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| Some people like to wear their black beans as well as eat them – especially if they match their clothes. My grand-daughter loves to eat with us and we love to eat with her. (@ Guisados in Boyle Heights) |
And not just because I always get a lot more hits when I write about food. After all, everyone eats! On Wednesday I finally made it to the Altadena Farmer’s Market. I knew that it was going to be different than other markets because I know Joseph Shuldiner and I know food fills his world and his life. Not that he overindulges or anything. On the contrary, it is all about quality and community, good food and good friends.
The small market included both commercial and backyard farmers with the locations of their farms proudly displayed. After arriving and saying a quick hello to Joseph, I searched out the stand where Emily Green (of chance of rain and LA Times fame) sells oranges collected from her
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backyard orchard. Unfortunately I missed Emily but I got some of her oranges before the end of the season. I also picked up several large duck eggs, oatmeal, an eggplant, and a bar of “ugly soap.” Although some may balk at the prices, I know some of the “farmers” and I know what goes into bringing their excellent products to market. No one here is getting rich.
When I got home I cut open an orange and could not believe how refreshing and delicious it was. There was nothing to fault this wonderful piece of fruit, but it did not hurt that each bite made me think of my friend. Food and friends.
The next morning I cracked a large duck egg, lightly scrambling it in over low heat in an old cast iron pan with olive oil, chopped tomatoes and Swiss chard. It was delicious. And yes, it made me think of the lovely people who sold me the eggs with the advice to cook them over low heat so they do not get tough.
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| Duck egg scrambled in olive oil with tomato, one of the last from my garden this season, and Swiss chard, also from my garden. |
On Thursday I decided to start a new tradition (that will probably last just one week) that I am calling, Throw-It-Together-Thursday. We do most of our food shopping during the weekend and are usually fairly low on food by Thursday. Rather than going out, I will try to use as many leftovers and remainders as I can on Thursday. In this way we will throw away less food – did you know that 40% of American food goes uneaten? – and can go out on Friday night with a clear conscience. Dinner consisted of grilled vegetables, half a hamburger, and half a sandwich leftover from lunch. I have to admit that it was not a complete success. The eggplant and sweet potato were very good, the carrots and broccoli not that good. I have grilled broccoli before and it has turned out better. Maybe I should have partially cooked the carrots in boiling water (I think the fancy term is blanch) before grilling. Does anyone have suggestions on how to grill carrots – or whether to grill carrots?
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| Left over sweet potato, eggplant from the Farmer’s Market, old carrots and a bit of broccoli tossed in olive oil, vinegar with a shake of salt. |
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| Grilling vegetables |
What a lovely post and thank you for the nice words about the oranges. It was an interesting experiment trying to systematically pick, clean, pack and vend the fruit of just two of the four huge and two only moderately large citrus trees in my back yard. <br /><br />I never would have known their yields, never mind what it took to catch them, before. Now that the trees are gleaned, I have roughly