So the very first market we baked everything in our home kitchen with the dented oven. The first batch of cookies I made in it burned, which I think is some kind of universal law of using a new or unfamiliar oven. I still so clearly remember that very first morning. I was going by myself to the market because Reid was going to stay here for the yard sale (i.e. combining 2 houses into one, so pick the better one of each and sell the other sale. Conveniently most of my stuff was still in boxes and not sold.) I had only been down to the Washington market once the previous summer before the 4th of July party and wasn't completely sure what to expect. I also wasn't completely sure what time it opened so I thought my 6:30 am leave time from the house was really late for a Farmer's Market.
We still had basically the same kitchen set up for the next market except by this time our new oven had arrived. By then I knew the market didn't officially start until 9am and Reid went with me which was way more fun than being there alone. I had more ingredients than I normally would have on hand in my own kitchen but everything still fit just fine in the pantry (which was another big clean out-repaint-repurpose back to pantry from closet project). After the second market, Reid and I realized the big thing we were missing down there was hot coffee. (Well, we missed not being able to sip on coffee Saturday morning so we figured everyone else must feel the same way!)
So after the second market we went on our first "Southern Scratch" shopping trip to Sam's. As a card carrying big box club shopping member since high school (on my parent's membership) to being single with my own card (justifying it because of organic spring mix and individual portion size containers of half and half), I was super excited to finally be shopping for a kind-of-sort-of-almost real "small business."
Oh what fun was to be had. All the commercial boxes of things like 3,000 feet of aluminum foil and 1,000 count sheets of wax paper were finally something I would feasibly need for the market. I threw some more half sheet baking pans in the cart along with a box of a hundred or more coffee cups and I think a box of 500 coffee lids. The trip was even more fun when our joint fascination with people watching was indulged over a piece of pizza and big 32 oz. cokes analyzing (judging) the contents of shopping carts. (Kind of hypocrital but we called it "food anthropology research" on what was really "date night" instead.)
I tried making space for the boxes in the pantry but then it made it harder to fit all the bags of flour and half gallon of baking powder on the shelves too. I also had pulled out extra pink tulle ribbon, glassine bags & labels leftover from our wedding to the dining room table for packaging up treats. Pretty quickly the entire upstairs had a little Southern Scratch on it.
So I went to Fred's and was super excited to find big plastic totes in turquoise. Ah-ha! These would be perfect. I bought five of them and then ran home to label them (so organized, right?) by category of all the things we needed to bake/set-up for the market. The boxes were labeled:
1.) Ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder, etc.)
2.) Coffee cups & lids
3.) Cake plates
4.) Gift packaging (ribbon, bags, scissors, etc.)
5.) Tablecloths, spatulas, etc.
My plan was to keep everything in the boxes stacked up neatly at the foot of the stairs and then bring them upstairs on Thursday or Friday when I started baking for the market. Then after the market Saturday I would make sure everything was in it's right box and it would be out sight again.
Well, remember what I said in the last post about organizing things then not following the organization system? Case in point here. It ended up that I did manage to get things back in their boxes, but the boxes always stayed upstairs. And the gift packaging supplies moved to our guest bedroom where I had set up a desk and my printer after another order from Nashville Wraps and Sam Flax. And our dining room table (thank goodness for those thick mat things that go over them) was constantly overrun by flour bags and things like 3,000 foot aluminum foil rolls.
At this point Reid put up with so much from me. (He still does). Here he had married this girl who had said she was going to take a little while off work "to get the house set up so we could live happily ever after with home cooked meals and clean laundry" and now he is coming home to the inside of a bakery/office upstairs and his man basement covered in this girl's furniture and moving boxes. To top it off, I'm asking him to do things like wrap brownies up individually or put pink labels on pound cakes and stay up all hours baking on Friday nights instead of him relaxing after a long week at work. Oh, and the amazing number of dishes he has washed for me instead of going fishing.
We both knew we couldn't cook from our house forever but also knew we didn't want to take a huge risk and open up any kind of storefront until we a) knew where we were headed and b.) knew where we were headed. Still, living inside my biggest project yet was overwhelming. Even though the "facilities" were adequate to do the comparatively small amount of baking and cooking we were doing, it invaded our living area. We slowly started to realize we might really be able to build up a little business if we stuck with it, but we had to find somewhere else to do our little business.
In mid July was when I think we reached our peak of craziness.
Reid's "second mama" Angie was putting together a benefit which included selling tickets for meal plates. We were so excited to be a part of it and get to make the plates up which included from scratch lasagna (noodles, sauce from locally grown tomatoes, etc.), salad with homemade dressing, yeast rolls and brownies. The benefit plates were for Saturday afternoon so we planned to do a small market in the morning then head over to the benefit.
I did the brownies and made up ranch dressing on Thursday. Friday I started on the lasagna. Anyone who has roasted forty or fifty pounds of tomatoes, then made sauce from them knows you are bound to get some everywhere. And with the flour of rolling out noodles and mixing up big bowls of ricotta cheese, organic spinach and cage free eggs, we had quite an operation going on. We set up all of our folding tables plus a baking rack (that we had traded for meals) in the kitchen with the sofa pushed back against the organ. (Because everyone has an antique organ in their kitchen, right?) So once the lasagnas were completely assembled we brought those, the salad fixings, and the brownies over to Lori's house close to where the benefit would end. They would be out of town and had a great big refrigerator so we could fit all the pans, etc. in them. (We still just had our one fridge and otherwise would have had to skip the market and just make lasagna all morning...which it's always better anyway if you let the flavors kind of ripen together first so it worked out perfectly).
That morning we went to the market with cinnamon rolls, orange rolls, scones, cakes and other goodies we had baked in the midnight to 8am time frame from dropping off lasagna and start of time to set up for market. I left early around 10ish to head back to our house and make yeast rolls for the plates. We had the rack still set up (tables were at the market) and all the sitting furniture pushed up against this organ save for one chair that swivvles that someone could turn and squeeze into. The oriental rug (which never even had a chance in this house before I sent it back to my mother's house after having a year long love affair with it in my little cottage) was still rolled up against the wall too. Laundry was left in a forlorn pile in front of the door to the laundry room. Dishes that didn't make the Friday night cut-off to get washed were (somewhat) neatly stacked in those plastic dish bussing tubs closer to the other side of the room. The dining table was covered in cellophane, tulle,a stack of receipts and display containers that didn't make it to the market. If they didn't know better I'm sure a passerby would have probably called the police and reported a break-in.
So by 12:30 I was deep in yeast dough with some dough resting, some rising, some baking and some still letting the yeast mix with warm milk and sugar first. One thing I learned working at the donut shop in college was that you shouldn't be stingy with your floured surface when working with yeast dough. So stingy I wasn't and thus had flour covering my stainless table and the floor around my stainless table which fell off when you rolled out dough. On one hand I felt like a half crazy housewife who had gotten herself in way too deep, but on the other hand I felt kind of like an accomplished baker who could make fifteen dozen yeast rolls at once.
