Culinary Muse

WHY I DIDN’T BUY THE $8 EGGS

On June 27, 2005 I posted a story on this site about why I had purchased one dozen eggs for $6.00 from MARIN SUN FARMS at the Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market. Or rather, how I could justify spending so much money on one dozen eggs. My arguments remain the same. If I want delicious, organic, pesticide and hormone free food then I should be willing to pay the extra amount it takes to produce. This desire to do the right thing by the food I put into my body and the health of the planet is brought home ever so hard by the book I am now reading, The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan. It’s more like a crisis than a dilemma, let me tell you. So this morning I took my book with me to enjoy in the warm February sun on a bench by the water. I finish reading Chapter 11, ‘The Animals: Practicing Complexity’. Now I am really fired up. I am even more convinced that my $6 spent on a dozen eggs is more than just good sense, why it’s now become my political statement. So I close my book, grab my Peets coffee and head straight to the Marin Sun Farms stand. There is the sign. One dozen eggs, $8.00. How can this be? When did this happen? A 30% + increase? And, dear reader, I just couldn’t do it. I don’t know why. Surely, I will spend $8 on something else today. Maybe a cocktail this evening. Or maybe I won’t. But somehow $8 a dozen for eggs just knocked me out. Look, the Marin Sun Farm folks are a nice bunch and certainly deserve to cover their expenses and pay their mortgage. But I guess I am just not willing to be part of this particular equation any longer. My grandmother would tell me it is because I have come to my senses....

SUMMER FRUIT CRISP

The Muse never leaves town in the summer without a cooler packed with ice. One can never tell when a farm stand will pop up along the road. Or a flatbed truck loaded with bags of oranges or flats of strawberries will be parked at the side of the road or a rest stop.

An embarrassment of riches? Or just pure greed? When the Muse got home last night from a day trip to the Central Valley it took more than one trip from the car to unload all the fruit. No wonder the woman at the CIPPONERI FAMILY FARMS fruit stand in Turlock asked if I was going to make jam. Apricots, nectarines (two types), white peaches, yellow peaches.

What Amuses the Muse on Saturday mornings or the Insider’s Guide to Saturday Morning Survival at the Ferry Building Farmer’s Market

The best way to enjoy the Ferry Building Farmer's Marketplace on a Saturday morning is to arrive before the tourists awaken and the bridge and tunnel crowd arrive. Once upon a time it was possible to begin shopping before the official opening time of 8:00 a.m. Most of the farmers and vendors were able to pause what they were doing to conduct a sale. No more. Perhaps anticipating the onslaught of the Saturday Maddening Crowd has added a dimension of stress for the sellers that did not exist before. Be forewarned that the world has discovered this farmer’s market. It has morphed from a farmer’s market that brings field and farm to the city to being a tourist attraction. This is not the same farmer’s market that started under a condemned freeway off-ramp. Not a tablecloth or monogrammed apron was in sight back then. Just farmers off-loading wood lugs from the back of beat up pick-up trucks. The shoppers have evolved beyond apartment dwellers and office workers. Limousines now dispense Hollywood stars dressed all in black with big sunglasses. Celebrity Chefs to the glitterati scoop up $7.50 a pound cherries and peaches. And with this new tourist/shopper comes a different set of expectations of what the shopping experience will be. They want smoothies, they want monogrammed aprons and eventually they will want all the stores to stay open until 9:00 p.m. In other words, they want to be at the mall or even better they want to be on Disney’s Main Street, U.S.A.. It’s clean, it’s pretty, it’s America. In the meantime, shuddering at the word ‘mall’, the Ferry Building Farmer’s Market has gone one better by becoming the ultimate in foodie boutique shopping. While this new crowd may want the Galleria in Sherman Oaks it now maintains the feeling of the Galleria in Milan. But for how long?

A suggested Saturday time line:

7:30 Peet's for a large, wet cappuccino

7:45 Acme Bread to check out the ‘day old’ shelf to the left of the marble counter. Day old breads are wrapped in plastic and are half-price. Remember that most bread can be revived in a toaster or made into croutons or French Toast.

8:00 Downtown Bakery for the bran muffins. Slightly over baked which makes for a great burnt sugar taste. Buy two as they are small.

