Farmers’ Market
This is white ginger. It usually shows up at this time of the year at the Amherst farmers’ market and is quite lovely. We usually buy some to put in the freezer.
I was taken by the produce at Old Friends Farm stand this morning. Everything looked great in the soft morning light.
Autumn farmers’ markets are the best.
I’ve no idea what these little white pods are, but they look nice next to the tomatoes.
And a question for all you grammarians out there. When I was writing the title of this post I assumed that the apostrophe in farmers would go after the “r”, but when I did an internet search, many sites had it after the “s”. Any clarification on which is correct?
Lemon, Cuke, Pepper
There has been a lot going on lately and I have been saddled with a bit of “karma congestion”, as my friend Alex would put it. I haven’t posted for a bit, and haven’t been inspired to do so. I know I am feeling a bit better when I start wanting to photograph goofy arrangements of yesterdays vegetables. I can’t remember what I did with the other half of the lemon, but the rest of this cuke was in a peanut butter sandwich and most of the red pepper was in an amazing corn chowder. I’ll eat the remainder of the cuke in a few hours, and the lemon and pepper will go in the freezer bag for stock.
I am about to make a modification to this site, but it shouldn’t have any bearing on regular followers. I will be changing the url from joncrispin.wordpress.com to joncrispinposts.com. As far as I can understand it, the old url should still work, but if any of you have problems, shoot me an email. Also, for the followers of my Willard Suitcase project, the willardsuitcases.com site should be up and running by the end of next week at the latest. Steve Fox from Born Digital Web Design in the UK has done an amazing job putting it all together, and I am so excited to finally have it done. I will post here when it is online.
Wishing you all a great weekend. Thanks for following.
Ben’s Chili Bowl and MLK Speech Anniversary
Peter and I had an interesting “one-two” today. We had lunch at Ben’s Chili Bowl (amazing) and then headed down to the Mall to check out the events surrounding the 50th anniversary of the “I have a dream speech”. Ben’s had CSPAN on so we were able to see some of the proceedings on TV which was really great.
We got to the area near the Washington Monument just as the President started speaking. We were way back, but it was nice to be a part of the crowd. I really love DC. It is such an interesting city.
I also want to add a note to yesterday’s post. The document in the Shanghai Garden window is actually a “permit to raze”, which really bums me out. Once that little building is gone, it is gone for good. I am so glad I got to grab a photo before it was demolished.
The Full English
I don’t post about food very often, but I feel like doing so today.
This weekend marks the start of the English Premiership season, and Peter and I follow our respective teams (Manchester United and Fulham) faithfully. We texted back and forth yesterday during the Fulham and United wins. He has an amazing mind for the game and when I asked him about Darren Bent, who is new to Fulham, this is what I got as a response.
So anyway, it is a lot of fun for us. Pete doesn’t eat a lot of the stuff that I like, but he likes to live vicariously through me. For the past few weeks he has been telling me that I need to have the “full English” sometime this weekend. So I cooked one up this morning and it was one of the best. I’m not too bothered about not having mushrooms, but everything else is there, including the fried bread, and the English Heinz beans. If figure I’ll be OK if I limit myself to two or three of these a year.
Donut Challenge
I was back shooting suitcases today. I hope to have a post up tomorrow with a few of the latest. It was a good day. / I believe I have mentioned earlier here that I often stop at the Donut Dip in West Springfield to pick up some treats. Peggy was mentioning this to the woman who works the counter at the Schuyler Bakery in Watervliet, and of course donut quality came up in the conversation. We did a bit of an experiment today. Peg couldn’t get an “old fashioned” but we did have glazed and jam donut parity. The glazed (bottom row) were markedly different. I preferred the Dip’s but Jeff and Peg liked Schuyler’s (the latter seemed to me more “cakey” and less melt in the mouth.) Next up was the jam (top row). We all liked the Donut Dip’s offering. Peg was pretty sure it was raspberry. The lone cake on the left is from the Schuyler and she called it a “raised”. Not sure if the Dip has an equal but I’ll check.
Mountain Laurel and Vegetable Stock #3
The mountain laurels are really wild this year. (Do I say this every year? I know there are previous posts about this plant, but really, this year is amazing.) One of the locals told me that this part of Pelham used to be called Mount Laurel and I can see why. When we look out the window it is almost like there is snow on the leaves of the plants.
I had a great dad’s day today. Peter is home from DC for a bit (the Nationals are on the road) and I got the chance to chill out and cook. I made another vegetable stock. As you can tell by the color, there were lots of beet peelings in it. You can see my previous posts about it here and here. I used some of it to make a wild rice thing for Cris and it was great.
Lemons and Tortoises
I was all set to do a final post about last weekend’s trip to to DC when the news of events at the Marathon started trickling in. I just felt so bad for most of the week that anything I could say here seemed trivial. Last night I flew out to Southern California to meet up with Cris who has been staying with her sister in Orange County. Since things in Boston appear to be mostly resolved, and it is so nice to be here with family, my mood has lightened considerably. And who wouldn’t be cheered by the sight of these lemons growing in Lynne and John’s front garden. I will never cease to be amazed by this tree.
And Lynne’s desert tortoises have recently come out of hibernation. She suggested I grab a hibiscus flower and as I walked toward George here, he came to me and got right to it.
Petey’s Summertime Seafood and Bar
Welcome to those of you who have found this site through the Slate article. I am very grateful for the job David Rosenberg did, and the response that the suitcases are getting. It is a bit overwhelming at times, but I am so pleased that the project is reaching so many new people.
I had a shoot in Exeter, New Hampshire for the Old House Journal today. Peter is home for a bit and he came along to hang out with me and continue our fried clam odyssey (See more here). After working, we drove to Rye, NH to check out Petey’s Summertime Seafood and Bar. The clams were fantastic; among the best yet. / It is always somewhat surprising to come upon the ocean after a short two hour drive from Western Massachusetts. Today it was beautiful.
Golden Coffee
My flight to San Francisco went smoothly. I am staying at the same part of town where Claire Larkin, Peter Carroll, and I stayed when we were working on a project for the Smithsonian American Art Museum. We came to Golden Coffee for breakfast most mornings. It is fabulous. They were still closed this morning when I went out to get tea, but I’ll head over there in a bit to have breakfast and then off to the Exploratorium.
Roasted Veg
I roasted some veg for dinner tonight. I usually steam them for a few minutes to get them ready for the oven. When they come out of the steamer, the colors are very intense. Here are some sprouts, carrots, and small onions. Later I added potatoes. I put some olive oil in a bowl, lots of salt, pepper, and herbes de provence then roll ’em around. Into a very hot oven for an hour. So tasty.
Jon Crispin's Notebook 
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