Montrose Farmers Market – The Beginning

The Montrose Farmers Market is located in the parking lot of La Strata on Westheimer and is open from 9 -2 every Saturday. Today was their first day. Katharine Shilcutt Gleave wrote up a nice description of what was to come last Friday on Houstonist. Keep in mind it is their first week.

Here is what I found at about 9:30 this morning.

After driving into the side parking lot of La Strata:

322 Westheimer Rd
Houston, TX 77006
(713) 523-1014
Get directions

I was starving because I had come straight from my exercise class and had not eaten. Lucky for me there were plenty of samples of the preparded foods.

The first vendor I saw was Affordable Organic Produce, which had a small but nice selection of organic produce. They also sell shares.

Opposite them was this vendor that sold beef, honey and vegetables.


Next I saw Pampered Sisters who sell soaps and candles and adjancent to them was Café Netties’ seasoning and sauces, which I seen at other markets, but have never tried because I am a devoted fan of Penzeys Spices.

By the way, Penzey's has a retail store on 19^th Street in the Heights. If you haven't gone there, I strongly suggest a visit.

As you can see, both ladies had wonderful welcoming smiles.

Across the way was Shirley Ann selling sweets. If the rest of her baked goods taste like the carrot cake I sampled, you are in for a treat. It was moist and just sweet enough with a wonderful spicy overtone.

Inside of La Strada were prepared foods.

The first vendor I went to was Vanille. I sampled their toasted almonds dipped in chocolate and covered with powdered sugar, wow is all I can say, you will just have to try it yourself. Then I tried the cheese crackers, which were crunchy with a nice spicy bite to them. Lastly I tasted their sandwich cookies with dulce de leche filling, verdict - sweet and satisfying. I would recommend everything I sampled.

Freshly made aromatic soaps. Okay technically not a preparded food.



Freshly prepared and frozen Indian Food - I have seen this vendor at the Bayou City Market and the one on Shepard on Sunday afternoons. I like everything I taste of theirs.


In the front of this table you can see three different types homemade pastas. I bought the homemade jalapeno fettuccine, but they did have two other less spicy but equally interesting sounding pastas for sale.

Behind the pastas are three salads made by Sage Salads. There were three salads today two quinoa (the ancient Inca grain that is an excellent protein source) and one kale.

One of the quinoa salads was made in a Chinesey style and the other had avocados in it, the third salad was made with kale. (I need to start cooking with kale.) They were a different style than then the ones I have tasted and enjoyed at Bayou City Farmers Market from Marian Bell’s Healthy Kitchen and Yaya's RAW Rah, which you maybe familar with already.

The market has potential and the location is good, we will just have to wait and see how things progress. I remember when Bayou City Farmers Market was this tiny and now look it. I definitely recommend you make this part of your farmers markets rounds, as it has enough unique things to offer with none of the crowds yet, to make it worth your while. It is also between the Bayou City Farmers Market and Midtown Farmers Market at T'afia.

Postscript

This is a photo of the jalapeno fettuccine I made with scallops and a cream sauce. The jalapeno pasta with its somewhat subtle peppery taste worked well with the scallops.

I Love My Bread + Some Recipes

I once weighed forty more pounds then I do now. I gained all that weight after I quit smoking. It took me six years to take off thirty pounds and then I was stuck. I tried every sort of diet and nothing seemed to work, until I added bread back into my diet and then the extra ten pounds disappeared. Go figure. It is good news for me, because I love my bread.

Delicious Pastries and Bread at Tous Les Jours

Normally I eat very healthy bread, made from whole grains, preferably baked by me with very little sugar or honey. If it is going to be store bought, I buy the multigrain bread at Costco. But I really love croissants and crusty French bread.

This morning I got up early and swam. Afterwards I went over to H-Mart http://www.hmart.com/ on Blalock to have a chocolate croissant and coffee at the bakery there called Tous Les Jours http://tlj.co.kr/ . Check out the website it’s interesting, even if you do not know Korean.

At Tous Les Jours it is only $1.75 for the chocolate croissant and $1.55 for regular coffee, I was in heaven. The croissant is flakey with enough chocolate to be distinctive without being overly chocolate or to sweet. The coffee was excellent as well. Before I discovered this Korean / French bakery my favorite chocolate croissant was at kraftsmen bakery http://www.kraftsmenbaking.com/ on Montrose and cost $2.95. Quite frankly Tous Les Jours got it down pat. I have tried their apple pastry and a cheese one, which were fine, but nothing compares to the chocolate croissant. I also like their banquette at $1.99.

Recipes Made from Recent Purchases

I frequently buy things that look good and are on sale, and then I am tasked with figuring out what to make them with the ingredients. From time to time on this blog I will put a picture of something I made and give you a brief outline of the dish and how I put it together. Please do not expect that I will measure out the ingredients – it just is not going to happen.

Farmer’s Market Arugula

I bought arugula and cremini mushrooms at the farmer’s market on Saturday. I made a pasta dish with it. Ingredients For Pasta & Arugula:

• Chopped garlic
• Sliced cremini mushrooms
• Pignoli nuts
• Diced cherry tomatoes
• Arulga
• Cooked bowtie pasta
• Virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• Sheared parmesan cheese.

I sautéed the garlic with the mushrooms in olive oil, then added the pignoli nuts and salt and pepper. When the pasta was done, I tossed it with the garlic, mushroom, pignoli nut mixture and the tomatoes and arugula, sprinkled it with parmesan cheese and added some fresh ground pepper. I drank a Pinot Noir with it.

