The Houndstooth Gourmet

(flowering chives from New Morning Farm-Dupont Farmers Market_

Wow! What a wonderful weekend we had here in the Washington DC area. These are the days we cling to when the summer turns up the heat and humidity.

Since I was a bit under the weather on Friday, Frank went to the Kingstowne farmers market. Frank noticed a few new vendors at the market. Salsas Las Glorias was selling fresh salsa and tortilla chips. He bought a pint for $6.50, and I can tell you that you won’t find this comming out of a jar. Short of making it yourself-this salsa is the freshest you can get. I believe Salsas Las Glorias is also at the Ballston farmers market on Fridays from 11-3.

Bees n’ Blossoms from Providence Forge, VA sells all things bee pollen and honey. It’s good to see so many local honey vendors thriving. BnB sells honey, honey jellies, honey and wine jellies, herbal honey, creamed honey, honey with bee pollen, bee pollen, bee pollen tea bags and bees wax hand cream. These folks take their honey seriously, and are passionate about the health benefits of bee honey and pollen.

Susie’s Cookies also joined the market with handmade gourmet cookies.

Other market favorites returned, such as Crackpot Gourmet, who supplied Frank with a jar of their new jelly. It’s delicious with a spicy sweet flavor. Smita of Crackpot Gourmet has asked us to help come up with a name for the jelly-Frank and I have some ideas and I’ll let you know the winning name when I hear!

Middleburg Creamery’s truck returned to the market with their terrific ice creams. The owner has sold her little country cafe in Middleburg, but she still supplies the ice cream to the store. She is now focusing on making ice cream and selling it at farmers markets and fairs.

Saturday, Frank and I went to the farmers market at Del Ray. The market was teaming with customers who gathered on the picnic benches to catch up with one another. On the produce front, the mainstays are still asparagus and strawberries. Terrific sweets are sold by Bonaparte Breads, Gracie’s Pastries and Kudzu Cookies.

A nice surprise awaited me at the Alexandria City market-West Virginia’s Spring Valley Farm joined the market and had their first Saturday on May 24. They were quite popular right away. SVF had gobs of strawberries, greens, and even ramps. Of note was their lower prices here as compared to their prices at the Dupont Market. Strawberries were $1.50 less, and ramps were $1 less in Alexandria, compared to Dupont.

Frank and I (along with Tucker) enjoyed a nice breakfast of Emine’s sweet and savory baklavahs along with a large cup of freshly squeezed orange juice.

On Sunday, Frank and I loaded Tucker in the Subaru and headed into DC to go to the Dupont farmers market. The market stalls were overflowing with gorgeous flowers, produce and baked goods. I picked up goldent beets at New Morning Farm, garlic scapes at Next Step Produce, and from Keswick Creamery-a dozen of my favorite eggs and some Ba Ba Blue Cheese. It was a lovely morning at the market. Well, except for the crazy homeless guy who accosted my husband and dog while they waited for me to get coffee from Starbucks.

Check out the post below to see photos of the DC Mall, Monuments and Rolling Thunder which I took after our Dupont Market visit. My favorite picture of a boy looking at the names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial made it into DCist today. Yay!

Tags: District of Columbia, Washington, Alexandria, farmers markets by Ramona
7 Comments »

Frank and I are fortunate to live near Washington, DC, where we can see the Monuments, walk the Mall, and see events like Rolling Thunder. After the Dupont Market on Sunday morning, we spent time on the National Mall and the Vietnam Memorial. Enjoy…..back to our normal programming tommorow!

Tags: District of Columbia, Washington by Ramona
2 Comments »

Well, it was another busy weekend at the farmers markets. Saturday was gorgeous out, so Frank and I packed up Tucker and headed into Del Ray. At the farmers market, I saw a few additions including Toigo Farm, Local Honey, and the praline lady (the name escapes me right now).

 When we arrived, the saltena stand was waiting for a fresh delivery from Marcela’s Bakery, a few blocks away on Mount Vernon Avenue. In the meantime, I spoke with Whitney Long at the Local Honey stand. They are a co-op of three bee keepers who make various appellations of honey. I bought a small jar of honey which hails from West Falls Church-that’s in Northern Virginia. I’m thinking it might go nicely over fresh ricotta, which I’m slated to make using my new New England Cheese-making Kit!

When the saltenas arrived, Frank and I each enjoyed the chicken stew filled pockets-with our hand! There were no napkins, or forks for that matter. It was a bit touch and go, but we ate them without making a mess of ourselves too badly.

Sunday was rainy and it was a bit jarring to see lightning and thunder first thing in the morning. Nevertheless, Frank and I donned our rain gear and drove into Washington DC’s Dupont farmers market. I met Country Pleasures Farm, who has been at the market for 15 years or so, but was just returning for the 2008 season yesterday. I was drawn to their stand, where the blue-checked tables held jams, sausage, scones, tulips, apples, apple sauce and a cooler full of Angus Beef products. Processes by an Amish family in PA, the beef products included pulled bbq beef, cured beef, hot and mild beef sausage grillers and beef jerky.

I came away with a pack of spicy sausage sticks (I am getting addicted to these things, with so many stalls carrying them!) and a few black twig apples. The owner informed me that these apples go terrifically with Calvados, so I’m thinking of making a pork dish with them.

Spring Valley Farm was once again carrying morel mushrooms, so I bought another small box along with 2 heads of tat soi.