Watching the clock I thought "Wow-we are really going to be able to pull this off! After I get home and get a nap I'm going to spend the next few days getting my kitchen back to normal and maybe then we could invite some friends or neighbors over."
Well, as if she had been somehow psychic summoned with my wish to have company over eventually, my neighbor showed up. And not the ones from next door who had been in and out of our house and loved us anyway. But our neighbor from a few houses down on an adjacent street who I had only met a couple times pre-wedding when she helped us do our registry in town at Bee Southern. I heard the car pull up, realized it wasn't Reid, and froze. Then the knock on the door. I quickly calculated that it was too late to just duck down and hide and thought "Well, to heck with it." I opened the door and just said "Hey, welcome to our craziness!"
Pam re-introduced herself, gave me a hug even in my flour covered clothes and asked if I needed any help, darlin? She had heard I was doing the benefit plates and also wanted to do a donation. Since she just lived around the corner she came over to put in her order and just check on us. I didn't need any help at the moment (and wasn't bold enough to put her to work washing dishes!) so just invited her to come sit for a while, apologizing profusely for the house. She found the only chair, made herself at home, and made me feel a million times better about the whole state of affairs going on. She actually made me feel more comfortable in my own home and for that immediately endeared herself to me. It was like my own mom telling me "everything would be fine and that it takes years to set up your house the way you want it." (A month later her husband would teach me how to fry onion rings properly and endear himself to me too! Pam still gets the award for being in our house at "peak crazy time," and like our other neighbors Opie & Michelle, I think she still loves us anyway!)
Late that afternoon, across town, Reid and I ended up getting all the plates ready on time with piping hot lasagna, fresh yeast rolls and even some homegrown veggies from the market that morning with the salad. Although we were pretty exhuasted, Reid and I kept saying to each other "We did it. Now we know the two of us can make 120 lasagna plates from scratch. We did it!!" It was definitely a fun moment and great learning experience for us. And one thing we learned was that we had to get Southern Scratch out of our kitchen/living room/dining room as soon as possible!
After getting some rest we got the kitchen cleaned up but left the furniture as it was. On Monday we started ripping things off the wall in the basement for our new dedicated Southern Scratch kitchen...
Next: Priming cinder blocks, August humidity & more stainless kitchen equipment...
Monday, December 6, 2010
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Our Kitchen Evolution: Part One
Reid and I met on a Monday night. He came over for a dinner party I was having two days later on a Wednesday night. And on that Friday night he called me Kathryn Bussey...Filipiak.
So on my first visit to Washington a month or so later I had no qualms to go ahead and get started on what we were both pretty sure was my future kitchen. I am not the best at what they call "home maintenence" but I do love a big home project. (I think they probably have some diagnosis for people who really like organizing things but then don't follow their system so it's still...unorganized?). And his kitchen was a really big project. Luckily Reid trusted me because he willingly took five trash bags to the dump of things I deemed not fit for the kitchen without even asking questions. This included the usual like going through the fridge and pantry and tossing anything expired. It also included a massive plastic elimination-I hate anything plastic in a kitchen. (You shouldn't heat things up in them or use them scratched so I just use glass for any storage containers/leftovers like Pyrex or Anchorware). And all the butter tubs and yogurt containers? Tossed.
I then ran all the surviving dinnerware through the dishwasher (many loads) and separated them. After a good ShopVac on the remaining space we had made great progress. Reid eventually finished the job after I had gone back home and it was a big step in the right direction.
A few months after that I decided to host a Fourth of July party at his house. I ended up with a five day weekend so we had fun getting everything together for the party. I replaced some of the things hanging above the cabinets with patriotic flair which was another improvement. (This is also the trip when I put the first coat on the bathroom to cover up the wallpaper because as they always say "If you have a clean bathroom and clean kitchen people will forgive everything else.") The only caveat to planning the menu for the party was that I couldn't make anything that would have to go in the oven. Because Reid didn't have a working oven. (He said he would just dig a hole in the ground if he needed to bake anything..you know, like squirrel.)
Well a little while later on Labor Day weekend we got engaged and any of my kitchen/house renovating projects went on the backburner planning a wedding.
So when Reid lifted me over the threshold intohis our house, we had no oven. For the first month or so I cooked using a plug in skillet and a toaster oven. Luckily we had gotten a great bread maker and a panini press for wedding gifts so we pretty much just ate fancy sandwiches for dinner most nights.
We started looking at ovens as soon as I finally got everything moved in. After a couple romantic trips to Lowe's and hours searching online we found exactly what we wanted: 5 burners, warming drawer, gas, professional level but not a huge commercial range. We ordered it from a place in New York and I was sooo excited when it finally arrived. Then bummed when it had a dent in it and the warming drawer didn't work. The people told us to just start using it and they would send a replacement.
So we did. And this was the first oven we used to bake for the very first market!
A few weeks later, our replacement oven came. When the delivery guys from New York dropped the new one off, they conveniently didn't take the other one. We were ecstatic even though we were still pretty sure someone would show up at the house to get it but after seven or eight months I don't think they're coming for it...
Next stage: Crazy upstairs kitchen and Southern Scratch in boxes...
So on my first visit to Washington a month or so later I had no qualms to go ahead and get started on what we were both pretty sure was my future kitchen. I am not the best at what they call "home maintenence" but I do love a big home project. (I think they probably have some diagnosis for people who really like organizing things but then don't follow their system so it's still...unorganized?). And his kitchen was a really big project. Luckily Reid trusted me because he willingly took five trash bags to the dump of things I deemed not fit for the kitchen without even asking questions. This included the usual like going through the fridge and pantry and tossing anything expired. It also included a massive plastic elimination-I hate anything plastic in a kitchen. (You shouldn't heat things up in them or use them scratched so I just use glass for any storage containers/leftovers like Pyrex or Anchorware). And all the butter tubs and yogurt containers? Tossed.
I then ran all the surviving dinnerware through the dishwasher (many loads) and separated them. After a good ShopVac on the remaining space we had made great progress. Reid eventually finished the job after I had gone back home and it was a big step in the right direction.
A few months after that I decided to host a Fourth of July party at his house. I ended up with a five day weekend so we had fun getting everything together for the party. I replaced some of the things hanging above the cabinets with patriotic flair which was another improvement. (This is also the trip when I put the first coat on the bathroom to cover up the wallpaper because as they always say "If you have a clean bathroom and clean kitchen people will forgive everything else.") The only caveat to planning the menu for the party was that I couldn't make anything that would have to go in the oven. Because Reid didn't have a working oven. (He said he would just dig a hole in the ground if he needed to bake anything..you know, like squirrel.)
