crack the plates

So, this post is actually from last Thursday – no, not the 17th, but the one before that, the 10th! Ah, tis true – I let things get away from me again. This post is pretty fun, though, so you should still check it out.

I look forward to Thursdays because the East Atlanta Village Farmer’s Market is held downtown from 4 – 8pm. It’s a short bike ride, fewer than two miles round trip. Recently I’ve been riding a PUBLIC bike borrowed from rockin’ bikin’ pal Mathilde. She loaned it to me indefinitely so that I could see if I wanted to buy one. So far, I really really like it.

The brakes are super responsive and it’s much easier to shift the gears (than on my sweet little purple french roadbike). The bigger tires are bouncier and absorb the vagaries of the road easier.

And it has a totally singsongy little bell! What’s not to love?

In addition to the farmer’s market, I biked to the post office. I love biking to the post office. I like to send letters, and there’s just something sweet and final about handing one’s missives over the counter. I’m really into postmarks, too. Sometimes I even ask to see the postmark. /geekery

And then to the farmer’s market! Chef Seth demoed some of Atlanta Gourmet Mushroom’s beautiful oysters. He browned ‘em in a skillet and then tossed with a little herbs, green onions, and pink salt. Tasty, gorgeous, perfect.

I was so excited to have my little snack that I actually did a little jig. When it was finally ready, I popped it into my mouth. Divine. Bliss! And then the aftershock: crap, gluten! That little baguette round, the obscured carrier! As you’ll recall, gluten-free was on of the extra challenges I put on myself for the month of May, with the purpose of making it more difficult. I was livid when I realised I’d inadvertently used up one of my three “cheats” for the month. But oh, it was so good.

By the way, I didn’t punish myself simply because I had gluten. Whatever, gluten is great and a lot of intolerances are probably made up anyway. It was really the mindlessness that I wanted to draw attention to. This month has been about connecting with the way I eat, and it’s one of my strikes because I lost awareness. I wanted it, I craved it, I snatched it and I gobbled it. It was a total failure of mindfulness. But, I mean – look at it! What mushroom lover wouldn’t lose her mind over that morsel? Sigh.

After beating myself up a bit, I whipped up a glorious broccoli uncheese soup, using the recipe from Joshua Ploeg’s So Raw It’s Downright Filthy and fresh broccoli from the market. Basically, you put a whole bunch (that you don’t think will taste all that good together) into the blender, blend the beejeezus out of it, and then pour it over chopped fresh raw broccoli.

I have never been a fan of raw broccoli, and the blender mixture totally had my eyebrows up, but listen: it was phenomenal. So, so, sososo good. A little too spicy, but so rich and creamy and complex. I will be making this one again.

Lose yourself in a sea of creaminess… I know I did…

Vegetable plates are mainstays of deep south diners. Most keep about eight different kinds of cooked(to death, mind you) vegetables in chafing-dishes for customers to mix & match. Green beans, field peas, creamed corn, fried okra, collards, squash casserole, and, perplexingly, macaroni & cheese, are routine offerings. Choose any four, add a cat-head biscuit* or a piece of cornbread (no sugar, please–that’d be cake) on the side and it’s a meal. Small-town holes-in-the-wall sell ‘em for about $5 for a 4-veg plate; big-time city joints like Mary Mac’s Tea Room in Atlanta will ask double, but you get more options. No matter where you are, vegetable plates are the cheapest full meals on the menu. Unfortunately most of the vegetable sides are laden with eggs, cheese, and whole milk. (In Atlanta, choose Soul Vegetarian or Calabash Vegetarian Kitchen for sublime vegan vegetable plates.)

I grew up with vegetable plates because I was raised by poor gardeners. On at least a large portion of an acre, my parents grew everything, and we ate all of it–except for the eggplant, of course. (Woefully, it was mostly for looks.)Our parents worked hard so that my brother and I could pile our plates. We may have received a new pair of shoes only once a year at Christmas, but boy, did we eat.

Because I babysit for a precocious first grader every Tuesday night, I had to put together a quick dinner. Seeking onions, I stopped by Richmond’s Tuesday evening farmer’s market shortly after it opened. I picked up two lbs of skinny sweet potatoes ($1), four acorn squash (.50/ea), and an enormous cabbage ($1) from Preston for a measly $4. For all that food, I felt guilty about accepting my one buck change.

