Anna Blume

Dupont today:

Dandelion greens

Radicchio Treviso--both from Heinz at Next Step, the raddichio was first of this type I've seen around

Golden cherry tomatoes

Zucchini with blossoms attached--from New Morning; asked for the squash last week

Lavender eggplants

Peaches & nectarines--Eli's

Sorrel-- gorgeous!!!! from "The Greens Lady" 1st time. Pray the heat doesn't do them in this week and RUN to her buckets next week if you love this stuff as much as I do.

NB The private chef who did the demo before Nina Planck spoke was one of the best I've seen: Tania Hayek, www.nourishingyou.com. While she trained at a CA "alternative" cooking school that specializes in raw food, she made a frittata with green onions, basil, garlic, prosciutto, cream and cheese that really promoted the things the market offers. Her teaching style was perfectly suited for her audience, the smells were fantastic...

Mrs. B:

Might I suggest Colman Andrews' book if it's available around town? I like the idea of bringing Lulu, though that's kind of a heavy book in hardcover with thick paper. Do you have the small spiral-bound Time-Life book on Provincial France by MFK Fisher? Or a PB copy of Elizabeth David's book on the same subject?

(Have a great trip! Your husband's recollection of daughter smelling French melons was sweet.)

Nina Planck will be signing her book Real Food at the Dupont Circle market next Sunday, shortly after the chef demo at 11 am.

Anyone in Penn Quarter get a chance to eat cake or paella this afternoon?

Anyone have a recommendation for buying swordfish at less than $17 a pound?

I am carless and live in D.C. proper. Price quoted above is from WF.

I once lived in a town where a really good fishmonger sold trimmings from swordfish (chunks) and tuna (thunks) steaks, separately, fresh and reasonably priced. I got spoiled since these were great for pasta, etc. and would be even happier if I could find a similar operation here.

BTW: A quick google suggests populations of the fish are up in N. America if not completely a non-issue, and opinions are mixed re mercury levels and health risks.

Jamie Stachowski brought his duck galantine--made with dried blueberries--to the market for the chef demo.

Purple cauliflower--was told it might be the last week.

Gorgeous green beans from Eli's. Tomatoes. Mint. Basil. Parsley. White peaches.

The jade green beans were back at New Morning.

Blackberries and raspberries looked good and there was indeed corn.

* * *

Giant Paella will be served fairly early at the farmers market at Penn Quarter this upcoming Thursday, around 3 or 3:30 pm.

Are there New Orleans food offerings? I thought the NOLA part was music only.

You're right. I checked out the site map and New Orleans is not included. Years and years ago I had the best wild rice ever scooped out of a cauldron at the festival.

The first weekend is over, however, the second half of the festival continues this weekend.

I'm curious, has anyone braved the crowds and gone down to check out the foods from New Orleans or the other featured cultures?

Official Web Site

I happened to glance at the latest Gourmet Magazine at the drugstore yesterday. It's their annual cookie issue, and may have some recipes of interest to holiday cookie bakers out there. According to Ruth Reichl's remarks, they've been testing the recipes all year. I certainly trust her discriminating palate. I don't think she would allow anything but winning recipes to go out there on her watch.

Did anyone make the time-consuming Perfect, Pure browned-butter cookie, recipe accompanied by a vivid, Job-like description of all the effort that goes into them? Curious.

Heads up for those of you who don't get the weekly emails from FRESHFARM Markets:

CHEFS AT MARKET

Saturday, July 8, Muskrat Park in St Michaels: Margaret Vivian of Chesapeake Bay Foundation; demo at 9am

Saturday, July 8, Ellsworth Drive in Silver Spring: Eric Cohen, Lifestyle Cooking; demo at 11 am.

Sunday, July 9, Dupont Circle: Jamie Stachowski (Restaurant Kolumbia); demo at 11 am.

Thursday, July 13, 8th near E St, Penn Quarter: Happy 4th Anniversary; Wes Lanham is baking a scrumptious birthday cake and thanks to Jaleo there will be GIANT PAELLA in the street!. N.B. Market runs 3-7 PM. No time for either cake or paella supplied, but I know this past weekend, cake ran out 1/2 an hour after Dupont Circle opened and cherry pie at 11:35, shortly after chef demo ended. Penn Q's demo is usually at 5, but paella might be served at opening hour. Who knows?

NEW AT SELECT MARKETS

I imagine the following applies to other markets in the area, whether as first appearances or pretty new:

Field tomatoes,

corn,

horseradish,

peppers,

eggplant,

new potatoes,

string beans,

Roma beans (H St. NE),

white peaches (Foggy Bottom),

apricots,

plums.

