Nouveau 09

We know. We really know. Beaujolais Nouveau is a scam. Wine unready for primetime (if it will ever be) rushed off to adoring masses ready to be ripped off.

We cannot resist. Once every 15 years or so, a product arrives too soon, but with promise. The other 14 produce swill. The 09 vintage is less than swill. It is nothing.

The vinegar vat is awaiting, and we are switching to a nice Argentinian Torrentes!

Monkey See, Monkey Do - And So It Begins . . .

Yesterday was my first regular gig at Monkey See, Monkey Do, a bookstore steered toward kids in Clarence. We did a reading of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by Judi and Ron Barrett. We squished the ingredients, and and ate some meatballs in tomato sauce that I had made earlier in the day.

It is the first in a regular series of kids cooking events. Next up is a lesson in Mexican cooking and a reading of Skippyjon Jones, Lost in Spice tomorrow morning.

We will be starting adult classes in January, with a program on Julia and Julia, featuring My Life in France and Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously.

It's fun
.

Grandma's Birthday Food Porn

Instead of the usual pizza and wings this year went to Suzy Q's Barbeque Shack. This was a great idea as far as I am concerned. Local pizza keeps slipping in my estimation - most likely buying lower quality ingredients to keep costs low (plus, I am still sad at the loss of the local branch my favorite!).

But, Suzy Q's is damned good for northern Q. I like their attitude (we do it slow, and if we run out we close early). I like the frendliness, and the lack of pretense. Mostly I like the food. Pictured: my pulled pork, Memphis style. Big and stuffed enough to be lunch tomorrow!

And Now For Something Completely Different

Every now and then it is good for a cook's spiritual welfare to return the the greatest bit of restaurant humor in the history of the world, by the world's best comedy troupe ever. And it hast Carol Cleveland!!!!!!! Happy Birthday, Mr. Cleese!

Out Of Our Gourds

L to R: Astronaut L. Gourdon Cooper, Grandma Gourdon (after my Grandmere) and Chief Engineer Gourdi LaForge, Thunderbird 4 pilot Gourdon Tracy, Charles George "Chinese" Gourdon of Khartoum, and Chef Gourdon Ramsay because he's supposed to be an enourmous schwanzstucker.

I Cannot Live Without Books. - Thomas Jefferson

I love books. All books. I have a particular fondness for cookbooks, as you can tell by the sidebar. So the gift of a cookbook is something to be taken seriously. When it comes from your Mother-in-Law even more seriously. When it's for your daughter, the burgeoning pastry chef, really really. But Martha Frakking Stewart?!?! Well, I couldn't let that go unaddressed.

The question is: do I scan it and add it to my official cookbook collection?

The Brussel Sprout Emporium

To market, to market, a gallop a trot . . .

I firmly believe that every community deserves a vibrant public market, but with apologies to those who grew up here the Broadway Market isn't it. It hasn't been in the over 30 years I've been aware of it. Whether it ever was as I have been told, or just memories of childhood filtered by the passage of time, I cannot tell. What is certain is that the combination of urban flight and the rise of of the supermarket have combine to eliminate many traditional public markets.



They are not all gone. Cleveland's West Side Market has been around since 1840, and is still going strong. I plan to get there if I am ever in Cleveland when it's neither New Year's nor an event I am cooking for. My favorite, for now, is the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia (Pictured Above). You can get prepared foods here, from Amish to Chinese, and sundries of all types. But, the best stuff is fresh: Meat, Produce, Poultry, and especially the Fish. It is so fresh you can have breakfast mere feet away from a fish counter and smell nothing!

Unfortunately, many places are not so lucky. We cannot even get fish that fresh at local fishmongers.

Still, there is some hope. We do have a variety of smaller farmer's markets in the area. They are only open, at best, a few days a week, but the least of them are worth patronizing.

Our favorite is the North Tonawanda Farmers Market on Robinson Road. It's open Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday from 7 to 1. Saturdays are the best - the most vendors are there. There is a decent array of seasonal fruits and vegetables at fabulous prices. Do browse before buying as prices vary. The photos at right give you an idea of it.

There is just something missing.

Andrew Galarneau did a nice overview of farmers market's in Western New York by county back in the BuffNews back in June, but the article also highlighted local meat producers/purveyors. We have local eggs and poultry, and plenty of dairy products - cheese, yoghurt and more. If we could find a way to entice these good folks to show up at the farmer's markets, I think I'd be one happy pup!