Once home, I rapidly split the cabbage & boiled it just like momma taught me: a little water in the bottom of your pan, precious, a tablespoon of Earth Balance vegan margarine (she’d use butter), salt & pepper and let it steam a while til near-mush. I made short work out of the sweet potatoes, too: washed, cut, boiled, and mashed with unsweetened soymilk, a little eBal, salt & ground white pepper, and they were ready to go. Our proteinacious side was Road’s End Organic penne & chreese, an absolutelydisgusting and dreadful approximation of cheesy macaroni that I make palatable with the addition of tons of nutritional yeast, tamari, spicy mustard, eBal, and a splash of soymilk. It was on close-out at the Co-op.

Even factoring in what I paid for the spices, tamari, soymilk, Earth Balance and other ingredients, the entire meal cost about $6 to make. Since each side made about four servings, I made out with two meals for two people at $1.50 a pop. Eating locally, eating cheap…everyone wins!

*”cat-head biscuit” : not quite what it sounds like, this simply refers to a soft, fluffy white-flour** biscuit about the size of a cat’s head.

**My mom, and many other Southern women, swear by White Lily–but I go for the unbleached stuff.

Friends,

I’m relieved to report that it is quite easy to find vegan eats in Ann Arbor. Last night we dined at Seva, the city’s most popular vegetarian restaurant. The menu is about 70% vegetarian, 30% vegan, yet many of the dishes can be made vegan. We started with the yam fries, though if they were made with true yams or just plain ol’ sweet potatoes, I’ll never know. They were certainly delicious. (Note: the accompanying dipping sauce is not vegan, though you can sub for another). Jiji and I caught each other up while sipping the outstanding Ginger Julep (Fresh ginger shot with Maker’s Mark Bourbon, sugar syrup & soda, garnished with a lemon wedge)–a very good complement to the crispy yam fries.

At Jiji’s generous treat, I chose the curried eggplant. The menu describes it thusly: “tender chargrilled eggplant with tamarind-coconut-peanut sauce, served with a really spicy vegetable-brown rice biryani and a cooling beet-soy yogurt raita.” The eggplant was cooked well but the sauce lacked the depth of flavor one might expect from its triple-noun nomen, and instead simply tasted rather sweet. The biryani was not nearly as spicy as advertised–on a scale of 1 to 10, it was a three. Nevertheless, all of the flavors–raita included–danced nicely together, and I am looking forward to enjoying the leftovers this evening before heading to see “Nico Icon” at the University of Michigan Museum of Art.

Today we went marketting at the tremendous Ann Arbor farmer’s market. It is so big, with so many vendors from all over, that the City of Ann Arbor devotes substantial space to it on its website. I made off with three bunches of organic heirloom kale, organic mizuna, organic arugula, un-sprayed spaghetti squash and “sweet potato” squash, and a half gallon of cider for just around $15–not bad! Best of all, my BFF treated me to 8oz of pure Michigan maple syrup. (At a dollar an ounce, it’s quite a treat.) I plan on baking the squash and serving it with the syrup for our lunch tomorrow.

We left the market for Zingerman’s, where we stood in line outside for about 10 minutes before we were able to enter & order. It was totally worth it. I chose Stewart’s Farmer’s Hash, Zingerman’s vegetarian hash. From the menu: “Oven-roasted sweet potatoes & redskin potatoes, piquillo peppers, sautéed spinach & crispy shallots. Served with buttered onion rye toast & sour cream on the side.” To veganise the meal, I subbed wheat for the onion rye and asked for it dry; I also requested that they prepare the hash with olive oil as opposed to the usual butter. No problem!

We sat down at the coffee and pastry house next door, where our food was delivered. There, we snagged an Americano (Jiji) and, because it was featured and I was feeling decadent, a cup of Vosges’ Aztec Elixir haute drinking chocolate, prepared by the barista with soymilk (no extra charge!). Composed of only ancho & chipotle chillies, Ceylon cinnamon, Madagascar vanilla bean, cornmeal (for thickening), and dark chocolate, it is divinity in a cup. I shared; we swooned.

Now I’m back home, trying to decide whether to grab a quick nap or head out to do a little exploring. Though I miss my sweetie very much, I am happy to get away for the weekend and experience someplace new. And while the food is quite good here, it is no match for the company. :) It will be hard to say goodbye!