Weekend fooding!
Sun, Oct. 15th, 2006 01:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterI have finally almost resigned myself to the fact that it is fall. This is a long process that never fully ends until it's winter and it's been raining steadily for three straight weeks. At that point, I switch over to attempting to resign myself to the fact that not only is fall over, but winter is in full swing and I will not get blasts of sunshine again until maybe April. I came back from the sunny, hot Italian coast to find drizzling grey, and I yelled at California for personally betraying me, despite the fact that it was already October.
I've been scowling at the pumpkins and the winter squash displays; the apples have given me a frisson of pleasure before reminding me that it is fall, and I have been trying to make the leaves stay green through sheer force of will. Just like every year, none of this really prevents the onset of autumn.
I have nothing against fall per se; I love the leaves and the cider and the smell of cinnamon and apples and squash baking. I love thick sheets and cozily nesting in my couch. But fall means grey skies and no sun, and fall means winter is just around the corner OMG GREY DRIZZLY DARKNESS DOOM.
I really need to get myself a full-spectrum light, or ten.
Yesterday, I went to the Ferry Building with some family friends. Since it was me, my not-really-little-brother, and his godfather, that meant his godfather was super nice and treated us to pretty much everything except coffee, and that was only because we bought it before we met up with him. We had oysters for lunch, and there was much joking about Oyceter eating oysters, mac and cheese, meatloaf, turkey pot pie (OMG the pot pie was good), sausages on sticks, lemon tart, chocolate tart, and Chinese tea. I boggle at all the good food in that building, and my not-really-little-brother and his godfather kept losing me as I got randomly distracted by honey samples, olive oil samples, fruit samples, cheese samples, and assorted other goodness.
And! Because I was there on Saturday, I got to see the famed Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market! For reasons completely unknown to me, this excited me much more than it excited the people I was with, and I made my friend take many pictures of tomatoes. Mmmmmm. I managed to emerge relatively unscathed, carrying only one small round of goat cheese and two baskets of tiny, sweet strawberries. I desperately wanted to buy apples, tomatoes, more cheese, squash, pluots, preserves, and etc., but I valiantly stopped, remembering that I had my normal market to go to the next day. I even managed to get out of the building with only said cheese, strawberries, and an additional ball of buffalo mozzarella.
I love the Ferry Building, even though it is completely out of my price range. I mean, it is a giant building dedicated to really freaking good food! They have fancy Japanese delis and restaurants that smell entirely of clam chowder and oysters fresh from North Bay and organic food and a store dedicated completely to mushrooms.
ETA: Pictures from the day
My shopping list for this morning was: tomatoes, peas, bread, maybe fruit, since I still have some Honeycrisp apples and Asian pears from Whole Foods in the fridge (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jinian, thank you for the tip from last year, the Honeycrisps are really good!). The bread was for eating with the goat cheese, the peas are self-explanatory, as are the tomatoes. Extra urgency on the tomatoes, as I have good mozzarella in the fridge!
I emerged with: tomatoes (black brandywine, peach!!, and zebra), sugar snap peas, cranberry beans, a loaf of bread, pluots (Flavor King and Flavor grenade), a blackberry galette, a giant quiche, frozen dumplings, and frozen green onion pancakes. Not bad, since I managed to not buy more strawberries, raspberries, peaches, squash, apples, apple cider, more cheese, more than one loaf of bread, salmon spread, and assorted other goodies. I haven't been to the market in about three weeks, and of course, I nearly slept in again this morning.
Thankfully, I was spurred on by the thought of more tomatoes and peas. Just like every time I miss a market, I emerged with loads of stuff, thinking, "Market! How I have missed you! We must never part again!"
The pea guy has sugar snaps now, and may be running out of English peas, which is probably about right, but still makes me mourn summer. There are tons of cranberry beans, romanos, fava beans, Italian butter beans and assorted other green beans, all of which tempted me sorely. But! I remembered thatrachelmanija will be here next week, which means I can drag her to my market and stuff her with samples and make her admire how wonderful my market is. I am actually at the point in which I talk to him now, and I mentioned that his peas have a starring role in my blog (ok, maybe supporting, since the books take up a pretty big role as well). And I learned that the peas will probably stop coming around the end of November. Sigh.
The tomato guy (there are several tomato people, but I like him because he only has tomatoes and because he has samples!) has tomatoes I haven't seen before! Granted, I've only been buying tomatoes for a few months, but it always excites me when I find new things at the market. The little green zebra tomatoes are gone, but in their places are red and yellow zebras. The black brandywines, staple of my tomato eating, are still there, but the peach tomatoes were completely new! Now I vaguely remember wibbling while reading about them in someone's blog (probablyheresluck's). They are tiny, and he let me just pop one in my mouth. They're a little fuzzy on the outside and a lovely pale yellow-orange, and oh, they are so sweet! I bought a lot of them. I will eat them like candy.
