Oakland Mills Farmer's Market, the Tree from Hell, and tonight's dinner

I normally love trees. Today I don't. Yesterday I woke up to a thirty-foot present - the tree in our backyard, straddling the fence with the common area - had shed an enormous branch. The branch fell through our yard, the common area, and the next door neighbors yard. Today we cleaned it up. Luckily we have awesome neighbors, and they ended up staying to dinner. But in order to earn our meal we were half eaten by mosquitoes and engaged in massively painful work. Yeah, it really sucked. Days like this are when I curse home ownership. When I lived in my apartment, I never had to worry!



But before that, Human # 1 and I went to the farmer's market in the Oakland Mills Village Center, also known as the shopping center with the ice rink. I'm not going to pretend that this farmer's market is anything on the scale of the I-83 Baltimore farmer's market, or the Waverly market, or the Arlington Courthouse market, any of the other large local markets. But it is nice, it does showcase local folks and local food, and it's close. I do hope more producers and more consumers start attending, however.


We bought some sorrel, or rather African sorrel. If you've never tasted this before, the best way I can describe it is as a salad green that's super flavorful and vinegary, almost as if the dressing is inside the leaf. It's pretty cool, I highly recommend it. I want to visit this stand again next weekend, the farmer had bitter balls, which can be used to great effect in Bengali Indian cooking.



Also got some heirloom tomatoes, as it's still August.



These tomatoes were pear shaped, and not ginormous like some of the others we have had recently.



Also bought some okra. A lovely veggie that has a bad reputation, in my mind at least.



Did you know that in British English, an okra is called a ladyfinger? I just learned that last night. The human members of my household were at my parents, to steal their truck then have them feed us. It's extremely convenient being a stone's throw away. I'm not sure how, but we were talking about Italian cookies, ladyfingers. At some point, my husband asserts that where he comes from, ladyfingers are fireworks. My mother then asserts that where she comes from, ladyfingers are okra. Of course, my dad immediately asks where she comes from - she asserts somewhere that uses British English. Of course, 33 years ago my parents married, then moved into an apartment in Wilde Lake. And before that my mom lived all over Asia, with a plurality, but not majority, in India. So I'm pretty sure she's asserting that British English is used in Howard County.



Seems a but bigger than a lady's finger to me. Man I need a manicure!



It's a sweet onion. It's pretty.



I'm pretty sure all recipes start with "saute some garlic and onion in olive oil." Maybe I should use this as a stock photo.

Anyway, back to the meal....


Tomato Salad
Ingredients:
Tomatoes
Salt
Olive oil

Method:



I quartered the tomatoes and lightly salted them, then let them drain their water out. I'll do something with the tomato water in the morning.

I then tossed them into a dish, and glugged maybe a half tablespoon of olive oil over them.


Summer Okra and Tomatoes or Fresh Bindi Masala
Take your pick on the ethnicity you want to cook from. Then do what I did. Or do something totally different. Dude, it's okra and tomatoes, this isn't rocket science.

Ingredients:
4 sprays olive oil
Half a sweet onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 lb okra, cut into rounds
2 medium tomatoes
Olive oil
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp corriander
4 tsp tumeric
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Heat at medium-high.
Saute onions and garlic.
Add spices, cook about 2 minutes.
Add tomatoes. Let them sizzle and stop dripping juice.
Add okra.

Cook until okra doesn't fight back. It should still be brightly colored, though.



Along with the tomato salad and okra we had some cornbread, as well as black-eyed peas and rice.



Black-eyed Peas and Rice
Ingredients:
1/2 sweet onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon corriander
1 teaspoon cumin
2 teaspoons tumeric
1 bay leaf
2 cans black-eyed peas, drained.
1 cup white rice (can use brown, adjust water and cooking time)
2 cups water or stock
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:
Saute onion and garlic in olive oil over medium heat.
Add spices, saute about 2 minutes.
Add black-eyed peas. Cook a bit. Taste.
Add rice and water/stock. Bring to a boil.
Cover, turn heat to low, let cook until done (20 minutes, or more depending on the type of rice used).
Season with salt and pepper to taste.

My house was an absolute mess, but it was nice to have people over despite that. The neighbors also brought over beer and dessert. Always a good thing!

This week's CSA

Someone stole my camera. He's a very handsome someone, though, so I can't blame him too much. Plus I got it back, but not before I had put away the CSA produce for the week. Hopefully I'll be smart enough to take some pics while cooking this week. And in case my mother is reading this, mom, I'm not standing on my left foot. I'm propping it on a chair. I swear.

This week's CSA consisted of eggs, bread from the Breadery, the most gorgeous blood red heirloom tomatoes, zucchini and yellow squash (I got all baby sized), peaches, cantaloupe, bell peppers, thin japanese eggplant, a bunch of corn, and some lettuce.

