Chaia DC taco lunch, palmiers & eclairs too

Per the usual, Ol and I went to the farmers market this morning. His plan was to hit Bonaparte in search of eclairs and/or raspberry palmiers and then, if neither were available, make our way to Pleasant Pops for a chongos popsicle. Last resort should that be a strike-out was to finish the marshmallow/gum drop creation Jack made yesterday at Spring Fest, despite the fact that it languished in the car overnight and had been held by at least four different pairs of hands before that. I felt options A, B and C were far superior, but Ol seemed thrilled by any that came about. In luck, we found both eclairs AND palmiers so, naturally, bought both. While Mr. ate his palmier, I took a bit of the eclair, walked him by EcoFriendly Foods for ham hocks and tasso (red beans & rice a'coming), then down a few stalls for baby beets and some lovely carrots (by then Ol had finished the palmier so switched to a carrot) and finally down to Chaia for a taco plate for my lunch.

We sat down in the grass to sup and then felt it was such a beautiful day that we'd best finish that eclair while relaxing. Very, very satisfying.

FM haul, and we met Alice, as in Waters

Ol and I eagerly braved sub-30s temps this morning to head down to Dupont for the farmers market. He was lured by the promise of eclairs at Bonaparte -"Ol, I really think this constitutes 'cold enough for eclair stability'"- while I wanted beets, apples and Brussels sprouts for Thanksgiving dishes. First stop: Bonaparte.

"Do you have eclairs today?" "Mais, oui!"

Ol beamed and I ordered two because he doesn't like to share even a bite of his, and really, I can't blame him.

Then to Eco Friendly where I was chagrined to find them out of ground turkey BUT did pick up a small container of freshly rendered schmaltz. Bellissimo! And then to Twin Springs Fruit Farm for a huge variety of crisp apples, and finally to our favorite spot, New Morning Farm (an organic vegetable farm from PA), to see Grace and the crew and get all the rest of our goodies. I bought two stalks of these Brussels sprouts and while exclaiming over them was surprised when Ol asked, "that's how they come? You don't make them?" I was baffled and reminded him that all veggies grow rather than are made. He responded, "but then do you make them?" Huh? We were just not understanding each other so I moved on to the basket of beets.

On our way back to the car, we made a wildly enthusiastic detour to the farm whose name I can never remember but really like because I SPIED SUNCHOKES. Oh, praise the sunchoke season. I am giddy.

And then Ol was really cold and wanting his eclair so I said, "now we're really going to go to the car," but then y'all, we passed a book signing and I was curious and sweet jesus, it was Alice Waters herself. She was bundled to about 4x her actual size and was being such a good sport despite the truly frigid morning. In all honesty, I have never been off my head about Chez Panisse or the Waters dynasty, but I do admire all Alice does on behalf of food policy, activism, her Edible Schoolyard projects, local and clean eating, so we ambled over, and I just had to buy her lovely book. Because Ol is the greatest sous chef, I asked her to inscribe it to him too. He smiled radiantly at her, and she told him she was going to put a heart by his name for good measure. At this point he was aglow, and I swear that momentarily, the eclair disappeared from his mind. Is this darling?!

Lovely morning for the market

It is such a pretty day here. We DC-area folks needed it, so thanks to the weather gods for a lovely atmosphere outside. I had no takers for my invite to join me at the farmers market earlier so enjoyed a quiet hour there by my lonesome. Bliss. It's smaller this time of year, both in purveyors and patrons, but I like it. You can take it all in in a slightly more relaxed way, you've got a bit more space in which to move and observe. I headed first to Eco Friendly Foods for some chicken breasts, but found that the stores are empty, not to be replenished until the spring chickens are ready in March. I love these reminders of the natural order of things, adherence to organic cycles of life rather than ones we impose for our convenience. I'm happy to wait another month really and was happy my lack of luck in things chicken forced my eyes to take in and consider the other offerings.

Smoked turkey breast? Love it and will take two packs. Real tasso ham??? Do mine eyes deceive me? What a find; it's not easy to procure tasso outside of Louisiana so my jambalayas are always slightly less than authentic. I make do with smoked andouille but tasso, a spicy smoked pork made from the shoulder butt of a hog, is the real deal and I snatched up a fat chunk. The woman helping me, who had lived in Louisiana for a number of years, said it was super authentic, and I'm really looking forward to trying it. I also picked up some smoked ham hocks -red beans and rice, peeps!- and this gorgeous cured pork belly and some bacon. I must have looked like Mrs. Pig, but it's exciting to find a spread of best-quality, specific products like this. Once again, a big thanks to Eco Friendly!

Next to Bonaparte for some beautiful bread, then to the kinda scary apple lady for a big haul of her pommes. She's strict but does have a great variety, and the pink ladies today were absolutely delish.

Some golden beets here, a watermelon radish there, a head of radicchio...all the while a lovely composed salad was taking shape in my mind. So, we'll see where all this leads tonight, but for now, off to class.