Anna Blume

Thanks, thistle! I forgot about the carrots and will have to make a few adjustments accordingly, but this helps.

PS. I completely forgot about the consequences of this year's weather. Hottest July on record and all that. Drought. Tomatoes love intense heat. Tomato flowers, not so much. Wither. No fruit. Many farmers depend on tomato season to make it for the year and many lost so much of their most important crop because of the destructive heat. Factors such as these might explain climbing prices, though I never noticed any patterns.

Former hippie or otherwise, does anyone here have access to Vegetarian Epicure, Book 2? Anna Thomas has a recipe for an Eastern European-inspired stew that features eggplant, peppers and lots of lemon. Internet searches have been in vain. Can't recall if there are tomatoes, paprika or how the recipe creates that very assertive, wonderful lemony flavor. It's easy to make a few guesses, but since Pat once came through when I had a similar craving for grad school food, I thought I'd give it a shot. Thanks.

Most abundant? September draws to a close and this is a growing season that started early. It's ending early, too. One of the farmers at Penn Quarter who grows organic tomatoes exclusively in fields no longer has large heirloom tomatoes, only the small cherry varieties. There are others who will have ripe, field tomatoes only for one more week, some two. For farmers in Southern Pennsylvania whose season starts almost a month after those in parts of Virginia, say, it behooves them to reap benefits of a lingering, premium crop. After all, the early birds charged what the market would bear when there weren't many local, heirloom field tomatoes around yet. As for pears, remember last year? Nary a pair of pears to be had in farmers markets. From what I understand, pears are one of the hardest fruits for orchard growers in these here parts. Fire blight, for one. Asian apple pears are a different story, and one of the easiest tree fruits to grow organically.

Oliver Friendly as long as he's still catering in these months leading to the opening of his own restaurant. Yes, the website's photos feature meat and fish as main dishes, but I agree with Zora, especially when it comes to someone who spends a lot of his time in farmers markets every single week. There are a couple of others who come to mind who might be appropriate for your niece's celebration. Send me a PM if you still need someone since I'd have to get contact details.

Your pork belly sounds delicious, Zora! The first and only time I bought pork belly raw was at an Asian market in Rockville, urged by a Chinese-Canadian and with plans to make Molly Steven's recipe for red-cooked pork belly from All about Braising. Very ignorant of meat cuts at the time, I did not know it was the source for bacon and was absolutely horrified at how fatty it was. Trepidation ended with that dish. I still have some braised pork belly in the freezer from last winter. It's about time for it again. That and soup. Shallow, wide bowl of quick chicken soup w carrots, leek, mushrooms, lemon, parsley and arugula tossed in at the end to wilt. Wedge of skillet cornbread. Apple.

I only know about the Saturday market. Unfortunately, tomorrow will not be a good day to go looking for The Mushroom Stand in D.C. Better chance for Feriel's maitake this weekend. FWIW Kevin won the Top Chef Challenge once for feeding maitake to Natalie Portman aka Celebrity Vegan. Roasted and accompanied by kale and winter squash, perhaps? Popular in Japan as virtual medicine, so I am told. Anti-carcinogenic, good for lowering cholesterol. Easy to mess up as a home cook because of the peculiar, rather dry texture. I've had best success roasting them with lots of fat in almost coral-like chambers.

You might be interested in this book (Sprang, Harvard U. Press, 2001).

Love mangos, could live happy without papayas for the rest of a venerable, long life. Soft bananas go immediately to freezer. It's a texture thing. Ut oh. Blinking lights...

Usually sold by The Mushroom Stand at local farmers markets including Arlington, Baltimore, Dupont & Penn Quarter.

Full disclosure: not my field of specialization, but relevant to something I used to do at least four times a year, FWIW. One of the oldest objects that Western Europe links to its history of culture and art is the tiny, carved figure of a woman found in Willendorf. While descriptions of the paleolithic artifact interpret the highly regularized pattern on her head as braids or another sort of hairstyle, some scholars point to trace elements of pigmentation to argue more recently that this is a woven hat. Marsh reeds in a hunter-gatherer society, sure, but given other relevant data, this may indicate that the cultivation of grains goes back further in time in this part of the world than previously thought. Even The National Geographic has debunked the whole He-man Hunt Big Bull Eatem Nom Nom approach to the much later wall paintings at Lascaux given nearby piles of fish and bunny bones, seeds from berries, fibers from might have been nets used in traps, etc. In any respect, why we would want to emulate what kept such people alive puzzles me. Hardly a Golden Age. Give me coffee, fresh pasta, penicillan and the vote!

Risotto w zucchini blossoms, basil and parmesan The last gasp of field basil was heard at the markets yesterday. Leaves are thick and gnarly, not in a good way, and very few farmers were selling the herb. Chicken stock was from a small batch made last week w two roasted carcasses and the necks that Evensong's processor keeps on the birds.

Hakurei. Favorite vegetable of the daughter of Alice Waters when she was little.

This morning, this farm did in fact have the fruit. I did a quick search to explore what other fruits share its status as indigenous to North America and came across a thread from a science forum that might be of interest: "Native North American Fruit". (What amuses me is the kind of interpersonal dynamic one finds all across the board.)

Yes, Farm at Sunnyside had paw-paws at Dupont Circle a couple of weeks ago, but I only noticed them that one time. Of course, I feel about paw-paws the same way Waitman feels about cantaloupe. Country Pleasures--the other organic farm out on 20th Street, next to the orchard with the sign asking you not to whine--usually brings paw-paws to market a little later than Farm at Sunnyside. José Andres had yet a different source when his America Eats was open, someone who was able to sell in quantities. An interest in their historical significance/geographic origins is about the only thing that makes sense to me when it comes to the fruit.

