_Sweet_Boy wrote:| Can you come to Canada and cook for me? |
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Hi Carol,
Would I have to make British food? I don't even know what "Toad in a Hole" is, and haggis sounds improbable.
George
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Ah! The foreigners put on such airs
Wearing the tangerine suits
And their harlequin eyes.
The pain they inspire
Draws in harmonica melodies
And the feathers of birds
Which flame up at their touch.
It all comes to light in the sheer
Debonair.
(Ellen)
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Paul98
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Nice market narative George. I love to cook too, but lack supplies. (A good market.) Reading your post got the gastric juices flowing. Munch time!
-P.
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Grandma_Sweet_Boy
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Re: Saturday Market
« Reply #4 on: Aug 5th, 2006, 9:49pm » |
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[quote author=georgej link=board=general;num=1154824141;start=0#2 date=08/05/06 at 21:33:54]
Hi Carol,
Would I have to make British food? I don't even know what "Toad in a Hole" is, and haggis sounds improbable.
George
Toad in a hole is simply an egg fried in the middle of a piece of buttered bread. Kids love 'em.
There is no excuse for Haggis!!!! It's a dish mainly consumed by drunken Scotts at a Robbie Burns dinner. (Relax, my Scottish friends - I'm only partly joking!).
No - you'd have to cook only those wonderful things you found today at your market!
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TxBasslady
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Re: Saturday Market
« Reply #5 on: Aug 5th, 2006, 10:04pm » |
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Wow, sounds like you y'all had a good day. Saturday Market sounds nice.
My day was spent mowing the lawn.... A good friend of mine was here getting my home ready to paint.
My youngest grandaughter spent the last 2 nites with me...she bout ran me ragged. She's 5 going on 30.
She decided she really missed her Mom and Dad...so her Mom came to get her. Things are peaceful....but I miss her already.
George...you must be a writer  I've never read such eloquent descriptions.
I bet the dinner was fabulous! Feel free to come to Texas and cook anytime!
Jean
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How lucky I am... to have known someone who was so hard to say goodbye too.
Take a kid fishin
www.takemefishin.org
I adopted a Vietnam POW/MIA from El Paso, Texas! 
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Charlie
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Re: Saturday Market
« Reply #6 on: Aug 5th, 2006, 10:08pm » |
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Nice story indeed
I like cooking now and then but the cookbook mom made never reflected the "fixes" she did all the time. I do better with Betty Crocker but then I like Stouffers too. I have no imagination. We have a good local market though.
Time for some Ball Parks 
Charlie
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There is nothing more satisfying than being shot at without result---Winston Churchill
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pattik
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Re: Saturday Market
« Reply #7 on: Aug 5th, 2006, 11:15pm » |
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on Aug 5th, 2006, 8:29pm, georgej wrote:
Sweet corn the right way is food for the gods. We looked for ears picked this morning (you can tell, mostly by the scent of the tassels) that is just past the "milk" stage. This takes advantage of the early sweetness, but the flavor is more robust than pearly "milk" corn, and the texture is more tooth-worthy. |
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Great imagery, George. Sweet corn is one of the things Wisconsin does best, and the season has just begun here. August is really the best month for our markets--corn, melons, tomatoes, summer squash, beans, and some really beautiful flowers and plants. Later will come our maple syrup, winter squash, potatos, and of course there's always cheese. There is nothing in the world better to eat than locally produced food.
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The voyage of discovery is not about seeking new landscapes, it's about having new eyes--Marcel Proust
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Highlander
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Re: Saturday Market
« Reply #8 on: Aug 6th, 2006, 9:39am » |
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Superb story we have a great farmers market in my town once a month and the choice of meat is second to none!
I have one issue!!! lol
on Aug 5th, 2006, 9:49pm, Grandma_Sweet_Boy wrote:Hi Carol,
Would I have to make British food? I don't even know what "Toad in a Hole" is, and haggis sounds improbable.
George
Toad in a hole is simply an egg fried in the middle of a piece of buttered bread. Kids love 'em.
There is no excuse for Haggis!!!! It's a dish mainly consumed by drunken Scotts at a Robbie Burns dinner. (Relax, my Scottish friends - I'm only partly joking!).
No - you'd have to cook only those wonderful things you found today at your market!
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Haggis is a dish eated drunk! but middle aged men in kilts. But the Plural for Scottish people is Scot's 1 T not 2
Almost as bad as being called Scotch!
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