Well a little while later on Labor Day weekend we got engaged and any of my kitchen/house renovating projects went on the backburner planning a wedding.
So when Reid lifted me over the threshold into
We started looking at ovens as soon as I finally got everything moved in. After a couple romantic trips to Lowe's and hours searching online we found exactly what we wanted: 5 burners, warming drawer, gas, professional level but not a huge commercial range. We ordered it from a place in New York and I was sooo excited when it finally arrived. Then bummed when it had a dent in it and the warming drawer didn't work. The people told us to just start using it and they would send a replacement.
So we did. And this was the first oven we used to bake for the very first market!
A few weeks later, our replacement oven came. When the delivery guys from New York dropped the new one off, they conveniently didn't take the other one. We were ecstatic even though we were still pretty sure someone would show up at the house to get it but after seven or eight months I don't think they're coming for it...
Next stage: Crazy upstairs kitchen and Southern Scratch in boxes...
Monday, November 29, 2010
Why I Have Four Bars of Artisan Chocolate in My Glove Compartment.
Reid always says he doesn't like sweets. He is mostly telling the truth. Of the breakfast goodies I bake for the market he always eats a blue cheese green onion and grit scone (which I put off to the side for him) but turns his nose up at a cinnamon roll. He doesn't really eat ice cream (much to my dismay) and, sin of all sins here in Georgia, he prefers unsweetened tea.
So I was really surprised when, after several months of dating, Reid got back into the car from the gas station with a Hershey's chocolate almond bar. I'm not even sure if I knew then that he even liked chocolate so was of course really excited to find out Reid had a little bit of a fat kid inside of him too.
Last Wednesday before Thanksgiving I had to drive to Athens to find a few organic ingredients I couldn't get in Washington. I needed to get in and out of Earthfare quickly (dodging the other customers carrying their free range turkeys) but I also felt I needed to make the trip "worth it" for more than my few items. Since we would be driving a little over five hours I thought I'd surprise Reid with a little chocolate sampler for the trip.
Neither one of us eat a ton of fast food so we usually pack up little gourmet picnics for the trip. This trip we just started out with coffee, some yogurt/granola for breakfast and of course, my secret chocolate stash. A few hours in we did a preliminary sampling: a Black&Green organic hazelnut/currant/72% cacoa; an Escazu pumpkin seed and guajillo chile/74% cacoa; an XOXO dark chocolate & crystallized ginger and lastly a dark chocolate coconut truffle bar whose brand I can't remember.
We agreed the coconut truffle bar was the best on the first tasting. On our way back we had a little bag of brown butter pecan shortbread from the treats I brought to Thanksgiving and then tried all the chocolates again along with fresh coffee at the first Starbucks we found across the Georgia line (which happened to be in a Target on Black Friday...). From that I leaned a little toward the pumpkin/chile. I like ginger/chocolate combo in cookies or scones but not so much straight up like the bar.
Today I drove up to the Happy Cow Creamery for butter (delicious, big rolls of grass fed butter), milk and cream cheese. On the way home I started to look around for a little something to eat in my car thinking I may have a Larabar left. (We were introduced to these in Boulder and love them!). Then I remembered the chocolate bars we had left. (The benefit to buying weird flavors of chocolate is that a little bit really does satisfy you so they last a long time). I gave the hazelnut/currant another try and it was perfect this go round.
Anyway, I think when it stops raining I'm going to bring the rest of the chocolate inside. Luckily it's nearly December and not August or we would have an odd hazelnut/guajillo/pumpkin/currant/coconut/ginger melting pot on top of the car instruction manual, insurance info, nail polish remover and the extra napkins.
I think the next time the two of us are on the road will be during Christmas...so if anyone has some great chocolate suggestions to add to my fancy chocolate compartment collection let us know!
So I was really surprised when, after several months of dating, Reid got back into the car from the gas station with a Hershey's chocolate almond bar. I'm not even sure if I knew then that he even liked chocolate so was of course really excited to find out Reid had a little bit of a fat kid inside of him too.
Last Wednesday before Thanksgiving I had to drive to Athens to find a few organic ingredients I couldn't get in Washington. I needed to get in and out of Earthfare quickly (dodging the other customers carrying their free range turkeys) but I also felt I needed to make the trip "worth it" for more than my few items. Since we would be driving a little over five hours I thought I'd surprise Reid with a little chocolate sampler for the trip.
Neither one of us eat a ton of fast food so we usually pack up little gourmet picnics for the trip. This trip we just started out with coffee, some yogurt/granola for breakfast and of course, my secret chocolate stash. A few hours in we did a preliminary sampling: a Black&Green organic hazelnut/currant/72% cacoa; an Escazu pumpkin seed and guajillo chile/74% cacoa; an XOXO dark chocolate & crystallized ginger and lastly a dark chocolate coconut truffle bar whose brand I can't remember.
We agreed the coconut truffle bar was the best on the first tasting. On our way back we had a little bag of brown butter pecan shortbread from the treats I brought to Thanksgiving and then tried all the chocolates again along with fresh coffee at the first Starbucks we found across the Georgia line (which happened to be in a Target on Black Friday...). From that I leaned a little toward the pumpkin/chile. I like ginger/chocolate combo in cookies or scones but not so much straight up like the bar.
Today I drove up to the Happy Cow Creamery for butter (delicious, big rolls of grass fed butter), milk and cream cheese. On the way home I started to look around for a little something to eat in my car thinking I may have a Larabar left. (We were introduced to these in Boulder and love them!). Then I remembered the chocolate bars we had left. (The benefit to buying weird flavors of chocolate is that a little bit really does satisfy you so they last a long time). I gave the hazelnut/currant another try and it was perfect this go round.
Anyway, I think when it stops raining I'm going to bring the rest of the chocolate inside. Luckily it's nearly December and not August or we would have an odd hazelnut/guajillo/pumpkin/currant/coconut/ginger melting pot on top of the car instruction manual, insurance info, nail polish remover and the extra napkins.
I think the next time the two of us are on the road will be during Christmas...so if anyone has some great chocolate suggestions to add to my fancy chocolate compartment collection let us know!
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
My Favorite Food Network Celebrity and Her All Stainless & White Kitchen Appliances.
So I just saw that Google's doodle was done by Ina Garten today. I've strongly considered getting a TV solely for the purpose of watching Barefoot Contessa. I know favorite Food Network celebrities can trigger hot debate, but who doesn't want to live in the Hamptons in the middle of their kitchen garden, be best friends with a chocolatier and have their friends over for lunch on their yacht every day?
