Sunday, August 27, 2006

Yesterday in Point Reyes


It was a gray, overcast morning. A visit to the farmers' market located at Toby's Feed in the middle of Point Reyes Station was our goal. This market is organized by Marin Organic and, as I understand it, is all organic. It is rather quaint and cute. They had some good music and the place was busy for its diminutive size. Now this is my first time at this market and the primary reason for my trip was I wanted to get some strawberries. These are not just any strawberries either. The berries from Satori Farms in Tomales have been the best of the year by far, even better than Dave's (of County Line Harvest) berries. Now Russ, who grows these, seems to pick them a bit riper than other growers. As a result, he specifically tells his customers to eat them within two or three days, at most. Now I know where to get berries from Russ on Tuesday (the Novato market) and on Sunday (the San Rafael Civic Center market), but where do I get them for Saturday. Russ comes to the market in Point Reyes. What a great excuse to get out for a beautiful drive and see a great little market in a great little town. We had breakfast at the Station House Cafe, which was terrific, and strolled around the main drag and went by Tomales Bay Foods where they were making Mt. Tam and Redhawk cheeses at the Cowgirl Creamry. What a great morning!

Sunday, August 20, 2006

The pancakes, the tortilla chips, and pink!

As I work in San Francisco and live outside the city, I try to avoid coming in on the weekends unless I have a specific need to be in the city over the weekend. When I do come in, especially if I am in early on a Saturday, my favorite thing to do is to stop by and see my friends at the amazing Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market. This past Saturday I had the chance to do just that and it was a pleasure.

I started my day with coffee accompanied by Prather Ranch Griddlecakes with Whiskey maple sausage topped with yellow Kashiwase peaches. My buddy from the San Rafael market, whom I have written briefly about before, Scott, manages the grill operations for Prather Ranch Meat Co. at the ferry building. While I was eating I chatted with Scott and his cronies as well as with Thomas of RoliRoti. Thomas had just been to the Ritz Carlton Dining Room for dinner and had glowing remarks. Thomas' wife is Japanese and he said that she almost broke down in tears as this meal was the first time she has had a certain fish since she left Japan. Here is a picture of Scott at the grill.

On my way out, I stopped by to see Steve of Rancho Gordo.

Steve is a New World food activist. He is personally saving heirloom bean and pepper varieties from going out of extinction. We are lucky that he grows some of these varieties in enough quantity to sell to the general public. He also makes traditional corn tortillas. These tortillas are amazing. The corn is coarsely ground and has only lime and water added. Of course, he is a great guy, too. He stopped coming to the Sunday San Rafael Civic Center market in December of 2005 and I remind him how much we miss him everytime I get the chance. His beans are amazing and he is a lot of fun to get to know. So I picked up some tortillas, tortilla chips, and a couple of bags of beans, as I do whenever I get the chance. One of the beans I bought was new to me, the Borlotti, which Steve tells me cook more quickly than most varieties. I have a pot of them on the stove right now. They will feed us all week.


On the advice of another fan of farmers' markets, I swung by the Sebastopol-based apple and flower grower, Devoto Gardens for their Pink Pearl apples. The Pink Pearl is an unusual apple with a muted beige-light green skin and a reddish pink interior. The apple is tart and quite to my liking. (Sorry the pictures do not really do the apple justice.) I have been having a blast sharing the apple with unsuspecting apple eaters, as the first bite reveals a shocking bright reddish-pink interior.

An Introductory Tour

I had the good pleasure of orienting a friend of mine to the market this morning and introducing her to my many friends here. The Civic Center market is relatively large and bustling. To the first-timer, it is a little overwhelming. We started our tour with Doug and Scott at Prather Ranch Meat, as they had plenty of sausage today, we pressed on. Next we swung by RoliRoti to say good morning to Thomas and Luis Ricardo. We had a quick taste of pumpkin spice goat ice cream at LaLoo's, which was really nice. Then Carol got us set up with some OJ from Extremely Fresh Juice and I got a large guac to take home. Ute and Justin sold us some beautiful produce from Capay. My friend got the tomatoes, I got some squash. Then we went down the bread "aisle". Dion, of course, had his amazing Flour Chylde cakes to sample. As my friend and her husband had just moved up to Marin, I bought them a small box of chocolates from Guy and Gandolf's Fine Chocolates. We cruised by Mission Fish and headed down the middle row for some more veggies. In particular, I got some lovely yellow squash and cilantro. Paul (also of Extremely Fresh) sold me a small bottle of lime juice. From here, we headed back to Prather for buy some meat. We both bought some sausage. She got some flat iron. I got some bacon. On the way out, we got some ice cream from Three Twins. There Mint Confetti is outstanding. Our last stop was with Kathy of JulietMae. My friend liked her aromatic garam marsala, as I do, and also got some herbs de Provence. Of course, there were lots of sights and smells along the way.

I almost left out our visit to Satori Farms of Tamales. They have been selling absolutely wonderful strawberries for the past month or so. I have also had them at the Novato market.

Monday, August 14, 2006

Value(s)

The subject of my last post got me thinking about the criticism I hear of the farmers' market too commonly. People say that it is too expensive. Rather than debate the topic, I thought I would tell you and show you what I brought home for my $120 this week.

All this with $3.55 left in change.