New to Dupont: Mount Harmony has granola this Sunday.

Heads up, Shoebox (I did talk to a more experienced volunteer and she said that "local" is the key word to an obsessive degree and FFM mulls over its commitment to non-farmers from time to time on this issue. However, Ann Yonkers is an experienced cook and knows what you can and cannot find locally...like cocoa beans and vanilla, so...)

* * *

And please, only reporting, so don't ask me about Martians, Smurfs or Gender:

GREEN KIDS at MARKET DAYS!

Les Dames d'Escoffier of Washington, DC is partnering with local producer-only farmers' markets on Saturday, July 22 and Sunday, July 23 to have Green Kids Market Days. Renowned area female chefs, culinary leaders and students will present kid-friendly cooking demos and tastings of local seasonal foods at five area farmers' markets. Join us for butter making, market treasure hunts, food arts and crafts (bug building!!) and prize drawings on the hour and more! Saturday, July 22 market locations are: Arlington Farmers' Market (Courthouse Square), H Street FRESHFARM Market (624 H St, NE) and Silver Spring FRESHFARM Market (Ellsworth & Fenton Streets). Sunday, July 23 market locations are: Dupont Circle FRESHFARM Market and Takoma Park Farmers' Market (Downtown Takoma, MD). More info at www.lesdamesdc.org.

Elizabeth, that is heartening news. What a wonderful tribute to your mother!

It was good to meet many of you and connect faces to monikers and real names.

Shoebox, your baked goods are sensational. So moist, just a little boozy and chocolate...

And Michael, now I understand all the praise.

I would like to recommend browsing throught this web site, Part II of a Cookie Swap collaboration on Il Forno, especially the cardamom pistachio chocolate dipped cookies ; a fresh bottle of cardamom really made the cookies addictive.

I also love these oatmeal cookies with dark chocolate chips and these with chocolate, dried apricots, cherries and pecans.

Finally, has anyone here mentioned Korova cookies of Pierre Herme? Greenspan says they're great with addition of currants that have been soaked in rum and she's right.

How about cookbooks/food-related books in good condition that never got used anymore? I have a few to donate.

Answering my own questions. [Dateline: Hurlock, Md]

This related article was in the Post on Wednesday: Farm damage. There were a few references to farms in the front-page story on rain the same day. This mentions the barns destroyed by tornados, I think.

Thanks to hillvalley's recommendation of flowering squash sold by New Morning, I emailed the Crawfords. Jim wrote back to say their farm lucked out, getting much less rain than places east of them, includiing D.C.

(FYI: They did not have the blossoming squash this week, though. Maybe the following.)

Click on FRESHFARM Markets for contact information. Here's the link.

I imagine you've seen the Farmers Market thread with the Post's listings of area markets, though someone noticed it was not complete.

I also wonder about the quality of baked goods at Eastern Market where there is a lot of traffic on the weekends, especially during the height of tourist season. Murky Coffee, just down the street from it, has a WOEFULLY limited supply of things to eat, so you might talk to those guys. I was down there fairly recently and spoke to a farmer from MD who had just started going there.

Re FFM, your best bet would be to talk face to face to either Ann Yonkers or Bernie Prince, the co-founders. One is always at Dupont on Sundays, if not both; the big event this week would not be the best time since they will be swamped. Who knows how another B-day cake might go over, though?

If you spoke personally to them, and they said no, then I don't think there's anything more you can do about that location for now. Other than familarizing them with your distinctive pastries, the only other thing I might suggest is mentioning what you've told us here: you do have fans and some have asked why you're not a participant.

Since Atwater was kind of going solo (? I think. I only starting volunteering a year ago) until Bonaparte starting to participate, part of the reluctance regarding Dupont might be due to the relationships established there; B also joins in at the FFM at St. Michaels and it is a big operation. There is the Thursday market, too, as mentioned.

Do you have a web site, BTW? Have you ever met Mr. Cake Love or others who have developed businesses similar to your own?

Thanks, Meaghan, for posting link that Crackers also brought to my attention.

I just wanted to update the topic by linking a city-wide promotional campaign that FRESHFARM Markets is publicizing via email. American Originals is the name of the theme geared towards tourists this summer. However, on the web site, you can click on the word "Restaurants" to find a range of establishments that are featuring corn, tomatoes and peaches from local farms on their menus. Some, like Blue Duck Tavern, are explicit in their ties to local farms.

Since pretty decent grape tomatoes were on sale at Safeway this past weekend ($1 a pint, $4 at WF for a brand they carry too), your thread was a source of inspiration. I roasted mine a little longer, still. It depends on what you want. I agree, it's a good way to compensate for ones not quite up to par with the tomatoes that will appear in mid July at the market.