In one of the aforementioned times of inwardly debating the "TV for news and Food Network purposes" issue, I just googled Ina instead. (I'm pretty sure deep down if I didn't have a "real job" AND had a TV in the house I could very quickly own only mu-mu's, develop a serious potato chip habit and be sucked in to every daytime soap & telenovela that was on air). I ended up finding an interview with her about kitchen design. Dreaming of someday having a dream kitchen someday, I took copious notes while thinking what a genius Ina was. (I like saying "Ina" as if we actually know each other in real life. One can dream.) Now, I have no idea where those notes are, if they survived the move, but I do remember having a ton of "ah-ha!" moments. But when I've finally got my laptop back and am somewhere other than the middle of the country with sketchy at best internet service (but improved today by our fixed transformer box), I plan to re-watch the interview.
I have been thinking a lot lately about good, functional kitchen design both for the Southern Scratch kitchen as well as our home kitchen. The great thing about the interview was that Ina's advice works for both a commercial kitchen where baking and cooking are going on all the time or for the home cook who wants a streamlined space to get dinner out fast.
One of the most memorable thing she said was how she only uses stainless or white kitchen utensils and appliances. She noted that colorful spatulas and mixing bowls may look pretty but if you have twenty different colored items, it can make a working kitchen (i.e. when you're getting ready for a dinner party) look cluttered and messy. If you stick with one color (and you can find nearly everything in white or stainless), the room automatically looks "put together" even if you've got a floured work surface, pots on the stove, caserolles in the oven, the mixer going and guests walking in the door. Genius Ina. Just genius.
I try to remember that tip whenever I'm drawn to turquoise spatulas or pink handled whisks for the Southern Scratch kitchen to go all matchy with our Waste Not Paper labels. And while I did give in and register for lemongrass colored Fiesta for our everyday china, we got rid of any and all other plates, mugs, etc. so we still have a monochrome look in our home kitchen. (Which is really important since the eager home renovater I am took off all our kitchen cabinet doors the day we got back from our honeymoon and haven't made good progress on getting them back up or painted like I had planned...oh sigh.)
Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving! If you live in Washington, plan to come by the market Saturday morning between 8-till we sell out right behind the courthouse. We are going to have a good little selection of our best breakfast items for anyone that wants to get out of the house before the football games start or bring your kids by to come pick out a freshly made cinnamon roll! (We totally allow footie pajamas at the market).
In one of the aforementioned times of inwardly debating the "TV for news and Food Network purposes" issue, I just googled Ina instead. (I'm pretty sure deep down if I didn't have a "real job" AND had a TV in the house I could very quickly own only mu-mu's, develop a serious potato chip habit and be sucked in to every daytime soap & telenovela that was on air). I ended up finding an interview with her about kitchen design. Dreaming of someday having a dream kitchen someday, I took copious notes while thinking what a genius Ina was. (I like saying "Ina" as if we actually know each other in real life. One can dream.) Now, I have no idea where those notes are, if they survived the move, but I do remember having a ton of "ah-ha!" moments. But when I've finally got my laptop back and am somewhere other than the middle of the country with sketchy at best internet service (but improved today by our fixed transformer box), I plan to re-watch the interview.
I have been thinking a lot lately about good, functional kitchen design both for the Southern Scratch kitchen as well as our home kitchen. The great thing about the interview was that Ina's advice works for both a commercial kitchen where baking and cooking are going on all the time or for the home cook who wants a streamlined space to get dinner out fast.
One of the most memorable thing she said was how she only uses stainless or white kitchen utensils and appliances. She noted that colorful spatulas and mixing bowls may look pretty but if you have twenty different colored items, it can make a working kitchen (i.e. when you're getting ready for a dinner party) look cluttered and messy. If you stick with one color (and you can find nearly everything in white or stainless), the room automatically looks "put together" even if you've got a floured work surface, pots on the stove, caserolles in the oven, the mixer going and guests walking in the door. Genius Ina. Just genius.
I try to remember that tip whenever I'm drawn to turquoise spatulas or pink handled whisks for the Southern Scratch kitchen to go all matchy with our Waste Not Paper labels. And while I did give in and register for lemongrass colored Fiesta for our everyday china, we got rid of any and all other plates, mugs, etc. so we still have a monochrome look in our home kitchen. (Which is really important since the eager home renovater I am took off all our kitchen cabinet doors the day we got back from our honeymoon and haven't made good progress on getting them back up or painted like I had planned...oh sigh.)
Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving! If you live in Washington, plan to come by the market Saturday morning between 8-till we sell out right behind the courthouse. We are going to have a good little selection of our best breakfast items for anyone that wants to get out of the house before the football games start or bring your kids by to come pick out a freshly made cinnamon roll! (We totally allow footie pajamas at the market).
Another Reason Why I Love Reid and a Weight Loss Tip All in the Same.
I realized yesterday that Reid and I had been married a grand total of eight months on Saturday. So basically we know squat about being married. And really, we know squat about each other too. In that time though we have both learned to enjoy the little quirks each of us have that we didn't notice when we were all love-struck, thinking "let's get married and live out a John Prine song."
Today I had made up a bunch of brown butter pecan shortbread for gift box orders and like a good wife, saved some extra cookies for Reid. After I told him they were his, he took a little nibble then said "Oh wait, these need coffee." So we made a pot of fresh coffee (roasted less than a week ago from 1000 Faces in Athens) just so he could have the "perfect pairing" with the shortbread.
You would be right if you thought the above was a boring little anecdote. But what I loved was that Reid had the patience and appreciation to enjoy his shortbread to the fullest. As he was eating them, all nestled in his chair, he said again how great the two went together. (Our eyes met and this shared passion for really good food just made my little newlywed heart all a-flutter. Oh, what a sophisticated man I married, ripped blue jeans, threadbare t-shirt and discussing the nuances he could taste in non-overroasted coffee. Rwroarr...).
But on a more practical and less lovey-dovey note, the weight management/enjoying life without counting calories aspects were there too. How many people mindlessly eat store bought cookies? Or mindlessly eat even really good cookies without truly enjoying them? Reid wasn't "dieting" but he avoided eating five or six cookies standing up in the kitchen without mentally "registering" them and instead had two small ones sitting down with coffee which he ended up calling dinner because he had enjoyed it so much.
I think having a deep appreciation of food may be the cornerstone of maintaining a healthy weight and building a good relationship with food where it nourishes you physically, emotionally and mentally yet doesn't abuse your feelings, invade all your thoughts or harm your body. I am not a fan of any kind of diet advice during the holidays (or diets ever actually) but Thanksgiving is a great time to practice the art of savoring food for all it's worth. Not the "how much food can I get away with eating this year?" but "how amazing is this homemade butter crust?" Take the time to really taste your family's good food Thursday instead of just chewing your food.
And when it comes time for dessert, definitely make a fresh pot of coffee.
Today I had made up a bunch of brown butter pecan shortbread for gift box orders and like a good wife, saved some extra cookies for Reid. After I told him they were his, he took a little nibble then said "Oh wait, these need coffee." So we made a pot of fresh coffee (roasted less than a week ago from 1000 Faces in Athens) just so he could have the "perfect pairing" with the shortbread.