Capay heirloom tomatoes, 4.5 pounds
Gravensteins (from Paul of Nana Mae), 2 pounds
Assorted varieties of organic summer squash, 4 pounds
2 heads of broccoli and 1 head of cauliflower from Swanson's
3 large Huckleberry red potatoes (not in the photos)
Organic salad mix with archly (from County Line), 1.5 pounds
8 ears of corn
1 red onion
1 bunch of genevese and serrata basils
3 large organic sweet peppers (in red, orange, and yellow - nice!)
5 avocados
1 package of lamb sausage (from Prather Ranch Meat Co.)
1 organic RoliRoti chicken
1 sesame levain (from Mary at Brickmaiden)
2 medium portobellos
1 dozen eggs
2 pounds of Princess grapes
6 squash blossoms
2 pints of strawberries
1 large of bag of 'Berber' spice blend and 1 small bag of Cassia cinnamon
And for lunch, we had Thomas' RoliRoti chicken with some of my fresh squash.

Saturday, August 12, 2006

Inflation?


This past Thursday I swung by the Thursday night market at the SF Ferry Building. I had heard the prices were a lot higher at the Saturday market here than at my usual market on Sunday in San Rafael. Well, I passed by the Capay stand and saw there tomaters were going for $4.49 a pound. Of course, I bought them on Sunday for $2.50 a pound in San Rafael. Now certainly some price differential is acceptable, but that is nearing a 100% difference. I do not see the Farmers' Markets as a bargin opportunity, but the idea of buying direct from the producer is, in part, to increase the market efficiencies (i.e. deliver a better product at a competitive price where the producer sees more return on her or his investment and the consumer is rewarded with a relatively good value for the quality). I can't wait to hear what Justin and Ute have to say about this.

I know my picture is crummy, but, if you cannot read the sign, it says "heirloom tomatoes $4.49".

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Tuesday night in Novato

With Flour Chylde bakery running full steam ahead and the seasonal market here in full swing, Tuesday is a great night to shop and eat in Novato. There is RoliRoti for rotisserie chicken, a great Thai stand at the market, and a great smelling BBQ stand I have yet to try. But things really stand out with dessert. With all the berries at their peak, it is easy to throw something so simple, yet so delicious together, such as my organic red and yellow raspberries with a vanilla bean Flour Chylde cake. Of course, Spring Hill Farm cheese makers also make that delicious lemon quark with goes so well with the Flour Chylde rustic lemon cake.

Saturday, August 05, 2006

Empiricism is king!

I love the farmers' markets, but I have a few other passions, among them coffee, wine, and chocolate. Part of what I love about the markets as a consumer is that I can ultimately come to discern and enjoy the unique product of specific agricultural practices and the differences of specific varieties.

For example, I was blown away when I tried the oranges from Olsen Organics. He dry farms his citrus biodynamically, which I do not yet fully understand. What I can tell you is that I have never had a better orange; it was so intense, so sweet. The pork from Prather Ranch comes from heirloom breeds that are range-raised. This pork is not the "other white meat". It is juicy and gloriously marbled. We made some whooping thick loin chops last night and I had to step away from them for a while. As a result, they cooked longer than I would have wanted, but did they taste overcooked, were they dry or stiff? No, they were delicious. This is what pork was meant to taste like before pork producers tried to get on the chicken bandwagon.

Similarly, with chocolate and wine, one can discern the unique elements of its' production. In the wine world, the unique flavor aspect that conveys something about the location of vineyard is called 'terrior' (pronounced 'tare-wahr'). From many bittersweet chocolate tastings of various varietals and producers, one could say chocolate has its terrior, too. Coffee has its terrior, but unlike wine and chocolate, coffee must be made properly. In addition to the quality of the beans and the roast, the technique used to prepare coffee makes a world of difference.

But how would I know what is better or which technique really worked. This is where empiricism comes in. Empiricism is a theory of knowledge based primarily on first-hand experience. So let's do some taste tests. Now I started with the tests done for the magazine Cook's Illustrated. In their evaluation, two methods of making coffee stand out producing outstanding coffee -- the vacuum coffee maker and the manual (paper filter) drip. The vacuum coffee maker is a curious glass contraption that requires significant clean-up and is obviously quite delicate. A manual drip involves a cheap plastic cone and a paper filter. It is preferable to have a carafe to make the coffee into to retain temperature, but I always drink the coffee immediately so do not use one. Based on the cost and inconvenience I have stuck with the time-tested manual drip method, until recently.

In searching for an alternative manner of producing espresso without buying a several thousand dollar machine to produce a beverage close to the espresso found in French cafes, I came across the AeroPress. This is an unlikely device. First off, it was created by a guy who made this. Secondly, it looks weird.

I have had the AeroPress for about two months and initially I was impressed. Then I tried it with the best light to medium roast beans I could get a Trader Joe's. The coffee sucked. At first, I thought the AeroPress was to blame and tested it against the manual drip. This was pretty bad, too. Clearly, these were inferior beans, in spite being the best TJ's had to offer. So I got some good beans and, sure enough, I returned to getting excellent results with the AeroPress. More confident at this point, this morning I tested the AeroPress head-to-head with the manual drip. I used the same beans, the same grind, the same water (with a slight increase in water temperature for the manual drip). The AeroPress coffee was tasted straight and then with an addition of hot water. It was more full-bodied than the manual drip with less bitterness. In spite of the marketing of the AeroPress it does not really produce espresso, but it is exceptionally good strong coffee that can be enjoyed concentrated or diluted with hot water (my preference). While it is a little more labor intensive than the manual drip, it is also much faster. I am generally not a big fan of gadgets, as they are often not helpful. But this one I am definitely enjoying and for $28 it is a steal. I usually drink coffee only the weekends, when I have the time to make and enjoy it. Recently, I have been saving a few minutes in the morning to grind some fresh beans and run the AeroPress before heading out the door.