Even though it was soggy out, Sweetie and I went to the Broadway Farmers Market for what may be our last trip of the season (it ends right about the time we return from Ecuador). I chatted with my current favorite seller, the Potato Man, and purchased three varieties--some purple ones (slightly wet and very clean, they look like the sort of purple normally seen on the side of a van, surrounding a dolphin), the cutest tiny russets I've ever seen, and some round and sassy Yellow Finns. We talked some about Ecuador and their potato varieties, and he was happily insistent that I must provide a complete report of my Latin American Potato Experiences when we return, even if I have to drive up to the Ballard Farmers Market to find him.
We also got samples of delicious beef stew from the Brothers In The Kitchen cooking demo. The smell was rich enough to cause swooning on such a cool fall day, the portion generous, the brothers professional and chatty, and the stew was great. Little bits of orange rind in beef stew? New to me--and tasty. I'm not sure if they were selling many books (the market wasn't all that busy), but their carafe for donations was stuffed.
I was also happy to find baskets of smooth kiwis, which taste nothing like the fuzzy kind and are about the size of a green grape. A friend of mine has a couple vines (you need male and female plants) and I've snacked on them for years, but they're so soft and perishable I don't think they're very common at all in stores. Nice to see them at a market. (And if anyone has ever cooked with them at all, do tell.)
Yesterday, we went back down to South Lake Union to eat at a place we found a week ago--Feierabund, a German pub. The beer was great, the piles of food were a bargain, the atmosphere is the dark and wooden sort of place that makes me want to drink beer, and, alas, the waiter was a barely-legal dude who spaced (his word) on a few too many things to make me happy. I realized that what I want at a bar like that is a very stereotypical large professional pub man with a handlebar mustache, a generous gut, a zillion years experience in the world of beer and a real love of his job. I do not see many pub men like that, but if you know of one, send me his way. We will be going back, both to taste a whole lot of beer varieties and to try more food. Sweetie especially loved the sweet/sour red cabbage, and I liked the horseradish mashed potatoes.
To wrap up a very food-centered weekend, I spent some quality time with a birthday gift from Sweetie's parents, a cookbook called The Little Big Book of Comfort Food. The recipe selection is impressive--they did a great job combining standards like meatloaf and mashed potatoes with fattening pub food (cheesy potato skins), nursery food (vanilla pudding), old-fashioned veggies (green bean casserole, corn pudding) and crazily rich desserts (whiskey cake). A small portion are traditional regional or ethnic (mainly New York Jewish), and a few are interesting new-to-me versions of basics, like the French toast casserole. I'm also entirely in love with the design--heavy matte paper with crazed images of dancing vegetables, small children slaving away in the kitchen, and ducklings dressed up and out on a picnic. There's even a little ribbon bookmark. While some of the recipes (glazed carrots) are too bland and sugary to compare to my modern version (balsamic glazed carrots), most of the recipes look both tasty and reliable.