Acht! Ich habe ein grosse Mistake fachten! Having cooked these babies, I do believe they be plain ol' ordinary Italian prune plums. Mislabeled? Mistaken one for the other when purchasing? I will investigate tomorrow. Meanwhile, I have to say I wish I had real Damsons for the sauce I just made. Lemon juice perks it up a bit, of course, but the IPP's are rather blah in a simple prep of softening w sugar and a little water. Adaptation of Slater's egg-free, unbaked (well, I did a briefly baked crust) cheese cake is quite lovely w Keswick quark and Clear Spring heavy cream, two things I was trying to find a way to use up. (Rest of dinner pretty ordinary and not worth documenting for posterity or Don.)

Wasn't he on Kojo? Yes. And Morning Edition. Really interesting--should be a great read. And umm, cupcakes!

This Old Thread on Trader Joe's pine nuts actually becomes more generalized quickly and might be a useful read. As for the high price, depending on what you're making, you usually buy fewer oz. of pine nuts than you might of similarly priced meat or cheese.

If it was at the same place that instructs you not to whine or steal, okay. I got mine from the nice, cute guy who was charging shoppers $6 q when I swept up one of the last boxes and like most farmers, always gives discounts for bulk purchases. lp: I ate mine straight. Remember, I am not a super taster and prefer this plum cooked or in combinations. Damsons are also wonderful in cakes (e.g., Dorie Greenspan's). Intentions are to use up heavy cream and fresh cheese I froze (hope it's okay; something like cream cheese) to make a simple cheesecake in Nigel Slater's Ripe w chilled, cooked Damsons spooned on top. The author calls it a "sharp sauce," so he's mindful of the source of your hesitations, but says that the "deeply creamy" texture of his uber-simple cc calls for the "knife-edge sharpness of damsons or passion fruit". He likes savory preps (game, duck, ham...) and anything creamy since curdling effect of juice doesn't bother him. Complements recommended: red wine vinegar; ginger; almonds; cream cheeses; aniseed and star anise & cinnamon.

Wed: Fresh, never frozen chicken from Evensong Farm (purchased in Maryland), Zuni'ed w the tomato-potato gratin from Suzanne Goin's cookbook which I adore. New Morning Farm's red and green Zebras went into the gratin and were delicious, especially since they get salted (ergo juiced a bit) prior to assemblage. New Morning's wonderful Jade green beans, too. Quaker Valley's Concord grapes as dessert. Really a great way to mark late summer. Thurs: Each time I reheat eggplant parmigiana, I wonder why I bother to eat it the night it's baked. Tonight: Perfect salad of spun and chilled Romaine, shredded chicken moistened w reheated pan juices from Wed. and fresh lemon. Avocado. Slivers of orange-green bell pepper. Garlicky, irregular torn croutons. Dressing of grainy mustard, creme fraiche, lemon, white wine vinegar & olive oil. Damson plums.

This year's tomatoes have seemed unusually watery and as Porcupine has said, plum varieties have been hard to find. It simply hasn't been the fruit's best year. After combining a few large, heirloom seconds with twice as many plum tomatoes in what was essentially Batali's recipe, I ended up with a very thin sauce. So, I bought more plum tomatoes this weekend and threw in fresh basil, stems as well as leaves after heating minced garlic in oil, letting sauce reduce by a quarter to thicken. Much improved, but I have to admit, the additional glop of canned, unsalted, organic tomato paste did the trick. Since I have a fairly bitter olive oil and I was going all not-me w this batch, I even sprinkled in sugar. Really, really pleased with results.

No blueberries, fresh corn. Best corn cakes ever? Cut off only about 1/3 of kernels from huge ear of Toigo's deeply flavorful, bicolor mira corn. Sawed off the rest w box grater, influenced perhaps by Ottolenghi's polenta recipe. Good way to get milky, creamy mix of textures.

The annual eggplant parmigiana. Snacked on small orange peppers and arugula while assembling. Concord grapes. Baked the eggplant slices naked instead of (a) frying; ( b ) coating them w egg, flour and/or bread crumbs. Having never done any of the ( b )'s, I wonder how the practice evolved; (a)'s traditional, but I went w Mario Batali's advice long ago. Less work, especially in clean-up, less oil and you can incorporate the flavor of olive oil instead of using a neutral frying oil (Hazan).

Ahhhh...but then there were the hippy housewives found in townhouse-style apartment complexes in the suburbs of New Haven, living off the promise of their husband's graduate degree or residency. They might have baked their own bread, but they picked up copies of Woman's Day at the checkout of Pegnataro's, too. When mushrooms came in cans, and the best green beans were frozen, Campbell's made a good sauce and orange cotton twine, matching beads and a macramé handbook, a fine present for the babysitter. (< Yeah, I had one of those buttons, too.) ************* Dinner tonight: veal scallops w capers and lemon, maybe. Salad with beautiful arugula from Mt. View and a purple Cherokee from New Morning, definitely.

Lost the looks of the gorgeous, leftover yellow plum tomato confit in the process, but used it as if it were a can of condensed soup and I were a hippy housewife who macramés plant hangers: Stew of skinless chicken thighs, colored bell peppers, onion and fresh lima beans with pancetta and lemon thyme over brown rice. The tiny lima beans took forever to soften. Because of the tomato?