I’m not entirely sure why. When I was feeling real shitty a few weeks ago due to insane nerve damage, a special friend came to my door with (warm, I think) cornbread and this.
Wow. I was so far gone at the time, I think I scared them away. In my undies. I have since apoligized, but this is the first time I’ve read this sober(-ish). And it’s beautiful.
Add comment January 19th, 2008
Back to C-ville for this weeks haul. Heirloom tomatoes are in full swing, and they seemed to be the focus for most of the producers. Lisa from Restaurant Widow was there demoing some corn salsa/relish, but it was too early for me. It was great to meet you Lisa! Here’s what I dragged home:
The coolest looking peppers I’ve ever seen…
Eggplant for the grill…
Heirloom tomatoes, to be used on a pizza, I’m thinking…
A zuchinni that just might eat me! I’ll be making my mom’s awesome relish, I’ll share the recipie later.
Ohio peaches…
Elderberrys (for jamming)…
And two kinds of garlic.
I’m off to the Ohio State Fair later today, expect more blogging soon.
Add comment August 11th, 2007
So I got a little busy last week and didn’t get to posting my market pics. The good news is that now we can all bask in photo documentation of what I did with some of this stuff.
I went with T to the Worthington Market this time, as we had heard that it was quite a bit bigger. We discovered that while this is true, it’s also quite busy, with many narrow walkways. Will we return? I could handle it solo, but for a nice, early, relaxing market stroll, we’ll stick with C-vill, methinks.
First up, some pleasantly pretty purple peppers procured post-haste.
Purdy stripy tomato….
Yummy basket of squash…I never got around to using that blossom you see, but the veg itself was awesome on the grill after a quick blanch…
Purple Spuds (I have a thing for anthocyanins, I guess…)
And the beet goes on…
Most of this went right on the grill with minimal prep. Olive oil, salt & pepper.
I just got around to the beets last night. I roasted them in my oven, peeled and added some blanched red onion, balsamic vinagrette, parsley and organic goat cheese.
Now to post todays bounty!
1 comment August 11th, 2007
After a long night of stud poker at the I.C. Catholic Festival here in Clintonville, I dragged my sorry but out of bed at 7am to hit the farmers markets. When I arrived at Clintonville, it appeared I had missed out. Worthington, same deal. Tables abounded, but no lovely produce was in sight. Sigh. SO I headed home, hitting a few garage sales on the way. When I arrived at the house, I made some coffee, and decided to check out Craigslist for some more garage sale locations. On a whim, I also took a peek at the farmers market hours, so I would know for next time. They both don’t even start until 9am! I rushed back out the door at five past nine and made it to the C-ville market with plenty of time to spare. Awesome stuff I bought:
Fresh edamame on the vine, complete with a ladybug friend, which I was sure was a sign of luck. More on that in a minute…
And the ladybug:
Crazy ass pole beans, while I forget the correct nomenclature, it’s something about “dragonfire”…
I picked up some bacon and sausages from Oink Moo Cluck, and these eggs from 2 silos:
Now you’ll remember I had spoken about “luck” a few moments back. As I was cutting through the thick stems of these lovely Sunflowers,
I put the blade of a 10 inch serrated knife through my left index finger knuckle. First knife accident in years. Now I’m not so sure ladybugs are lucky!
Our current landlords came over to do some work on the house, and Tori treated us to a breakfast with local organic blueberries, local orgaic hash of her own design, and some of those awesome 2 silos eggs, scrambled up and topped with romano cheese. Thanks, Wifey!!!