You would be right if you thought the above was a boring little anecdote. But what I loved was that Reid had the patience and appreciation to enjoy his shortbread to the fullest. As he was eating them, all nestled in his chair, he said again how great the two went together. (Our eyes met and this shared passion for really good food just made my little newlywed heart all a-flutter. Oh, what a sophisticated man I married, ripped blue jeans, threadbare t-shirt and discussing the nuances he could taste in non-overroasted coffee. Rwroarr...).
But on a more practical and less lovey-dovey note, the weight management/enjoying life without counting calories aspects were there too. How many people mindlessly eat store bought cookies? Or mindlessly eat even really good cookies without truly enjoying them? Reid wasn't "dieting" but he avoided eating five or six cookies standing up in the kitchen without mentally "registering" them and instead had two small ones sitting down with coffee which he ended up calling dinner because he had enjoyed it so much.
I think having a deep appreciation of food may be the cornerstone of maintaining a healthy weight and building a good relationship with food where it nourishes you physically, emotionally and mentally yet doesn't abuse your feelings, invade all your thoughts or harm your body. I am not a fan of any kind of diet advice during the holidays (or diets ever actually) but Thanksgiving is a great time to practice the art of savoring food for all it's worth. Not the "how much food can I get away with eating this year?" but "how amazing is this homemade butter crust?" Take the time to really taste your family's good food Thursday instead of just chewing your food.
And when it comes time for dessert, definitely make a fresh pot of coffee.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Country Heads to Town this Holiday Season! Delivery Dates & More!
It seems like just yesterday I was packing up all my Christmas decorations into big plastic totes and labeling them "X-Mas-->Reid's House." Soon after we got engaged and firmly settled on living in Washington after we were married (I did my fair amount of begging and scheming to try to get Reid to work at Roosevelt where I lived but Reid's farm outweighed my little cottage), I started to pre-move. I packed up everything I thought I could live without until the wedding (which you can live without most of the stuff you have apparently) and sent Reid back with boxes every time he came to visit. We still ended up with a massive moving truck a few weeks after the wedding so I'm glad I had started early even if it did mean I still have a lot of random boxes in the barn. (I did spend one last night in my cottage alone after the wedding curled up with my dog, Myra, indulging in Hulu episodes of 30 Rock and Ben & Jerry's knowing it would be the last night ever of living alone. Cherish it single friends. Marriage is awesome but so is not having anyone judge you when you're halfway down a pint without plans to stop too.)
Anyways, it is now the holiday season again. Since our hallway is the only fully painted room in our house, I'm considering setting it up as our sole holiday vignette. Maybe I'll even pull a chair or two in there and make Reid pretend we just live in a 4 x 12 cottage that is decorated to the hilt. Or as if we're celebrating the holiday in a Paris hotel room all romantic-ally. Or like we're struggling grad students living in a tiny dorm room together. (Sidenote to the Lipscomb University student dorm assistants present during the 2003 annual door decorating contest: You know that our "Christmas in Dixie" life size aluminum foil mobile home and clothesline decoration complete with original self portraits in our finest denim cut off skirts and genuine LU parking tickets was the best and Kaitlyn, Steph, Liz and I still kind of hold a grudge against you for awarding us a bag of pork rinds and case of RC cola instead of the $300 gift certificate the girl that decorated with a felt cut-out nativity scene got. And besides, everyone knows that only moon pies, not pork rinds, go with RC cola. That was poor taste all around ladies.)
So instead of making our house a winter wonderland, I am going to holiday up our Southern Scratch booth! (Oh and the pink (or is it lime green?) Christmas tree I'd never thought I'd get to put out again will be on full display). We have a lot of great things planned as well as a BIG change (we'll get to announce that hopefully in just a week or so when everything is final!!) so I've listed out a schedule for where to find us.
You can order by calling (706-505-0698 or 7442 in Washington (I love a town that is small enough where you only have to give the last 4 digits of your phone number because everyones starts the same way-in this case it's 706-678-7442); email at scratchbaking@gmail.com ; post/message on Facebook or visit us at the Farmer's Market Nov. 27th/Dec. 11th/Dec. 18th or Festival off Main in Thomson (Dec. 4th/5th)!
You can either order "off the menu" (Thanksgiving is posted already and Christmas will be by posted Friday) or call for custom items. If you live close you can also bring your serving dishes or platters for us to fill up with your order. (We won't even tell if you pretend you made it!).
Wednesday, November 24th, 2010:
-Dropping off side dishes, pies, rolls, and more in Washington, GA. Check out the menu here and order by tomorrow night (Monday, November 22nd).
Saturday, November 27th, 2010: Washington Farmer's Market
-We plan on setting up a booth at the market early Saturday morning located behind the courthouse. We will have cinnamon rolls, scones, chocolate croissants, Better Than's and plenty of coffee. We will be there around 8am until we sell out. You can reserve fresh cinnamon rolls, etc. for your family by calling (7442 in Washington or 706-505-0698). This is a perfect way to start off your Small Business Saturday, show your in-laws a little piece of Washington, or take back to the house before the games start!
Saturday, December 4th-Sunday, December 5th: Thomson, GA Festival Off Main
We are sooo excited about this event! We will have a booth on both shopping days, Saturday and Sunday. Our menu is focused around cakes (large and small), custom gift boxes and pans of breakfast items like our blue cheese green onion and grit scones and grass fed butter cinnamon rolls.
I am most looking forward to our gift boxes: We will have different sized & shaped boxes available along with a wide variety of individual serving treats (Better Than's, homemade caramel chocolate nut popcorn, truffles, brown butter shortbread just to name a few items). You pick your box, treats, and color ribbon to match. We package them up for you along with a menu card with treat names/ingredients either on the spot (for early gift giving) or shipped/delivered to you closer to Christmas. You will be able to give a completely custom gift to your friends and family based on what treats you think they'll love.
We will also have super cute gift certificates in their own fabulous packaging that will make great stocking stuffers.
Saturday, December 11th, 2010: Washington, GA Farmer's Market, OPEN LATE!
Even though it is cold the market will still be open! We are so lucky to have several Wilkes County farmer's with green houses so the vegetables are still coming. (Thomas MacFie even showed up with kiwi Saturday...we were all duly impressed). The downtown shops are adorable and with the Tour of Homes this is the perfect weekend to spend in Washington.
We plan to have our usual full assortment of breakfast items, treats, cakes and coffee along with the gift boxes & gift certificates mentioned above. We plan on getting there around 8:30 (or when the last pan of cinnamon rolls come out of the oven) and staying down there until 5pm/dark.
Saturday, December 18th, 2010: Washington, GA Farmer's Market
Our usual spread! If you are ordering teacher gifts or headed out of town early to visit family it is a great day to pick up your treats. We will be there around 8:30 until a little after noon. (Then I'll be headed over to Bee Southern, Cost Cutters, Petal Pushers (Christmas Shop) and Talk of the Town along with all of our other cute downtown shops for last minute holiday shopping!!)