Sadly, Acme Bread doesn't bring their wheat-ears-esque loaf, which I had yesterday, and I ended up cursing myself for not buying some at the Ferry Building. But I still have an Italian batard, so all is well. I am planning on eating it with goat cheese, but now I'm also remembering that I still have lots of preserves and chocolate-hazelnut spread from La Pain Quotidian in NY. Mmmmm. Must remember to save some for Rachel and not eat all of it.
I wasn't going to get peaches or pluots at all (I am still cursing the end of summer in the back of my head), but I had some samples, which were amazing, and then that vendor said this was their last day at the market till next year, and I ended up getting ten pluots, with the thought of feeding them to Rachel if need be. The frozen dumplings and green onion pancakes are for the days I am too lazy to feed myself (many), and they're hand made and much better than the supermarket dumplings. Also, dumplings are comfort food. Green onion pancakes never need an explanation.
But! The best discovery of the day! There is now an oyster guy at the market!!!!! With fresh oysters from Tomales Bay! I had a Myagi and a Kumamoto right there, salt water dripping down my arms and lemon juice stickying up my fingers. The Myagi was a little too salty for me, but I love love love the Kumamoto (I had some yesterday at the Ferry Building too). And they were so fat! And they were salty and fresh and I was reminded of standing out in the back of the Ferry Building, watching seagulls bob on the waves. Mmmmmm.
Oysters! At my market! They aren't cheap, but at $1.50/piece, I can actually afford to eat one or two! Eeeeeeee!!
Next week's fooding plans:
- Congee and ja leung at Fat Wong's Kitchen
- Ferry Building Sat. morning?
- Fook Yuen for dinner after Yaoicon (woe! Now I look at the pictures and want the dim sum too...)
- Farmers' market Sun. morning
- ??
And now, I am off to drink my pumpkin spice latte (one of the good things about fall) and eat a slice of quiche and a blackberry galette before I go shell peas and watch more Fullmetal Alchemist.
I've been scowling at the pumpkins and the winter squash displays; the apples have given me a frisson of pleasure before reminding me that it is fall, and I have been trying to make the leaves stay green through sheer force of will. Just like every year, none of this really prevents the onset of autumn.
I have nothing against fall per se; I love the leaves and the cider and the smell of cinnamon and apples and squash baking. I love thick sheets and cozily nesting in my couch. But fall means grey skies and no sun, and fall means winter is just around the corner OMG GREY DRIZZLY DARKNESS DOOM.
I really need to get myself a full-spectrum light, or ten.
Yesterday, I went to the Ferry Building with some family friends. Since it was me, my not-really-little-brother, and his godfather, that meant his godfather was super nice and treated us to pretty much everything except coffee, and that was only because we bought it before we met up with him. We had oysters for lunch, and there was much joking about Oyceter eating oysters, mac and cheese, meatloaf, turkey pot pie (OMG the pot pie was good), sausages on sticks, lemon tart, chocolate tart, and Chinese tea. I boggle at all the good food in that building, and my not-really-little-brother and his godfather kept losing me as I got randomly distracted by honey samples, olive oil samples, fruit samples, cheese samples, and assorted other goodness.
And! Because I was there on Saturday, I got to see the famed Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market! For reasons completely unknown to me, this excited me much more than it excited the people I was with, and I made my friend take many pictures of tomatoes. Mmmmmm. I managed to emerge relatively unscathed, carrying only one small round of goat cheese and two baskets of tiny, sweet strawberries. I desperately wanted to buy apples, tomatoes, more cheese, squash, pluots, preserves, and etc., but I valiantly stopped, remembering that I had my normal market to go to the next day. I even managed to get out of the building with only said cheese, strawberries, and an additional ball of buffalo mozzarella.
I love the Ferry Building, even though it is completely out of my price range. I mean, it is a giant building dedicated to really freaking good food! They have fancy Japanese delis and restaurants that smell entirely of clam chowder and oysters fresh from North Bay and organic food and a store dedicated completely to mushrooms.
ETA: Pictures from the day
My shopping list for this morning was: tomatoes, peas, bread, maybe fruit, since I still have some Honeycrisp apples and Asian pears from Whole Foods in the fridge (
jinian, thank you for the tip from last year, the Honeycrisps are really good!). The bread was for eating with the goat cheese, the peas are self-explanatory, as are the tomatoes. Extra urgency on the tomatoes, as I have good mozzarella in the fridge! I emerged with: tomatoes (black brandywine, peach!!, and zebra), sugar snap peas, cranberry beans, a loaf of bread, pluots (Flavor King and Flavor grenade), a blackberry galette, a giant quiche, frozen dumplings, and frozen green onion pancakes. Not bad, since I managed to not buy more strawberries, raspberries, peaches, squash, apples, apple cider, more cheese, more than one loaf of bread, salmon spread, and assorted other goodies. I haven't been to the market in about three weeks, and of course, I nearly slept in again this morning.
Thankfully, I was spurred on by the thought of more tomatoes and peas. Just like every time I miss a market, I emerged with loads of stuff, thinking, "Market! How I have missed you! We must never part again!"
