FOOD-O-RAMA

This weekend was fairly low-key.. Vanessa got sick AGAIN and the weather was rather glum, so we stayed in for the most part. Saturday morning was fun, though -- we rode over to the Alemany Farmer's Market and reveled in the diversity of the people and produce there. Hari Krishnas offering up wedges of orange, mellow guitar and vocals, and free meditation sessions? Check. Sizeable Asian crowds and mysterious produce stands? Check. Pastries, oysters, tamales, samosas, shea butter, african drums and coffee? Check. Amazing orchids? Check. All of these combine with the seasonal produce stands and the fresh morning air to make an exciting trip.

We came home with two panniers' worth of food...
...sweet pea shoots, a bag of mandarins, homemade oil-cured olives, baby potatoes, eggplant, red bell pepper, baby beets, asparagus, bok choy, ginger, baby carrots, strawberries, snow peas, a loaf of sourdough bread, a blueberry danish, and a chocolate croissant.

Oh! And a bunch of aromatic Thai basil!

While Vanessa chilled out and tried to fight off her cold, I whipped up lots of goodies in the kitchen...


Fennel and beet salad with Meyer lemon vinaigrette

Pickled carrots!

Gougeres (savory pastry puffs with thyme, black pepper and Gruyere)
I took a break for dinner: Roasted baby potatoes with rosemary, a Gougere and sautéed greens from our garden, and spinach soup with white beans. Mmmmmmmm.......
Then for the finale, I made two types of cookies! One recipe used egg whites, and the other used the yolks, so I was completely justified.

Almond Rochers (they look like the book photo!)
This morning I finished up the Cinnamon Walnut Slices (inspiring name, eh?) after they chilled overnight:
...the dough was a log that was rolled in granulated sugar, and I did the ends of the logs, too!

Oh, and I can't forget to add the yummy lemon cupcakes that Vanessa made last week and topped with toasted coconut.. SO GOOD.

Don't think we eat this grandly all the time... we try, but we're only humans with full-time jobs, too. Add the hopeful inclusion of a pup to our home, and we might be eating ramen four nights a week! Anyway, if you're interested in any of the recipes, drop a line in the comments. I kind of made up the fennel salad recipe, but used the pickling formula in Alice Waters' "The Art of Simple Food." It's a nice, herb-y, tangy, slightly spicy recipe that would work with pretty much any veggie. The gougeres and cookies came from the Tartine Bakery cookbook.

Next on my list of things to try is this recipe for Black Bean Brownies -- no shit!

And finally, here is a link to a sobering opinion article about the soaring price of food in the New York Times from today: Paul Krugman's 'Grains Gone Wild'

I also submitted a comment to Erin's blog with statistics from the Harper's Index about food spending.. as of this moment she hasn't approved it yet, but it should be up soon. She wrote about keeping track of the money they spend, and discovered they spend LOT$$ on food. Well, so do we.. it costs a lot to eat responsibly.

Oh, and speaking of -- here's an interesting chart that Erin sent my way this morning. Do corporate and organic mix well?