Great tossed in pasta with tender small leaves of arugula if you can get it, bacon and cubes of mozzarella small enough to melt in a heated bowl while the strands are still hot.

I used mine to make a BLA(avocado)T and plan on finishing them in warm tortillas, salads, etc.

I read this web site on Nina Planck with interest, especially in relationship to farmers's markets in Washington, D.C.

Does anyone know if she involved in the history of the Mount Pleasant market in any way?

I love this time of year!!!!! A vegetable dinner with my bounty from two days of market shopping.....

Roasted squash blossom that were still attached to their baby squash, stuffed with a goat cheese, fava bean,

herbs and truffle salt and topped with parmesean cheese

All of the veggies and fruit used for dinner came from New Morning Farm, the Mt. Pleasant Market or Dupont Market.

Source of these squash blossoms? Mt. Pleasant? Sounds fabulous!

I am not sure I have ever seen them sold this way in D.C. before.

Here is a link to the list of farmers's markets in the area as provided, updated, each year by The Washington Post.

Note that the Post provides links to web sites of individual markets.

If you're interested in FRESHFARM Market, for example, go to the web site and sign up for the weekly e-mailed update.

Bernie Prince, one of the founders, will send you a poem and a list of the farmers, chefs, special events and items that should make an appearance during the week ahead, especially welcome when new produce appears throughout the growing season.

Look upthread for the announcement of next Sunday's special 10th Anniversary celebration (July 2).

* * *

At the market today, stone fruit arrived in the form of nectarines.

Cauliflower was purple, golden, green and white. There were green beans, fava beans (last ), golden and green zucchini, golden and red beets, softshell crabs, berries, cherries, onions, arugula, garlic chives, tarragon, tiny potatoes, baby artichokes, eggs, cheeses, bread, quiches and rain, rain, rain.

Quail Creek Farm (formerly Lanham Bakery) is only at the Penn Quarter market, I believe, and boy they've just got the best bread of any local farmer's market as far as I'm concerned. Potato with truffle oil and bacon with onion are my two favorites. And aside from variety of recipes they just taste the best. Bonaparte at Dupont Market takes the cake with pastries (and second place in my bread category) but Quail Creek bread crumbs are the ones that always lead a trail to my home.

I looked these guys up on the market's web site ("Ovens at Quail...."). Apparently they're an operation in WV and you're right about in-town exclusivity at Penn Quarter...so far. They attend the Shepherdstown farmers' market on Sundays.

Brilliant idea!!!!

Call me a Luddite, but if anyone has a spare Mouli-Julienne with a rust-free blade (No. 2?) for fine, fine shredding, please contribute it. I got my first after watching Julia Child years ago and regret discarding the second one after buying a food processor. It was the BEST thing for making a carrot salad...

JULY 2: 10th Anniversary of the FRESHFARM Market at Dupont Circle

A special bell ringing will open the market on a day when you'll find the ten founding farmers decked in blue ribbons, and if you've lucky, Thomas Jefferson will share a copy of his shopping list with you as he did with shoppers at the inaugural event in 1997.

Biodegradable paper will stretch around the fences so you may record fond memories. There will be a chef demo by Arpad Lengyel of Teaism whose business also celebrates its 10th anniversary this year.

And yes, there will be cake.

Meanwhile:

Saturday, 9am-12noon, 624 H St, NE

June 24: Chef demo at 11 AM by Jamie Stachowski of Restaurant Kolumbia

New(ish) at market (depending on location, Wed-Sun): Blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, zucchini, lavender, chard, leeks, Spanish onions, Walla onions, garlic, field cucumbers, baby artichokes, fennel and ice cream, sorbet, etc. English peas at H St.

If you have the time, I recommend a very slow oven, long roasting time, cut side down on very slick baking sheet, coated with olive oil.

The advantage of the slow oven (200 F) is that the tomatoes are more apt to stay intact without spewing out their guts and getting gooey. There's no labor involved once you've cut them in half and dotted the sheet with them.

In a pinch, quick roasting will work fine. If they are too liquid, and you have patience, turn them over with tongs (or stoic fingertips) and let them dry up a bit in the oven, bellies exposed.

I've even put them in a pre-heated wok if I am only doing a few for myself. Toss about. Done in a minute.

What, I don't count?

Ahhh...I'm starting to get the picture. Don't producers count, either?

A much smaller selection than expected, maybe six farms and still too early in the season, it appears. I'm guessing there will be no heirloom tomatoes.

But plenty of gourds in the fall.