I also spoke with the folks at Clear Spring Creamery, and they hope to have their Camembert-style cheese next week. Meanwhile, their cheddar curds were so tasty, I bought a container!

Until the next at the market-eat and buy local when you can.

Tags: District of Columbia, Washington, Alexandria, farmers markets by Ramona
2 Comments »

What a fantastic weekend, folks! Once again, the weather forcasters told us we would see rain all weekend, yet the sun was shining through high clouds most of the day. OK, one or two showers came, but overall, the days were beautiful. The temperature was in the ’70’s on Saturday!

This weekend, Frank and I got a double-dose of farmers markets. We awoke early on Sunday and since the sun was out, we headed into D.C. for the Dupont Farmers Market. Frank and I arrived before the bell rang (at 9 a.m.) and Frank queued for our favorite eggs while I scoured the stalls for ramps, the harbingers of spring. I found them at Spring Valley Farm, just picked from the hills in West Virginia.

Ramps, or wild leeks, are members of the onion family. Emerging in springtime, ramps have a small white bulb, and green leaves, often tinted with a burgundy outer sheath-all being edible. Ramps are commonly found from the Carolinas to Canada, and are especially beloved in West Virginia, where festivals are held to honor them and herald Spring.

I also purchased morel mushrooms from Spring Valley Farm (you can see a theme dinner coming, can’t you?). Morels are another rite of spring. Consisting of honeycombs and ridges, morels are earthy and well, mushroomy! A little goes a long way, and while not cheap, they are hand picked in the wild and worth the splurge (a recipe is forthcoming, I promise).

And that glorious sour cherry jam smothering Keswick’s quark that you see in the photos? I had to buy it. It’s from Quaker Valley Farm, were they have many varieties of jams and fresh homemade pies. I think I’ll purchase a small one next week for Frank and I. Blueberry, Cherry or Apple? Decisions, decisions.

Until the next At The Market, eat and buy local when you can. Enjoy the photos!

Teaser photo: stay tuned for the recipe

Tags: District of Columbia, Washington, Alexandria, farmers markets by Ramona
1 Comment »

What a gorgeous weekend we had here in the Washington DC area!

On Saturday, Frank and I took Tucker into Old Town to the Alexandria City Farmers Market. The scene was far livelier than our last visit with more vendors and patrons, which was great to see. By next month, it should be running at full tilt.

The Alexandria City Market is the oldest continuously running year round farmers market in the country. Since 1753, the Building and square has served as a place to obtain meats, produce, eggs and other goods. Today, finished products such as pies, pasta and Virginia ham sandwiches can be found, in addition to arts and crafts.

I spoke at length with long time market vendor, Tom Calhoun. Calhoun Country Hams has been at the Alexandria City Market since the early 1980’s, ad today sells a wide variety of specialty products in addition to their Virginia ham and ham biscuits. If you want to taste Virginia, treat yourself to one of Calhoun’s biscuits!

Enjoy the photos of the Alexandria City Market and a stroll around Old Town.

The Dupont Market was lively on a bright and chilly Easter morning. I spotted only two vendors missing, Eco Friendly Farms and Creekside Farm. Otherwise, the stalls were loaded with produce and flowers. Lots of flowers which patrons were carting off by the armful.

Next Step Produce was at the market, and I was told that they will be there weekly at this time. The bad news-no more sunchokes until next November. I’m not giving up all hope yet as I will keep an eye out for sunchokes at specialty markets for the next several weeks. From what I’ve read, sunchokes should be out of season come April.

Buster’s crabs had soft shells for $3 a piece, which is an amazing price considering you could make yourself a plate full of them for under $10! I have to disclose, however, that I have NEVER eaten them. The thought of eating the entire crab is a bit shall I say…off-putting to me and to be honest, I think I’m going to have to get over it…..soon. I love, love, love crab and there isn’t a crabcake I didn’t want to try (oh, and I’ve found a really good one…for research sake, I will have to try it again before I reveal my source, but stay tuned!). I just about overdosed on she crab soup when I visited Charleston, SC and my girlfriend and I used to do “all you can eat crabs legs” back in the day and shamelessly downed platter after butter laden platter of them.

Shad roe is one local seasonal delicacy I think I can get over not trying, but soft shell crabs are not. So, if anybody has some tips on preparing and eating them, let me know. Otherwise, I’ll let you know how my endevour goes in the near future.

Frank and I finished up our visit to the Dupont market with a visit to Cibola Farms. I’m partial to their teryaki bufallo sticks and while standing in line, I persuaded the gentlemen behind me to try out Cibola’s Cranberry, Buffalo and Pork Sausage. Cibola’s merchant told me that “customer word of mouth is my best business”.

After the market, Frank and I spent a couple of hours at the National Zoo. We are big supporters of the zoo, and I visit there opens up our minds and gives us some great exercise. For those of you not familiar with the National Zoo, it’s situated on a big hill, so if you’re either waking up, or down! We parked at the bottom parking lot so after we made our way to the top of the hill, we could relax on the way back.

All that hard work was rewarded with a pulled pork slider and soda from Rockland’s BBQ, a local chain. It couldn’t have tasted better with its vinegar based tomato sauce, and moist chunks of pork. No pictures of that…sorry.

Until the next At The Market, eat and buy local when you can.

Tags: District of Columbia, Washington, Alexandria, farmers markets by Ramona
9 Comments »