Add comment July 29th, 2007
My sister came into town for the Yonder show, and we had a kick ass time all weekend long. The fun started on Friday, with dinner at The Burgundy Room in Dublin. I’ve visited the Short North location, and found that Dublin has a totally different feel. A splash of elegance, where the SN location has cool. Columbus Foodie blogged about The Burgundy Breakfast, which was my impetus to go. We started with a real nice Rose Prosecco, which I can’t find on their wine list at the moment. Dry, but with those great fruit tones that I dig in a rose wine. It went great with the first round of Tapas we ordered. Sister ordered a local butter lettuce salad with goat cheese, smoked tomatoes, pecans and blueberries. The smoked tomatoes were fantastic, and offset the general sweetness of the salad, making it feel rich and powerful, rather than oversweet. T had the roasted sweet corn bisque, which was served just over room temperature. I’m not sure if that was intentional or not, but on a hot day, it hit the spot. Some candied roasted tomatoes topped it off. I has a shrimp cocktail, which was meh. The whole time we were eating, a family of ducks gathered at our table. They would eat bread right from your hand, and were cute enough to convince me not to order the duck confit tortellini (though I sooooooooo wanted to!). See examples here:
Round two began with a mixed seafood ceviche. Had I known half raw salmon was coming my way, I would have passed. Sis got crab cakes, served with a wonderful mustard sauce, and a 90/10 crab-to-filler ratio, which is about perfect. T received a gloriously rich smoked chicken ravioli dish with capers and prosciutto. After a bottle of Burgundian Sauvignon Blanc, we hit dessert. I made a mistake and asked our server, who seemed pretty new to the whole “wine bar” thing, to let us finish our bottle before bringing dessert. My intention was to time this right so we could get a bottle of dessert wine, but by the time our server brought our order, the bottle had been gone for 20 minutes, and I had gotten itchy to get out of there. Eventually, we were brought our 2 dessert choices, a trio of house made ice creams, and the Burgundy Breakfast. All the ice creams were good, the chocolate mint being my favorite. But nothing compared to my fresh belgain waffle with bourbon maple syrup and bacon ice cream. Yep, bacon. And if you share my affinity for all things porky, you’ll get this dish straight away. It was breakfast, dinner and dessert in one. Yum! bit rich for everyday, but it was a wonderfully excecuted dish, and a perfect end to the meal. We headed back to Clintonville, picked up a few more bottles of vin at the store and sat around the firepit for the rest of the evening. Yay!
Add comment July 22nd, 2007
We spent the past weekend in glorious Batesville, Indiana spending time with T’s family. My night was cut short by a gnarly little bug, but I had a lovely day walking around town with the dogs. After my self guided tour, we hopped in the car to see T’s sister at work. She’s doing some really positive work with sustainable agriculture in Indiana, namely running a plot of organic produce and flora on a nearby farm. She worked hard to sell the idea to what passes for a venture capitalist in Batesville, and had everything up and running when we arrived. I’m not sure what kind of details to share with you, readers, but she’s cranking out lots of peppers, tomatoes squash and the like with a heavy slant towards organics. The land isn’t certified, but she’s doing everything right to get it there. With summertime here, and my thought shifting to eating locally, I’m glad to have a family member who’s helping to make it possible. Obligatory pictures (which are pretty kick ass if you click through for a full gander at em’):
Add comment June 12th, 2007
Since I lost my Flickr pro account, I thought I’d give Picasa web albums a try. I use Picasa on my local machine anyway, and it seemed like an easier way to get my stuff on the tubes. My only complaint so far is the way links are offered. Everytime I blog a pic, I have to clip the href blah blah blah from the URL so wordpress understands it. Or I could not be a retard. I was pasting the code into the WYSIWYG editor. Dar… Anyway, here are some photos that I particularly liked on this saturday afternoon.
This moth was at least 5 inches tall from thorax to wingtip. The thorax alone was as big as my thumb. Identify, anyone?
Add comment June 2nd, 2007
We just returned from the Clintonville Farmers Market. T drank too much red wine, and I too much Saranac, so we arrived a bit late! However, we still made it out with some pretty beefsteak tomatoes (one green one for frying up) a pound and a half of local organic ground beef and some eggs from 2 Silos. It turns out that 2 Silos will not be producing any fresh chicken meat this season, but they’ve partnered with another local family to ensure plenty of yummy poultry anyway. We’ll go again next week (earlier!). Here’s T @ the Market:
and heres a cute silkie. Sorry for the treetop view , it’s bloody hot out and I couldn’t see my LCD on the camera to compose a better shot.
Add comment June 2nd, 2007
Meatloaf.
Yeah, meatloaf.
No, not that one.
It’s cooking right now, and boy howdy does it smell delicious. My recipe? Well, it’s based on AB’s, but with a few modifications. First and foremost, panko breadcrumbs. Panko takes the texture of the loaf from dense and greasy to light and airy. (Don’t worry, the fat is still there…) My seasoning mixture is a melange of goodness, with cracked black pepper, TJ’s 21 seasoning salute, toasted cayenne, A-1 (you heard me…) and a bit of BBQ sauce. I added mushrooms to the sweated veggie mix this time. Oh, and F the bell pepper. You don;t really need it. But if I had one, I’d probably use it.
The AB tips to keep in mind are not overmixing (hands are the best tool for the job) and baking on a sheet pan rather than in a loaf pan. I just use the same cast iron skillet I used for the veggies. I also use the “bird roasting BTU control trick” whereby I roast at 425 for 7 minutes before finishing out at 350 for a nice crust.
Man, you should be here right now.
Add comment January 10th, 2007
are cooler than cool. I dig the food ones an awful lot. Buy a bunch here. I did. Other artists represented as well, but none as swell as my girl Tom’s.
previously on IF@B: Tom Hoshino
Add comment January 6th, 2007
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