How I Used My CSA: Week 11

Week 11: corn, Yukon Gold potatoes, red cabbage, red onions, cherry tomatoes, zucchini, tomatoes.

Since I like all vegetables, my swapping with the Lancaster Farm Fresh CSA is either because 1) I already have some of the same at home, 2) I have a plan for the vegetables, or 3) I'm swapping "up" to something more desirable. I wanted to swap "up" for okra, but, jeez louise, the okra pods were the largest I've ever seen, and okra is NOT good when it's large. So, I swapped out one cucumber (had some at home) for extra tomatoes.
CSA zucchini and onions were grilled along with eggplant from our garden, then tossed with pasta, CSA tomatoes, and basil from our garden.

Seattle: Monster Dogs

Seattle has it's own regional-style hot dog aptly named the Seattle Dog, which is characterized by a split and grilled dog nestled in a soft, oversized bun slathered with cream cheese, then topped with caramelized onions. Allegedly, the Seattle Dog made it's appearance in parking lots outside of Seattle Mariners games about a decade ago.
We found our Seattle Dog on a corner in the Belltown neighborhood being served by Monster Dogs, one of Seattle's more well know late-night street meat slingers. Monster Dogs set up their carts (they have carts in Belltown and Capitol Hill) in the evening to catch the drunk-and-starving crowd as they come out of bars.

How I Used My CSA: Week 10

Week 10: 2 bunches of Bulls Blood beets, Red Gold potatoes, sweet corn, green bell peppers, carrots, green beans.

Swapped out onions and cabbage (had some of both already at home) for bell peppers (had a plan for these) and an extra bunch of beets (beets are like gold in our house) from this week's Lancaster Farm Fresh half share.
The green bell peppers went into a large batch of peach salsa that I canned over the weekend. I also used three pounds of onions from previous weeks' CSA shares in the salsa.

Hot Diggity

Well, hot diggity, if there isn't a new hot dog joint in town serving piled-high, funky, fusion, fun dogs! Hot Diggity also happens to be the name of the South St. shop which opened about a month ago by Keith Garabedian (who trained at Craft under Tom Colicchio) with friends Tom Zmijewski, Sean Kendall and Matt Anderson.

As a longtime fan of hot dogs, I'm excited to see the hot dog trend growing in Philly — as long as dog slingers invite us vegetarians to the party. Hot Diggity sent out the all-inclusive invitations, and parties with all-beef, natural-casing Sabrett dogs, as well as Worthington Vegan Linkettes.

Hot Diggity's menu is simple — hot dogs, fries, dipping sauces, soda, and, coming soon, local craft beer — but they are doin' it to it!
There are ten "gourmet" dogs on the menu, each ranging from $5-$6. Above the open grill counter you'll find colorful illustrations of each hot dog on the menu by local artist and hot dog connoisseur, Hawk Krall. The Plain Old Dog with your choice of ketchup, mustard, onions, or relish is always a choice, but live a little and order a dog all done up with toppings representing old and new regional hot dog classics.

The Windy City with pickle spears, sliced tomato, mustard, electric green relish, red onion, and celery salt pays homage to Chicago's most beloved dog, while The Seattle Grunge with garlic cream cheese, red onion straws, and scallions hints at Seattle's cream cheese slathered street dogs. Ride the Hawaiian waves with The Big Kahuna, a dog topped with guava mustard, grilled red onion, pineapple salsa, and orange habanero aioli.

Seattle: Beecher's Handmade Cheese

The last place to tick off our Pike Place Market to-do list was Beecher's Handmade Cheese (although, we wandered the entire market, stopping at many more places) to sample their handmade cheeses, and what they claim is the "world's best" mac and cheese.We stepped right up to the counter and handed over our $5.50 for a small cup of hot mac and cheese made with a blend of their one-year aged Flagship cheese, Just Jack, penne pasta, and spices. Mild, well balanced, and rich, is how I'd describe Beecher's "world famous" mac and cheese. I'd also say it's more of a cheese sauce covered penne than what I consider a traditional, firmer, baked mac and cheese. Not "world's best," but definitely good (and overpriced). I was not too sorry to fall victim of hype and play tourist.