Trip to H-Mart: 21-25 Count Shrimp on Sale $3.99 a Pound

The shrimp looked delcious and the price was right, so I picked up a little over a half a pound and brought it home. Now I had to figure out what to make. I decided on making what I am calling: Houston Black Bean Shrimp Salad.

Here are the ingredients:

• Zest of lime
• Lime juice (same lime I zested)
• Black beans, one can rinsed
• Cilantro
• Peeled and diced tomato
• Poblano pepper diced
• Diced scallion
• White Wine vinegar
• Cooked shrimp, peeled and deviened then cut lengthwise and in half again
• Salt and pepper

I mixed the cooked and sliced shrimp and black beans together. I mixed the remaining ingredients together and poured that over the black bean and shrimp mixture. I chilled the salad in the refrigerator for about an hour. It was yummy, but I bet the leftovers will be even better tomorrow.

Tenacity Supper Club – A Meal Worth Remembering

When I eat too many good things and drink lots of good wine, my memory becomes a bit fuzzy. So that is my excuse why that I do not have any descriptions of the food from last night’s affair. What I can say, is everything was beautifully prepared, tasted fresh and interesting without being overly fussy and was a delight each and every bite.

We gathered together at Chief Randy Rucker’s wonderful home in the Heights at 6:30 p.m.. There were about nine of us (did I count right?) and we pooled our wines. Unfortunately I will not be able to recount the names of what we drank, but each one was as good if not better than the next and then S. shared her Lafitte Rothschild wine with us which without a doubt in my mind was truly delicious, complex, earthly and mellow at the same time. We had sparkling wines, white and red ones. (Okay we had a great variety.)

Dinner began at 7 ish and each course was small enough to leave room for the next. We had plenty of time to chit chat between courses and it was hard to believe that when I left at about 11:30 I had been there that long. My advice to you is to not just be a voyeur on my blog, but to sign up for one of the upcoming supper club dinners and experience some of the best in innovative food that Houston has to offer.

Here is last night’s menu, accompanied by pictures of the dishes. At the bottom of the blog is a slide show of many more pictures. As each course was presented, chief Randy came out and explained the ingredients and composition of each dish. As a cook, I was was thrilled to hear such detail.

california abalone, pickled watermelon rind, marigold mint & carmelized miso











chilled geoduck clam, sudachi, corn jucie & tiny basil leaves




egg(s) salad, hijiki & crispy potatoes







pacific sea urchin roe, bread & butter pudding & preserved garlic scapes






cornbread gnocchi, baby onions, compressed pea shoots & espresso





long island duck, spaghetti squash & ancho chili







balsamic sponge cake, lavender, brown fig, & local chevre puree







My favorites were the first four courses. The fish tasted so fresh I felt like I was dinning by the sea rather than Houston. But I enjoyed each course and I suspect that I had tasted so many interesting and tasty dishes that I no longer could process something else new so the rest of the meal was not us well noted in my memory.

Interestingly enough, this is what happens to me with looking at art. After I have seen a few artists I enjoy during one viewing, the rest all meld together.

On top of the gracious of the host, Chief Randy Rucker, the company was just a delight to be with. I enjoyed the camaraderie of the other guests who enjoy good food and I look forward to eating more meals together, not just the tenacity dinners but others as well.
For more information about upcoming tenacity event just go to their website: http://greensandbeans.wordpress.com/.

Miracle Fruit: Willy Wonkerish or The Emperor's New Clothes

It is said that when you eat the Miracle Berry it binds to your taste buds and makes bitter food taste sweet. I was a skeptic but excited at La Strada last evening, where over a hundred people ate a berry and then sampled a variety of food. I was there for the experience. My research indicted that the effects wore off after between 30 minutes to an hour.

i'm never full handed each one of us a berry in a little plastic bag and we were told to wait. After everyone had their berry, she carefully explained how we were to eat it. First we popped the berry into our mouths, then we chewed it and rolled the masticated fruit over our tongues.

I ventured forth chewing on my berry and rolling it around on my tongue for a minute or so. as I was anxiously awaited having a new tasting experience. Would this be like some delightful experiment one would find at Willy Wonker’s lab in the chocolate factory or more like the experience of the magical clothes in Hans Christian Anderson’s story about the Emperor’s new clothes?

After waiting a few minutes for the berry effect to kick in, I sampled some fruit, lemons, limes and cantaloupe. Oh ha! The lemons and limes had lost much of their tartness and had an over all sweet taste about them. I then ate some brussels sprouts, which tasted just like… brussels sprouts. I also tried some vinegar potato chips, pungent cheese, beer, and tequila – nothing. I drank some tabasco sauce and my lips burned, the tabasco sauce was drinkable, but let’s face it, I have never wished I could drink tabasco sauce, so no victory there. I also tasted some balsamic vinegar, which seemed alright.

I can see using the berry to sweeten food that has sour undertones. While I noticed my taste buds were slightly altered for a couple of hours following the eating of the berry, I never experienced the radical changes in my taste buds that the articles I had read indicated would be the consequence.

All in all, I think we all had a good time. For me there were two main positive outcomes from the tasting, I got to some of my on-line Houston Chowhounds friends and now I can say I have tasted the Miracle Berry. Thank you i’m never full for putting together this event. It was memorable.

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Plant Background for all of you with scientific or curious minds:

Family: Sapotaceae
Genus: Synsepalum (sin-SEP-al-lum) (Info)
Species: dulcificum (dul-SIF-ih-kum) (Info)