Tuesday, December 14th and Tuesday, December 21st: Deliveries to Atlanta and Athens
We plan on making mid morning-afternoon deliveries to Atlanta and late afternoon/evening delivery to Athens. We will offer custom gift boxes, cakes, and breakfast treats as well as a holiday menu (to be posted soon!) for side dishes, appetizers, entrees, etc. made primarily from Georgia grown and organic ingredients. These delivery dates are right in time for teachers and end of the year corporate gifts!
Wednesday, December 15th and Wednesday, December 22nd: Deliveries to Thomson and Augusta
If you've ordered at Festival Off Main you can pick which day you would like your treats, gift boxes or holiday food delivered fresh! If you missed the festival you can still be able to order Southern Scratch goodies!
Thursday, December 16th and Thursday, December 23rd: Deliveries in Washington, GA
Our usual delivery day! We can do any time of day deliveries on the 16th and morning/early afternoon deliveries on the 23rd just in time for Christmas guests!
Friday, December 24th: Birmingham, AL Deliveries
We are thrilled to be able to do deliveries all the way back in my hometown! Perfect chance to have treats delivered to your door on Christmas Eve!
Saturday, December 25th-Wednesday, December 29th: Vacation
Reid and I plan to soak up time with our families and not lift a finger in the kitchen!
Thursday, December 30th-Friday, December 31st:
We will have New Year's appetizers and treats ready to be picked up or delivered in the Washington, Thomson, or Augusta area. Catering also available-book by Dec. 11th!
I still can't believe the holidays are finally here but we are so excited about being able to deliver to the awesome "city folk" we've met in Atlanta, Athens & Augusta in addition to our wonderful neighbors in Washington and more distant neighbors in Thomson!! Also just thrilled to be at the Festival Off Main and even make deliveries over in Alabama! Reid and I cannot say enough about how much fun we have had meeting all of you and how much you have enriched our lives! We are so thankful this year for so much!!
Anyways, it is now the holiday season again. Since our hallway is the only fully painted room in our house, I'm considering setting it up as our sole holiday vignette. Maybe I'll even pull a chair or two in there and make Reid pretend we just live in a 4 x 12 cottage that is decorated to the hilt. Or as if we're celebrating the holiday in a Paris hotel room all romantic-ally. Or like we're struggling grad students living in a tiny dorm room together. (Sidenote to the Lipscomb University student dorm assistants present during the 2003 annual door decorating contest: You know that our "Christmas in Dixie" life size aluminum foil mobile home and clothesline decoration complete with original self portraits in our finest denim cut off skirts and genuine LU parking tickets was the best and Kaitlyn, Steph, Liz and I still kind of hold a grudge against you for awarding us a bag of pork rinds and case of RC cola instead of the $300 gift certificate the girl that decorated with a felt cut-out nativity scene got. And besides, everyone knows that only moon pies, not pork rinds, go with RC cola. That was poor taste all around ladies.)
So instead of making our house a winter wonderland, I am going to holiday up our Southern Scratch booth! (Oh and the pink (or is it lime green?) Christmas tree I'd never thought I'd get to put out again will be on full display). We have a lot of great things planned as well as a BIG change (we'll get to announce that hopefully in just a week or so when everything is final!!) so I've listed out a schedule for where to find us.
You can order by calling (706-505-0698 or 7442 in Washington (I love a town that is small enough where you only have to give the last 4 digits of your phone number because everyones starts the same way-in this case it's 706-678-7442); email at scratchbaking@gmail.com ; post/message on Facebook or visit us at the Farmer's Market Nov. 27th/Dec. 11th/Dec. 18th or Festival off Main in Thomson (Dec. 4th/5th)!
You can either order "off the menu" (Thanksgiving is posted already and Christmas will be by posted Friday) or call for custom items. If you live close you can also bring your serving dishes or platters for us to fill up with your order. (We won't even tell if you pretend you made it!).
Wednesday, November 24th, 2010:
-Dropping off side dishes, pies, rolls, and more in Washington, GA. Check out the menu here and order by tomorrow night (Monday, November 22nd).
Saturday, November 27th, 2010: Washington Farmer's Market
-We plan on setting up a booth at the market early Saturday morning located behind the courthouse. We will have cinnamon rolls, scones, chocolate croissants, Better Than's and plenty of coffee. We will be there around 8am until we sell out. You can reserve fresh cinnamon rolls, etc. for your family by calling (7442 in Washington or 706-505-0698). This is a perfect way to start off your Small Business Saturday, show your in-laws a little piece of Washington, or take back to the house before the games start!
Saturday, December 4th-Sunday, December 5th: Thomson, GA Festival Off Main
We are sooo excited about this event! We will have a booth on both shopping days, Saturday and Sunday. Our menu is focused around cakes (large and small), custom gift boxes and pans of breakfast items like our blue cheese green onion and grit scones and grass fed butter cinnamon rolls.
I am most looking forward to our gift boxes: We will have different sized & shaped boxes available along with a wide variety of individual serving treats (Better Than's, homemade caramel chocolate nut popcorn, truffles, brown butter shortbread just to name a few items). You pick your box, treats, and color ribbon to match. We package them up for you along with a menu card with treat names/ingredients either on the spot (for early gift giving) or shipped/delivered to you closer to Christmas. You will be able to give a completely custom gift to your friends and family based on what treats you think they'll love.
We will also have super cute gift certificates in their own fabulous packaging that will make great stocking stuffers.
Saturday, December 11th, 2010: Washington, GA Farmer's Market, OPEN LATE!
Even though it is cold the market will still be open! We are so lucky to have several Wilkes County farmer's with green houses so the vegetables are still coming. (Thomas MacFie even showed up with kiwi Saturday...we were all duly impressed). The downtown shops are adorable and with the Tour of Homes this is the perfect weekend to spend in Washington.
We plan to have our usual full assortment of breakfast items, treats, cakes and coffee along with the gift boxes & gift certificates mentioned above. We plan on getting there around 8:30 (or when the last pan of cinnamon rolls come out of the oven) and staying down there until 5pm/dark.
Saturday, December 18th, 2010: Washington, GA Farmer's Market
Our usual spread! If you are ordering teacher gifts or headed out of town early to visit family it is a great day to pick up your treats. We will be there around 8:30 until a little after noon. (Then I'll be headed over to Bee Southern, Cost Cutters, Petal Pushers (Christmas Shop) and Talk of the Town along with all of our other cute downtown shops for last minute holiday shopping!!)
Tuesday, December 14th and Tuesday, December 21st: Deliveries to Atlanta and Athens
We plan on making mid morning-afternoon deliveries to Atlanta and late afternoon/evening delivery to Athens. We will offer custom gift boxes, cakes, and breakfast treats as well as a holiday menu (to be posted soon!) for side dishes, appetizers, entrees, etc. made primarily from Georgia grown and organic ingredients. These delivery dates are right in time for teachers and end of the year corporate gifts!