The lettuce was salad-ized immediately, with some of the aged balsamic and the olive oil I bought in Seattle. The tomatoes were cut and stacked with some fresh mozzarella. The cantaloupe was decimated by yours truly. I'll let you know what we do with the rest.

Etta's

We met the younger siblings at Etta's, near Pike Place Market, for dinner. I managed to get us lost on the way there. My poor husband. Wait, I have a broken foot! Poor me!

One funny thing - as usual I asked for a local wine recommendation. We had a bottle that, on the front label, purported to be from Washington. On the back label, the wine purported to use grapes from California, be made in California, and bottle in California.



The siblings claimed to be oystered out. As a good Maryland girl, I know that there's no such thing as too many oysters. So I started out with some.



Also we shared a shrimp cocktail. I think there was another starter, but we can't remember. Human # 1 tried to order the salmon belly tartare, but they were out. We have a strange white blurry picture. Human # 3 and I think it was some sort of halibut crudo, but the picture sucks and as we are sure it was very tasty, I'm not going to post it.



As a main course, I had the Etta’s Rub with Love wild king salmon, shiitake relish, cornbread pudding. Excellent!



For dessert Human # 3 and I both ordered the blueberry crisp. It was just way too sweet for me, I couldn't eat it. Human # 3 liked it, though, but due to its sweetness only managed about a third.




Human # 1 had a root beer creme brulee with a mini rootbeer float. He loves root beer. He also really liked this dessert.

Anyway, Etta's was pretty darn good, but I still preferred Matt's in the Market and Shucker's to Etta's. The price point at Etta's was pretty high, and they did deliver, but I guess I'm spoiled and I preferred the seafood at Shucker's and the local market produce at Matt's. Had we done Etta's first, then Matt's and Shucker's, I think it would have rated much higher.

Matt's in the Market

We had lunch in Portland Public Market, at a restaurant called Matt's in the Market. Originally the younger siblings were going to join, but they ended up sleeping. My husband is convinced his younger brother is the harbinger of death and disease. We've taken both much younger siblings a lot of places, the youngest brother probably the most places (Williamsburg a couple of times, the beach, Montreal, Hershey, all over DC, etc). Inevitably, when we take him somewhere, my husband gets sick. He's pretty good at powering through, but he either gets some sort of communicable illness, a horrible allergy attack, or is poisoned (that would be what happened at Hershey). This time, he did not get sick, but instead his poor younger brother wasn't feeling well. Anyway, they missed out on probably the funkiest and most fun restaurant we visited, but I'm pretty sure we'll be back!

Matt's focuses on fresh produce from the market, and has that whole local thing going on. Being summer, this was a fabulous time to visit both the area and the restaurant. Actually, I regret not going back to Matt's for dinner.



Tomatoes of all kind surrounded the open kitchen area.

What amazed me was how fast Matt's was turning tables. Very glad we made a reservation - there was a huge line outside waiting for a seat! It was an interesting mix of people, tourists, business people wearing jackets, and refugees from 90s grunge fashion.



You can see the market and the various pigs from the window.

I had a glass of Cor Alba 2007 Celilo Vineyard Columbia Gorge, a Gewürztraminer / Riesling mix. It was fine, not really my thing, but my husband loved it.



I started with the simple green salad. Not much simple about it! Lightly dressed spring mix, cheese, and toasted pumpkin seeds.



My husband started with a cup of tomato soup.



I had a monster tomato sandwich. It was incredible. But it required a knife and fork.


Human # 1 had a cuban sandwich. Which he loved.



I had some coffee. Very good coffee, made my favorite way (in a French press).



This is my husband being beautiful. He is pointing at his pure, unadulterated beauty. He is also reminding me that the tomatoes are not quite as beautiful as he is. Though I still can't get him to shave on a vacation.

Granville Public Market

My husband and I spent a good bit of time in Vancouver at Granville Public Market. We were enthralled over the weekend. We brought the younger set over the weekdays, when it was no where near as cool in terms of music / crowd, but I actually think cooler in terms of food available. Getting to the island requires either taking a taxi across the bridge then doubling back, or taking the ferry or aquabus across False Creek.



My husband was a big fan of the giant fish displays. I need to take him to Jessup at 5 a.m. one of these days. Then again, I prefer sleeping at 5!



On a weekend the market is a total party.

On our first visit, we got some lunch from the various food stalls in the center of the building, by the waterfront.


The Indian fast food from Curry2U was incredibly good. Here we have rice, naan, channa masala, and peas and potato curry.



Very tasty tuna rolls.