The pea guy has sugar snaps now, and may be running out of English peas, which is probably about right, but still makes me mourn summer. There are tons of cranberry beans, romanos, fava beans, Italian butter beans and assorted other green beans, all of which tempted me sorely. But! I remembered that
rachelmanija will be here next week, which means I can drag her to my market and stuff her with samples and make her admire how wonderful my market is. I am actually at the point in which I talk to him now, and I mentioned that his peas have a starring role in my blog (ok, maybe supporting, since the books take up a pretty big role as well). And I learned that the peas will probably stop coming around the end of November. Sigh.The tomato guy (there are several tomato people, but I like him because he only has tomatoes and because he has samples!) has tomatoes I haven't seen before! Granted, I've only been buying tomatoes for a few months, but it always excites me when I find new things at the market. The little green zebra tomatoes are gone, but in their places are red and yellow zebras. The black brandywines, staple of my tomato eating, are still there, but the peach tomatoes were completely new! Now I vaguely remember wibbling while reading about them in someone's blog (probably
heresluck's). They are tiny, and he let me just pop one in my mouth. They're a little fuzzy on the outside and a lovely pale yellow-orange, and oh, they are so sweet! I bought a lot of them. I will eat them like candy.Sadly, Acme Bread doesn't bring their wheat-ears-esque loaf, which I had yesterday, and I ended up cursing myself for not buying some at the Ferry Building. But I still have an Italian batard, so all is well. I am planning on eating it with goat cheese, but now I'm also remembering that I still have lots of preserves and chocolate-hazelnut spread from La Pain Quotidian in NY. Mmmmm. Must remember to save some for Rachel and not eat all of it.
I wasn't going to get peaches or pluots at all (I am still cursing the end of summer in the back of my head), but I had some samples, which were amazing, and then that vendor said this was their last day at the market till next year, and I ended up getting ten pluots, with the thought of feeding them to Rachel if need be. The frozen dumplings and green onion pancakes are for the days I am too lazy to feed myself (many), and they're hand made and much better than the supermarket dumplings. Also, dumplings are comfort food. Green onion pancakes never need an explanation.
But! The best discovery of the day! There is now an oyster guy at the market!!!!! With fresh oysters from Tomales Bay! I had a Myagi and a Kumamoto right there, salt water dripping down my arms and lemon juice stickying up my fingers. The Myagi was a little too salty for me, but I love love love the Kumamoto (I had some yesterday at the Ferry Building too). And they were so fat! And they were salty and fresh and I was reminded of standing out in the back of the Ferry Building, watching seagulls bob on the waves. Mmmmmm.
Oysters! At my market! They aren't cheap, but at $1.50/piece, I can actually afford to eat one or two! Eeeeeeee!!
Next week's fooding plans:
- Congee and ja leung at Fat Wong's Kitchen
- Ferry Building Sat. morning?
- Fook Yuen for dinner after Yaoicon (woe! Now I look at the pictures and want the dim sum too...)
- Farmers' market Sun. morning
- ??
And now, I am off to drink my pumpkin spice latte (one of the good things about fall) and eat a slice of quiche and a blackberry galette before I go shell peas and watch more Fullmetal Alchemist.
Tags:
(no subject)
Sun, Oct. 15th, 2006 09:21 pm (UTC)Fat Wong's Kitchen: (Is that Fat as in Chow-Yun, or Fat as in eats a lot of his own cooking?) The rice noodle roll ("cheung fun") is very good, particularly the rice noodle roll w/ flour crisp ("ja leung"). The rice noodle roll is made to order right behind the counter.
The best item, however, is the fish dumpling ("yu pei gau"). It is as good as the best found in Hong Kong, which is particularly intriguing because the fish paste used to make the dumplings (the wrapping, not the filling) requires specific mixtures of fresh fishes, none of which can be found in N. America. I don't know how they are made. They just taste good. Really good. Exceptionally good.
Let's try this!
I am now craving squab, mwaji, peas, salmon spread on onion bread, and peas. And peas!
(no subject)
Sun, Oct. 15th, 2006 09:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Mon, Oct. 16th, 2006 03:02 am (UTC)Mmmmmm, foood....
(no subject)
Mon, Oct. 16th, 2006 03:03 am (UTC)yay Honeycrisps!
Mon, Oct. 16th, 2006 03:26 am (UTC)How are the Flavor Grenades? I haven't seen that kind.
(no subject)
Mon, Oct. 16th, 2006 04:23 am (UTC)Re: yay Honeycrisps!
Mon, Oct. 16th, 2006 05:34 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Mon, Oct. 16th, 2006 05:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Mon, Oct. 16th, 2006 06:07 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Mon, Oct. 16th, 2006 06:53 pm (UTC)Why on earth aren't we hanging out???
(no subject)
Mon, Oct. 16th, 2006 07:39 pm (UTC)We should definitely hang out!
(no subject)
Mon, Oct. 16th, 2006 07:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Mon, Oct. 16th, 2006 09:15 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Mon, Oct. 16th, 2006 09:26 pm (UTC)