Wednesday, December 15th and Wednesday, December 22nd: Deliveries to Thomson and Augusta
If you've ordered at Festival Off Main you can pick which day you would like your treats, gift boxes or holiday food delivered fresh! If you missed the festival you can still be able to order Southern Scratch goodies!
Thursday, December 16th and Thursday, December 23rd: Deliveries in Washington, GA
Our usual delivery day! We can do any time of day deliveries on the 16th and morning/early afternoon deliveries on the 23rd just in time for Christmas guests!
Friday, December 24th: Birmingham, AL Deliveries
We are thrilled to be able to do deliveries all the way back in my hometown! Perfect chance to have treats delivered to your door on Christmas Eve!
Saturday, December 25th-Wednesday, December 29th: Vacation
Reid and I plan to soak up time with our families and not lift a finger in the kitchen!
Thursday, December 30th-Friday, December 31st:
We will have New Year's appetizers and treats ready to be picked up or delivered in the Washington, Thomson, or Augusta area. Catering also available-book by Dec. 11th!
I still can't believe the holidays are finally here but we are so excited about being able to deliver to the awesome "city folk" we've met in Atlanta, Athens & Augusta in addition to our wonderful neighbors in Washington and more distant neighbors in Thomson!! Also just thrilled to be at the Festival Off Main and even make deliveries over in Alabama! Reid and I cannot say enough about how much fun we have had meeting all of you and how much you have enriched our lives! We are so thankful this year for so much!!
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Boulder Farmer's Market & a 9 Volt Battery Taste Testing
Saturday morning Reid and I decided to walk down into the city after breakfast. The time change was great because we could feel like we were sleeping in but actually be awake pretty early. We bundled up and with a map headed down the mountain on foot. (I usually look like a bagwoman in cold weather so if you see me at the market Saturday don't be surprised if I have six coats on.) We didn't have anywhere we needed to be except to eventually find the Whole Foods and pick up grits and a few things we needed to make blue cheese scones. (Reid had a special request from the Colorado resident but Southern raised groom to fix him grits before his big day).
So on our walk, my doting husband stops at a massage place (not the shady kind) so he could find some aromatherapy lotion. (He definitely had the store employees convinced he made sure to rub my back for no less than two hours every day. Oh, people in Colorado must believe anything. Actually Reid was being really nice since we were on our second honeymoon in less than a year and all. I didn't even mind when later my back was on fire and I read the container that had "capsecin" listed as an active ingredient.) While we were there, we said we were just walking around town and they told us we had to go check out the Farmer's Market, especially since it was the last day it would be open for the season.
The market ended up being right behind the store and they let us out the back door to walk right to it. The first stand we came to had grass fed cheeses which were absolutely incredible. We knew we couldn't buy a ton of stuff because, obviously, you can't haul heads of cabbage no matter how pretty they are back in your luggage. Luckily we remembered that we had at least forty or more people we could possibly feed back up at the main lodge with the groom's family and friends. And since my favorite thing to do is feed people and I was staring at the biggest farmer's market I'd ever seen, I said we should do some kind of wine and cheese thing for everyone. Reid agreed and we set out trying to find everything we needed for our "menu."
There was everything from a non-GMO popcorn stand to at least five gluten free baked goods stands to several grass fed milk and cheese vendors. We picked up several types of cheese, baguette, sourdough, raisin walnut bread, radishes, cabbage (so sweet we just ate them raw), roasted poblano and anaheim peppers, artisan chocolates and of course apples. We also found freshly milled flour to use in the scones, locally roasted coffee and a bottle of artisan chai mix that had a little cayenne pepper in it for breakfast the next morning. The market also had a dedicated "food court" with a pizza stand to die for...homemade heirloom tomatoe sauce on a stove with fresh market vegetables and cheeses being used as pizza toppings on homemade dough.
I realized for us to be able to taste everything this market had to offer we would have to vacation here for a couple weeks every year. We then daydreamed walking back about planning all of our vacations around really great farmer's markets. Our poor children one day-we will have to let their grandparents take them to real vacation places and let them watch plenty of TV at other kid's houses so they aren't completely socially awkward.
About halfway through the market a little lady popped out from her booth and held out a bag of cocoa powdered chocolate covered almonds. I ate the little piece of heaven and the lady disappeared. Before we could turn around though a man popped up to us and told us we had to try his buttons. (What???) He walked over to a little cloth napkin and uncovered a bunch of tiny little flower buds which he called Szechuan buttons. Reid and I were slightly nervous but the man, who liked he may have lived another life as a Tibetan Monk dressed in a Northface coat was convincing. (He convinced Reid by saying it was like putting your tongue to a nine volt battery. Later I found out that was a perfectly acceptable method of testing a battery.)
He tore off a little piece of the flower bud (looked like a marigold) and gave it to each of us. We put it in our mouths and after a few seconds you could feel not only your palette being cleansed but also a kind of little jolt of energy...like the little flower shocked your mouth alive. We were both wide eyed at the feeling when the lady with the almonds popped back up again. She handed the bag to her husband (I'm assuming) who then gave us each other chocolate covered almond. He encouraged us to eat one so we could see what the button did to our tastebuds. I put the chocolate in my mouth and was overwhelmed with how intese the flavors were. I felt like I was at some high end weight loss center going through an exercise to help you become more aware of your food and had just had a major breakthrough. I thought, "So this is what chocolate could really taste like."
We bought several of the buttons and the man gave us two more so we could each keep one in our mouths. If you held the button in the side of your mouth and just bit it slightly before taste testing, the flavors would of course intensify. And perhaps this is why we could not stop buying food at the market. Everything we tasted of course was "the best ever" since we had a constant stream of palate cleansing battery voltage current.
We left the market with a bookbag and our hands full of our spoils and started to head back to the lodge. Someone on the street told us the Whole Foods had closed (later we found out it didn't and just took a car there instead) so we headed straight up the mountain. I felt like a true hunter/gatherer or any other kind of handy mountain woman type "hiking" the sidewalks back up the mountain, provisions for the crew in hand. (I especially felt like this because of the burning in my quads. I had forgotten the what goes down must go back up rule of physics on our breezy downhill journey).
Back at our little cabin we unloaded our finds and made veggie platters, cheese and apple platters and paired the different breads and cheeses along with some radish, grass fed butter and baguette bruchetta. We also broke the dark chocolate and sunflower butter chocolate cups. It was so much fun-I'd get a plate ready and Reid would run it over to the main lodge since we didn't have enough space in our cabin to get everything prepped at once.