This is my husband staring intently and longingly at some sausages. Soon Oyama sausages went into his belly. And some awesome cheeses into mine. Apparently you can buy Oyama sausages over the internet and have them shipped. I may do this, if I want to be nice to him.



Mango ice cream!




Some sort of pink ice cream.


The Market was a lot of fun, one of my favorite places in Vancouver.

Back in Maryland, and about to leave

I am the station waiting to catch a train to visit my brother in Manhattan. I left my laptop at home so my updated pacific northwest posts with pictures will have to wait until later in the week. So instead I will give some thoughts about local food and the pacific northwest. This would be random blathering that likely is of no real interest to most people.

The movement of eating locally is much better developed in the Pacific Northwest than it is here. I noticed that almost every restaurant, even the tourist trap on the space needle, advertised its local cuisine.

The resources at this time of year were fabulous - beautiful berries, plump cherries, tasty salmon, creamy oysters. The wines were good - not fantastic, but we weren't on a wine trip either.

My favorite part of the region's food was its absolute simplicity and loyalty to the ingredients. My dad taught me two important lessons as a kid - anyone who can eat can cook, and a good cook is really a good shopper. I'm a big believer in simple preparations and not too many ingredients. I hate it when too many things are going on at once. Simple is, in my opinion, best. When you have really great ingredients, you want to highlight nature's magnificence, not your own skills heating and mixing. This would be another Dad lesson. He also goes (and used to drag me and my brother - hated at the time and my fondest memory as an adult) to the Jessup fish market at o dark thirty to look dinner in the eye before simple grilling or flaming (the man loves flambe) preparations. Of course, being Bengali he also made curried fish - but unlike anything in an Indian restaurant. A truly Bengali fish preparation tastes like fish, not sauce, and the sauce is simple and lightly applied (mustard sauce for shrimp, a light tumeric dyed paste for salmon, etc). To be fair and equal, I must here note that mom makes excellent dishes on the same lines - simple, good ingredients.

The density in Seattle and Vancouver allowed for mature markets in sustainable local produce. I'm not sure if we have the density in Howard County for the markets, but right now I really do think there is a strong opportunity for more paurings between local restaurants and local producers. I have to admit that I chuckled at Aida Bistro earlier this year when I noticed Larriland berries being advertised - mostly since we had been to Larriland that morning.

Yes, the Pacific Northwest is fantastic and we will never have their salmon, but I can't help but think that the mid Atlantic has as fantastic an opportunity to showcase our regional specialties. And I don't just mean blue crab. We have amazing soil and an amazing history - and our gastro-cultural melting pot is as wide and exciting. The blueberries, strawberies, cherries, and apples we grow are every bit as good as elsewhere. Why is it rare to see local restaurants proudly stating they use local fruit? Or our awesome veggies? Or tomatoes - really, we have amazing tomatoes and a history of doing cool things with them. And of course Maryland seafood is rightfully lauded - but not just the crab should be celebrated, but our rockfish, oysters, and other sustainable species. Almost everything is tasty - remember not all that long ago in Massachusettes rebellion consisted of refusing to eat lobster more than three times a week. We do live on land that has great natural bounty. We should enjoy it.

Of course, as always when talking about eating locally, it is important to be reasonable. It takes a lot of gas for a hundred farmers to drive their trucks and cars to markets, and a lot for each consumer to schlep that stuff home. Certainly trains and yes, even ships sending containers may cost less in terms of energy resources. Plus, increased efficiencies of mass scale farming has dramatically increased global calorie production, even though there are extreme social and environmental consequences. Then again, negative consequences also exist from an organic farm that serves only customers in a 25 mile radius. Its impossible to universally laud or demonize any type of food production. There are too many moving parts, too many consequences.

Food politics may be complicated, but food should not be.

Coffee in Seattle

It's odd. With the foot, I can walk (a bit - I've always been a bit of a glutton for punishment), but standing is just excruciating. So we've been barelling down the street then stopping for a lot of coffee. I will admit that there is a lot of very good coffee in the pacific northwest. That said, there are definately places in the Howard county that I would put up against them. Though I will admit that the quality of each stores barristas varies greatly back home.

I think I've only had about 48 ounces of coffee and coffee drinks today. On the upside I've had more milk than usual.

Best train picnic ever

I'm on the Amtrak Cascades watching the most gorgeous scenery ever, eating black olive bread, a mild goat cheese, some gouda and an insanely sharp 8 year old cheddar.

This is so the only way to travel.

Jealous?

Nu Restaurant

Monday night we ate at Nu restaurant, affiliated with C Restaurant. While it was excellent and the staff was fabulous, it wasn't quite as polished as C Restaurant, which makes sense given the price point (though both seem pretty pricey to me). The food focused on local products of all kinds.

First, we had fried oysters with a shot of lager. These were cute, and rather tasty.



