A Fruitful Market Day

One of the many things I love about the Pacific Northwest is the huge variety of fresh local fruit available. From apples to cherries and raspberries to plums, there is something for everyone. Thanks to the ridiculously cold June weather, all the fruit harvest was pushed back a few weeks, but we are now at the peak of the berry season and the peaches are finally ripening. Naturally I took advantage of all this bounty and delicious fruits dominated my market haul.

Klippers Organics. Apricots and peach plums. The peach plums were delicious and perfectly ripe, but the apricots still need a little time to reach juicy perfection.

Sandhu Produce Growers Ltd. Raspberries, and blueberries. You may notice that the raspberries are not in the photo this week. My only explanation is that I sat down to eat one and then suddenly the whole pint was gone! Luckily I bought two pints of blueberries and still have some left for my yogurt tomorrow.

Ice Cap Organics. Turnips. These turnips looked absolutely amazing and will be gracing my weekly meal.

Birthday Pie??

I have to be completely honest and say that I am not a huge fan of cake. It is delicious, but only when you have the perfect piece from the corner with the frosted pink rose. There are always the "best" pieces and then there are the pieces that get lost in the cracks. In fact, unless it is a chocolate hazelnut mousse cake from Chocolate Maven in Santa Fe, I could do without it completely.

And so in lieu of a real post today, I will simply say that it is my birthday. It is my birthday and I had pie. Delicious, fresh, strawberry rhubarb pie! With the rhubarb fresh from the garden and the strawberries summer-sweet. Pie is an equalizer. Every piece is amazing and there are no frosting roses to argue over. Can anyone think of something better than a slightly warm slice of pie with homemade melty vanilla ice cream on top? I think not. Happy birthday to me!

A Tea-licious Summer Picnic

Yesterday was a spectacularly sunny day. The sky was blue, the temperature was high, and the market was hopping. Since I had an overload of vegetables taunting me from my refrigerator, my friend Naomi and I decided to make this Saturday a summer teatime picnic. We searched the market for fresh berries and a delicious looking lavender earl grey scone, made iced tea, boiled water for hot tea, and hauled everything out to the park in a collection of baskets. And because we refuse to do anything half-assed, we also dressed up! In other words, this is not my usual market day review.

I started out the day by brewing a fresh batch of Bengal Spice iced tea before Naomi arrived and we went skipping off to the market. After picking up raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries from the Sandhu Produce Growers, Naomi and I waited in line at PureBread and managed to snag the last delectable lavender earl grey scone (what better for a tea party?).  Upon finding the perfect park location (dappled sunshine, green grass, flower gardens) and ooohing and ahhhing over Naomi’s new picnic basket, we settled down for some serious eats.

The raspberries were perfect. I am generally not a huge fan of raspberries as I find that there is a fine line between ripe and rotten, but these were excellent! The blueberries were less inspiring, but since it is the first week of the season, I will cut the farmers some slack. The same was true for the blackberries. With any luck they will be much better in the coming weeks. I have only one word to describe the scone; scrumptious. I honestly cannot think of eating a better scone. The flavors were perfectly mixed and the light lemon glaze just added to the flavor. Excellent both on its own and when dipped in the hot white tea we enjoyed.

In the end it was a perfect summer’s day picnic. With any luck, there will be many more to enjoy!

Produce of the Week

Finally the sun has come back to the fine city of Vancouver, making it a paradise once more! Naturally this meant that the market was flooded with people. Despite having a nearly full fridge, I braved the crowds for a small market haul and my bimonthly bacon wrap. This time at Pig on the Street, I tried the Southern Piggy, which consists of bacon, BBQ sauce, grilled peppers, corn, cheddar, and chipotle mayo. As always it was completely delicious and well worth the long line. While the Southern Piggy was just as good as the PigLT, I still have to rank the Porker as the best sandwich offered by Pig on the Street.

Paul’s Produce. Strawberries. Since Klippers is done with the strawberry season, I decided to try somewhere new. I have purchased from Paul’s Produce in the past without being disappointed, but these strawberries were a total letdown. I hate to seem overly harsh, but unless they drastically (and miraculously) improve in taste between tonight and tomorrow morning, I will likely be throwing them out.

Klippers. Romaine lettuce, purple kale. The romaine will be used in a Caesar salad later this week, or may be used in Vietnamese lettuce wraps if I choose to get wild. The kale will be lightly sautéed with garlic and lemon tomorrow night.

Forstbauer Farm. Golden beets. I hadn’t planned on buying beets today, but they just looked so good! My plans for those beauties are still up in the air.

Indian Night of Delight

One thing I love about the cultural diversity of Vancouver is the ease of having theme nights. Recently my dear friend, Naomi, and I decided that we should plan a series of theme foodie outings for the summer. Our first adventure was the Indian Night of Delight (Canada Day Patriotism, Buckingham Palace Tea Party and Guacamole Gangsters coming soon). We started the evening off right with a high-energy bollywood dance class at my favorite studio, Harbor Dance Centre. The music was hopping, the instructor was great, and the smiles infectious.

After a quick shower, Naomi and I met at a great Indian restaurant in downtown, Salam Bombay. I must confess to being rather predictable when I go to Indian restaurants. I adore butter chicken and garlic naan and tend to try them at every new restaurant I visit. True to culinary school fashion, Naomi went through the menu in great depth before choosing on the chicken biryani. I first have to say that the naan here was practically a work of art! I almost felt guilty while eating it. My butter chicken was absolutely delicious and despite having the appearance of a smaller portion, was more than enough to fill me up. Naomi’s biryani was the most flavorful rice I have ever tasted. It was a filled with chicken and spices and was completely excellent. All together we each spent about $20 for a great Indian feast.

After our delicious meal, we headed back to my apartment to end our Indian night with a fun bollywood film, Bride and Prejudice. Altogether, it was a wonderful night full of food and fun that will be repeated with a new theme in the near future!