Seattle: Daily Dozen Doughnut Company

Doughnuts are the new darlings of the sweets world, and Daily Dozen Doughnut Company in Pike Place Market makes some darling little doughnuts — about 2-inches across, actually.

Fresh doughnuts are made right before your eyes with a Doughnut Robot Mark II machine plopping dough into hot grease, then flipped out with a conveyor belt. The doughnut production is a show, but not as charming as the doughnut wrangler and order taker who tosses your order of doughnuts one by one into the air, catching them in a paper bag before passing the grease stained bag over the counter. Tip for the theatrics, but also because of the guilt you'll feel after reading the tip jar plastered with "God knows when you don't tip."
Plain, cinnamon, powdered, and chocolate with sprinkles are the only doughnuts on offer. We went with the very reasonably priced ($2.97) assorted half dozen, which actually included seven doughnuts. Hooray for baker's half dozens, if that exists? (You really should tip.)

While people have written up and down about how awesome these doughnuts are, they really are just average. If you've had a mini doughnut fresh from a vat of oil at a fair or flea market, you've had these doughnuts before. Good, for sure, but when isn't a hot doughnut good? As a tourist, I'd say save room in your stomach for other eats (crumpets and piroshkis) that are far better. As a local, if you're in the area and have a hankering for hot 'nuts, do it!

Daily Dozen Doughnut Company
Pike Place Market
93 Pike St, Seattle, WA 98101
206-467-7769

How I Used My CSA: Week 9

Week 9: portobello caps, fennel, chard, onions, French green beans, 2 bunches of beets, broccoli.

The only items I swapped were two zucchini (friend gave me some earlier in the week) for an extra bunch of beets.

Said friend also came by the weekend following the week 9 CSA pickup and shared with me a crap-ton of vegetables, like, easily four times what you see in the picture above. This is how you know summer truly has arrived — friends sharing vegetables!
So, that weekend my friend and I got to canning. We made cherry lime jam, and bread and butter pickles. We also stuck some yellow squash slices into leftover bread and butter brine for some quick refrigerator pickles, and, let me tell you, I'm currently crushing on squash pickles. Can't get enough!

But none of that stuff came from the CSA. A few days later I canned the 2 bunches of beets (yellow and candy stripe beets) from the CSA, along with a bunch of beets (yellow) my friend brought over.

Seattle: Piroshki Piroshki

Piroshky Piroshky is a tiny storefront in Pike Place Market serving piroshkis, a sort of Russian hand pie of both the savory and sweet kind. Reportedly mobbed on the weekends and during the day with tourists and locals, we made a wise decision to hit up all our Pike Place dining destinations at 9am on a Monday. As you can see, even at that early hour there is a small line out the door. As you stand outside on the sidewalk you can watch the master piroshky maker assemble trays and trays of pastries before turning in the cramped work space to slide them in the oven. There is also a menu posted on the glass front, so, hopefully by the time you make it into the shoebox-sized store, you know what you want and can keep the line moving in a timely manner.

Seattle: The Crumpet Shop

On 1st Ave. in downtown Seattle, right around the corner from the entrance of Pike Place Market and it's iconic sign is a little storefront called The Crumpet Shop that serves crumpets, as well as scones, groats, coffee, and tea. In reading up on the eateries in and around Pike Place Market, I kept hearing glowing remarks about The Crumpet Shop along the lines of, "Oh my God, I could eat these crumpets every day." Or, "The people who work at The Crumpet Shop are so nice."
I visited The Crumpet Shop just once while in Seattle, and I'm hear to tell you everything everyone says about the place is true. You are going to wonder how a crumpet can be so good! And the people behind the counter really are pleasant, amazingly while serving hundreds of tourists and locals each day.

Vacation: Seattle

Whoo, I've got lots of pics of my vacation to Seattle and Portland (more on that city in another post), so bear with me. I was just so excited to finally get to Seattle and Portland, two cities that I have never been to, but have been on my destination wish list forever.