8:05 Marin Sun Farms for eggs

8:15 Sur La Table Check out the clearance section where they often add an additional 25% reduction to merchandise on holiday weekends like Labor Day.

8:30 Prather Ranch to grab a flat iron steak if they aren’t already sold out

8:40 Flee

The Personal Watermelon and the Cavaillon

Have you ever stood in the produce section of your local grocery store or at the weekly farmer's market and tried to work out a cost/benefit analysis of purchasing a watermelon?
Costs:  59 cents per pound, energy used to lug said watermelon up three flights of stairs to your apartment, leftovers that are wasted because how much watermelon can one or two people eat?  Benefits: so sweet and delicious, the very essence of summer.  This is where the new 'personal watermelon' comes in.   Easy to carry home, easy to eat in one day.  The Muse has been taste testing these little lovelies all over town for the past few weeks.  Hands down the best has been from Dulcinea growers, purchased at Whole Foods.  How to test ripeness?  The watermelon should feel especially heavy for its size.  Lightly tap the melon.  Hear a dull thud?  It's ready.

Why I bought the $6 eggs

I envied those chickens. What a great place to live! The first time I saw their happy chicken faces was in May.  D and I were driving out to McClure's Beach in Point Reyes - one of my favorite places on earth, next to San Francisco, Paris and Big Sur.  The beach is at the end of Pierce Point Road - the very last beach at the end of the line.  Signs along the road read 'A Ranch, B Ranch, H Ranch'.  All of them original and historic ranches from the 1800's.  Beautiful grazing land, lots of cows, a few steers and, wait, are those chickens?  Fluffy white puffs with red heads strolling along the wide-open landscape.  My immediate thought was 'why aren't they flying away?".  We pulled the car over and got out.  Near the chickens were Darth Vader like huts.  For the shepherds?   Searching my back file of somewhat limited chicken knowledge I was trying to recall how the chickens in my grandmother's yard in Oakland, California had lived.  Seems to me they had a coop.  I don't remember any chickens free ranging it in Oakland.  And then I remembered her chicken's eggs. Those amazing eggs with the orange yolks.  Fresh eggs with firm whites. Eggs of substance.  You could eat just one of those eggs and be satisfied. 

Farmer's Market Report: Berkeley Farmer's Market

It was time for a trip to the Tuesday Berkeley Farmer’s Market.  Little did I know that it would provide an insight into Berkeley’s state of mind in the 21^st century.  My relationship to Berkeley:  I lived in Berkeley while I attended the University.  I love Berkeley and always look forward to driving across the bridge to enjoy lunch at Chez Panisse, Fat Apples for a great burger, The Cheese Board for wonderful pizza and shortbread cookies and The French Hotel for the best cappuccinos anywhere.  There is no other city more beautiful in March when the tulip trees are blooming.  Here we go….

The Berkeley Farmer’s Market differs from the SF Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market in a few ways.  The prices are lower in Berkeley for comparable quality produce.  There are fewer vendors but how many kale vendors does one market really need?  The BIGGEST difference is this:  When a photographer is shooting a pile of grapefruits in San Francisco, he will be ignored.  In Berkeley, he will be asked, not just once but twice, if he is ‘working for the government’.  We thought it was kind of funny the first time.  We even asked if we looked like we worked for the government.  “Well, you never know.” was the guy’s reply.  By the second time I was beginning to feel a little paranoid myself.  What did these Berkeleyites know that I didn’t?  After all, could the recent increase in the number of farmer’s markets really be a CIA plot?  OR is ‘organic’ really code for ‘commie’?  Am I getting too jaded or too old to find Berkeley’s quaint ‘nuclear-free-zone’ concerns nothing more that the ravings of aged hippies?  Have they lost their sense of humor?  The second time the photographer was asked if he worked for the government he replied “Sir, if the government wants your picture you will not even know they are taking it”…

Farmer's Market Report: Winter Chard And Tomato Soup? Stew?

Winter days in San Francisco are bright, cold and clear.  A chilly walk through the Farmer’s Market yields only the heartiest of produce: chards, kales, and cabbages.  Some folks find the sparse offerings in the stalls a little depressing.  I prefer to see these lavish deep greens as a testament to the earth's bounty and hard working farmers.

The chards are my favorite.  Both red and rainbow will work in this delicious, easy and fast recipe. Especially comforting if served in an oversized soup bowl with a big spoon.