Then we shared local Black Pearl oysters.

This was my husband's tuna tartare. The picture was blurry.


I had some mussels, along with some fries with awesome truffle mayonnaise.

It rained on us, so we skipped dessert.

The only bad thing about the restaurant were the chairs - they were really rather odd and uncomfortable.

Salt redux

Human # 1 and I went to Salt Tasting Room again for lunch. This time I remembered my camera. Even though we were late for lunch (2 pm) the place was hopping, totally unlike Saturday.

We took seats at the communal long table and immediately started chatting with some Vancouverites and who brought a Scottish friend. Quicky the conversation turned from food to the location of the restaurant on the edge of Gastown in an admittedly scary area. The local couple was extremely surprised that we tourists ventured this far. Being from between Baltimore and DC, and having worked in or near scuzzy areas of each, I have a pretty high tolerance. That said, a lot of the area outside Salt isn't one that I would hang around in at night. I had no issue with Human # 3 and Brother walking through together in the afternoon, though. But this time, maybe it was the gray weather and an odd encounter with a homeless man, I felt more nervous.



Anyway, we both asked the staff to pick our food and pair it with wines. Mine was cheese and Human # 1's was a mix. The sommelier gave us the same 3 wines. Possibly I have I love big dry wines on my forehead. It was awesome. First was a grigio from Van Western Vineyards, in Naramata, British Columbia. It was very dry, crisp with a bit of acidity. Next was a M. Chapoutier Tavel rose. I loved it. With apologies to my good friend MK, who loves white zin, this is not your stereotypical rose. Dry. Crisp. Light red rather than pink. Slight mineral feel. Finally we had a red blend, mostly Malbec, with some Cabernet Savignon and I think some merlot. I have my paper, but I can't read the handwriting on the name, unfortunately.



My plate started with a beautiful blue, Valdeon, served with honey. Next was Manchego with marcona almonds. This might be the greatest dessert combination on earth. Finally I had an amazing jeune mimolette with pressed date bread.



Human # 1 had a lovely combination of meats and cheeses. First, a capicollo with Guinness mustard, then a French comte cheese with the marcona almonds, and finally varazi with cornichons.


Of course, at this point we decided to order another tasting plate. We had the oka from Quebec, along with those divine marcona almonds, a cheese called poacher from Lincolnshire with olives, and pancetta with Guinness mustard.



We of course had dessert, again the Stilton cheesecake with fig compote and the chocolate mouse.

Tasty. The area's not that bad, and it's totally worth it.

C Restaurant

Human # 1 and I had a rather romantic dinner at C Restaurant. We were seated on the patio, watching the sunset over False Creek. The food was amazing and the service impeccable. Actually, there was no bathroom (or washroom as they say here) on the lower floor. One of the bussers insisted I use the staff bathroom and avoid walking up the stairs with my broken foot. I heard a waiter scream "a customer can't use that, it isn't clean!" It was actually way cleaner than any staff bathroom remembered from my own food service days. Anyway, back to the food.

C is organized around multiple tastes and presentations of seafood ingredients. They are all about sustainable seafood, and have a lot of local food, though it's not focused on local food. C won my heart by serving butter at, gasp, spreading temperature. The butter was creamy, not salty, but the dish had a few grains of sea salt on top. A bread server went around regularly. I liked the sourdough, but my husband loved the seaweed focaccia.

To begin, my husband and I shared a half dozen Black Pearl oysters. Okay, he had one, I had five. He isn't a fan of West Coast oysters, preferring bigger East Coast varieties. The oysters were served with an apple mignonette, which was terribly clever (apple vinegar and minced apple replacing shallots and vinegar in the traditional recipe) and a perfect compliment to the sweet, creamy oysters. A red pepper horseradish jelly was also offered, but I can't do bell pepper. Of course, the oysters were indeed best plain. I had a glass of sparkling BC wine with my oysters, a very dry sparkler with a bit of gold color.



Next, I had a gorgeous albacore tartare, served with a poached quail egg and some potato chips. I nearly licked the plate.



My husband had a Dungeness crab salad, with the most awesome zebra tomatoes.



For the main course, I had a lovely local salmon, cooked medium rare, paired with a BC pinot noir. The salmon rested on some lovely potatoes and beets, and was topped with salmon roe. It was also served with, and on, a parsley sauce. I've got to say, I don't think the sauce added anything, and sort of had a watery feeling. I think I would have preferred a cleaner presentation, but it was awesome nonetheless.



My gorgeous husband had an ultrarare seared Albacore loin for his main course, served with a truffle cesar salad. I can't even describe it - it was amazing.

We did have some dessert - mine was Valrhona chocolate in three textures, my better half had a chocolate mint pudding with berries. No pictures though, we were too busy eating.