When I go into an unknown city, I love to play tourist and hit up all the cheesy tourist stuff. Might as well admit what you are and own it! Soooo, I made a Google map (lord, I love Google Maps) of all the tourist highlights I wanted to hit, as well as threw tons of restaurants on the map just in case I was suddenly stricken with hunger while standing on an unknown corner. I didn't visit many of the restaurants on my map, though, instead just rolled with it.

And, I made an itinerary. Yeah, I did it all, baby! OK, not all. Not even close.Fresh off the plane, kayaking at Aqua Verde Paddle Club on Lake Union was on the itinerary if the day was nice, and it was! We actually had pretty good, sunny, non-rainy weather for most of the trip.

Pitting Cherries with a Pastry Tip

I'm making cherry jam this weekend, thanks to Whole Foods having a one-day-only sale on organic sweet cherries today. After I got home with 8 pounds of cherries, I wanted to prep them by getting the pits out, but was sort of dreading the pitting since I don't have a cherry pitter.

In the past I've never tackled so many cherries at once, so just dug into the flesh with a pairing knife if I needed pit-less cherries. This pairing knife technique didn't sound so appealing with such a large quantity. Then I remembered hearing about a technique using a pastry tip to pit cherries. I have pastry tips!

I know what you're thinking, "If I don't have a cherry pitter, I probably don't have a pastry tip, either." There are various other techniques for pitting a cherry, so be sure to check them out, as well as the quick clip* above of me pitting with a pastry tip.

*Shot impromptu with my phone. Sorry for the quality, or lack thereof.

How I Used My CSA: Weeks 7 & 8

Week 7: red kale, 2 heads baby romanesco cauliflower, 2 cucumbers, new red potatoes.

I did a lot of swapping out with week 7's half share from Lancaster Farm Fresh, because 1) I was alone that week, and 2) I was going out of town for vacation only a couple of days after picking up the share. My main mission was to swap out veggies that go bad quickly for veggies that would still be in good shape when I returned home. Lettuce, cilantro (of course, I've been waiting for cilantro to show up, and now I have to swap it!), and onions (still had some) were swapped for new red potatoes, an extra romanesco cauliflower, and an extra cucumber.
Kale is the most perishable of the bunch (although, freshly picked vegetables that you get in CSAs really do last longer, and the kale would have been fine a week later), so I tackled it by making a big bowl of raw kale salad simply dressed with vinegar, oil, and salt. Since I was by myself, I chowed on the kale salad for three consecutive meals. I never tire of leftovers.

Most colorful would be the pita covered with kale salad, CSA cucumbers, cubes of this soy and seitan roast I make, and Peppadew peppers from Claudio's in the Italian Market. Any one know were to get Peppadew peppers cheaply? I love these sweet and spicy peppers (so good stuffed with cheese), but they cost an arm and a leg — $12 and change per pound at Claudio's.

Sushi Planet

Not sure exactly when Sushi Planet opened on 3rd St. just off South St., but it's been well over two years, maybe even close to three years. I gave this tiny sushi restaurant about six months before they closed, namely because of the cheesy name and the fickle South St. area.

Sushi Planet has proved me wrong each night I walk past and peer through the front windows to see the dining room full. Who eats here, I wondered? Never have I heard anyone mention Sushi Planet. Then a friend of the boy's mentioned that Sushi Planet was their favorite sushi place. Word of mouth is a powerful thing, so we decided to check out this tiny BYOB sushi restaurant.

With maybe 30 or so seats in the narrow, casual restaurant we were lucky to grab a two top on an early weekend evening without a reservation, as Sushi Planet were turning people away as prime dining time rolled around. Sushi Planet also was doing a brisk takeout business, no doubt encouraged by their website set up for online ordering.Complimentary housemade cucumber pickles brined in seasoned rice vinegar were crisp and refreshing, and certainly a nice touch. Sort of sorry I let our server whisk them away at the end of our meal, instead of asking to take them home.