Tableau Vivante

We’ve got our first taste of summer today in the SoCal. A high pressure system was gifted to us by Utah which is bringing in the Santa Anas. By 10AM it was already 83 degrees (F). The coastline will have perfect beach weather, but here in the baking dish that is the valley, we’ll be hitting around 90. I like to hit the market super early anyway to avoid crowds and get in on the good selection. I had extra motivation today so that I could beat the heat that would bounce up from the asphalt.

Still, quite a gorgeous morning. The sun felt good. Really good.

It’s all about the berries right now. Strawberries, that is. Sweetest roja de primavera. They are unescapeable. I’ve actually tried avoiding taking too many shots of them. But resistance is utterly futile. They gleam at you. They glisten. A few may drop underfoot and get stamped into fragrant mush. Such a loss. But there are always more. Samples? Everywhere. You could fill up on strawberries just going to each vendor and asking for one to try. There are that many.

On the savory side, spring also brings in all sorts of new onions. There are always the usual scallions. But now we get new spring onions in almost every stage of youth. These are young Spanish reds. Would it be wrong to put them in gazpacho? Somehow I don’t think so.

Then there are the young sweet Texas onions. Seems a sin to cook them when they’re at this stage sometimes. If I could handle a raw onion salsa without offending everyone in my milieu, I would. But maybe a delicate frittata. Or paper thin slivers in a spring salad with sugar snap peas.

This vendor (and forgive me, I keep forgetting his name…Manuel? Miguel? It’s an M…erg), alternates his harvests of spring peas. This week he has favas and sugar snaps. Next week he promised English peas and snow peas. He also talked forever about how great the harvest is this year. A great winter and spring, along with a better seed stock (last year’s apparently failed miserably), has really impressed him. I have been eating as much of these as I can this year. Come summer, they lack the bright, spring sweetness that they have now. I bought and embarrassingly large amount. Yum.

I’ve really taken to including herbs in my bento lunches. At first it was just the dill/egg combo because I like dill with my eggs. But then I used some thyme. And then some chives. And then some marjoram. And on and on. The fragrance it gives to my bentos is wonderful. The flavor it adds to some of the fruits is really eye opening. In the bento, you can’t really help having the aromas and flavors of the foods mingling a bit. Sure you can use aluminum cups or separators, but everyone is in the same room for several hours. This week, I’m trying my luck with chamomile, available from the ever herby Lili. I’m thinking it’ll pair well with the blueberries I bought.

Please forgive the over-exposure. But the blue is pretty dead on.

But back to Lili’s herbs for a minute. She also had blooming thyme, which normally I wouldn’t get except the thought of it perfuming my lunch was a bit too seductive to ignore. So, yes. It’s going to be a set of very pretty, very aromatic lunches this week.

I made my usual pit stop at Euro Pane for pastries. This speckled quiche almost won me over, but I stuck to croissants and brioche. I had another stop to make.

I had to get a few staples (their ground beef is heavenly). But really, I went for the Saratoga lamb chops.

They run out of these fast, so you have to go early to get them. Boneless, super thick chops. No wretched bone to struggle with on your plate. Yes, the bone adds a nice flavor to the meat, but lamb has a uniqueness that can hold its own in the oven. I coat the fat side with a thick layer of salt, pepper, and oregano. I sear them in a skillet and then stick them in a very hot oven with some parboiled baby potatoes. I like them to glow pink and couple them with a nice cab or zin. Sweet mother. So good.

Also? The crew at Taylor’s? Really great bunch of folk. This guy makes the sausage (yes, they make their own). He’s particularly proud of the potato sausage, but if you ask him for a favorite, he’ll say they’re all good. This is the start of a photo experiment for me too. I have the foods nailed. But the people behind them often get shorted. So I’m starting in on some faces for a change.
Today is Closet Annihilation 2008 Day. Tomorrow is OMGWTFBBQQUICHECOOK!!!!11!1 followed by some local birthday madness. So expect not much more from me for the rest of the weekend. I will, however, tease you a bit with some hints of news. I switched over to WordPress for a few reasons. One of them is the ability to add contributors to my blog. That’s all I’ll say for now. Hee!