Once we had finished we joined everyone with a glass of wine, talking about all the great things we found at the market. Later on, we shared some of our precious Szechuan buttons with a select few and conducted our own "chocolate button tastings." (Which of course was awarded a "street name" once we told our story of tasting it for the first time but possibly inappropriate to mention here.)
Monday afternoon one of the other guests and first people to try the button with us, a photographer from New York, was on our flight with us. We told him we had plenty of chocolate and button left. So mid-flight the three of us had another little tasting session with the chocolates we were given as wedding favors. (Unfortunately for Ken, he missed finishing off the last of the sourdough batard and the snowdrop goat's cheese brie with us before the flight attendants cleared the aisle. But very fortunately for Ken, he missed our pre-flight lunch at an airport steakhouse that served "mountain oysters." They tasted exactly like you think they would. Never again. That is not food.)
Tomorrow night I think we are going to have our last chocolate tasting with Reid's dad after dinner. He is always up for a good food experience and needs a good meal for taking care of our dogs for us (and letting us borrow his truck the past few weeks). I've already been looking online to see if I can order some more Szechuan buttons and make some kind of tiny cookies or a sorbet with them to cleanse our palettes and give us a little charge. Until then, we will just have to stick to batteries.
So on our walk, my doting husband stops at a massage place (not the shady kind) so he could find some aromatherapy lotion. (He definitely had the store employees convinced he made sure to rub my back for no less than two hours every day. Oh, people in Colorado must believe anything. Actually Reid was being really nice since we were on our second honeymoon in less than a year and all. I didn't even mind when later my back was on fire and I read the container that had "capsecin" listed as an active ingredient.) While we were there, we said we were just walking around town and they told us we had to go check out the Farmer's Market, especially since it was the last day it would be open for the season.
The market ended up being right behind the store and they let us out the back door to walk right to it. The first stand we came to had grass fed cheeses which were absolutely incredible. We knew we couldn't buy a ton of stuff because, obviously, you can't haul heads of cabbage no matter how pretty they are back in your luggage. Luckily we remembered that we had at least forty or more people we could possibly feed back up at the main lodge with the groom's family and friends. And since my favorite thing to do is feed people and I was staring at the biggest farmer's market I'd ever seen, I said we should do some kind of wine and cheese thing for everyone. Reid agreed and we set out trying to find everything we needed for our "menu."
There was everything from a non-GMO popcorn stand to at least five gluten free baked goods stands to several grass fed milk and cheese vendors. We picked up several types of cheese, baguette, sourdough, raisin walnut bread, radishes, cabbage (so sweet we just ate them raw), roasted poblano and anaheim peppers, artisan chocolates and of course apples. We also found freshly milled flour to use in the scones, locally roasted coffee and a bottle of artisan chai mix that had a little cayenne pepper in it for breakfast the next morning. The market also had a dedicated "food court" with a pizza stand to die for...homemade heirloom tomatoe sauce on a stove with fresh market vegetables and cheeses being used as pizza toppings on homemade dough.
I realized for us to be able to taste everything this market had to offer we would have to vacation here for a couple weeks every year. We then daydreamed walking back about planning all of our vacations around really great farmer's markets. Our poor children one day-we will have to let their grandparents take them to real vacation places and let them watch plenty of TV at other kid's houses so they aren't completely socially awkward.
About halfway through the market a little lady popped out from her booth and held out a bag of cocoa powdered chocolate covered almonds. I ate the little piece of heaven and the lady disappeared. Before we could turn around though a man popped up to us and told us we had to try his buttons. (What???) He walked over to a little cloth napkin and uncovered a bunch of tiny little flower buds which he called Szechuan buttons. Reid and I were slightly nervous but the man, who liked he may have lived another life as a Tibetan Monk dressed in a Northface coat was convincing. (He convinced Reid by saying it was like putting your tongue to a nine volt battery. Later I found out that was a perfectly acceptable method of testing a battery.)
He tore off a little piece of the flower bud (looked like a marigold) and gave it to each of us. We put it in our mouths and after a few seconds you could feel not only your palette being cleansed but also a kind of little jolt of energy...like the little flower shocked your mouth alive. We were both wide eyed at the feeling when the lady with the almonds popped back up again. She handed the bag to her husband (I'm assuming) who then gave us each other chocolate covered almond. He encouraged us to eat one so we could see what the button did to our tastebuds. I put the chocolate in my mouth and was overwhelmed with how intese the flavors were. I felt like I was at some high end weight loss center going through an exercise to help you become more aware of your food and had just had a major breakthrough. I thought, "So this is what chocolate could really taste like."
We bought several of the buttons and the man gave us two more so we could each keep one in our mouths. If you held the button in the side of your mouth and just bit it slightly before taste testing, the flavors would of course intensify. And perhaps this is why we could not stop buying food at the market. Everything we tasted of course was "the best ever" since we had a constant stream of palate cleansing battery voltage current.
We left the market with a bookbag and our hands full of our spoils and started to head back to the lodge. Someone on the street told us the Whole Foods had closed (later we found out it didn't and just took a car there instead) so we headed straight up the mountain. I felt like a true hunter/gatherer or any other kind of handy mountain woman type "hiking" the sidewalks back up the mountain, provisions for the crew in hand. (I especially felt like this because of the burning in my quads. I had forgotten the what goes down must go back up rule of physics on our breezy downhill journey).
Back at our little cabin we unloaded our finds and made veggie platters, cheese and apple platters and paired the different breads and cheeses along with some radish, grass fed butter and baguette bruchetta. We also broke the dark chocolate and sunflower butter chocolate cups. It was so much fun-I'd get a plate ready and Reid would run it over to the main lodge since we didn't have enough space in our cabin to get everything prepped at once.
Once we had finished we joined everyone with a glass of wine, talking about all the great things we found at the market. Later on, we shared some of our precious Szechuan buttons with a select few and conducted our own "chocolate button tastings." (Which of course was awarded a "street name" once we told our story of tasting it for the first time but possibly inappropriate to mention here.)
Monday afternoon one of the other guests and first people to try the button with us, a photographer from New York, was on our flight with us. We told him we had plenty of chocolate and button left. So mid-flight the three of us had another little tasting session with the chocolates we were given as wedding favors. (Unfortunately for Ken, he missed finishing off the last of the sourdough batard and the snowdrop goat's cheese brie with us before the flight attendants cleared the aisle. But very fortunately for Ken, he missed our pre-flight lunch at an airport steakhouse that served "mountain oysters." They tasted exactly like you think they would. Never again. That is not food.)
Tomorrow night I think we are going to have our last chocolate tasting with Reid's dad after dinner. He is always up for a good food experience and needs a good meal for taking care of our dogs for us (and letting us borrow his truck the past few weeks). I've already been looking online to see if I can order some more Szechuan buttons and make some kind of tiny cookies or a sorbet with them to cleanse our palettes and give us a little charge. Until then, we will just have to stick to batteries.
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