Otherwise, we are back in business folks! Spring has begun, the first of May arrived, and the veggies and other tasty local things are back and growing in force. Greenmarkets all over the city will be starting back up over the next couple of months and Operation Market Garden will be here to tell you what's what.
In celebration of my return to writing this thing, I decided I'd go to the Union Square Greenmarket. This was a mistake! But only because of the date I picked and the weather.
See, May 1st happened to be rainy:
But really that was the least of my troubles. See, May 1st also happens to be important to some people:
Of course, the protesters were pretty unusual. Workers' rights, woo. What I can tell you is that between them and the rain, Union Square was no fun on May 1st, but the Greenmarket was in full operation. You can drench us, you can take away out usual setup space, but you can't take our freedom! Something like that.
In fact I'd say that some market residents made the best of the situation:
My quarry during this visit were a variety of parts for a Nicoise salad, though some of the traditional ingredients aren't quite in season yet, unfortunately.
I picked up some good salad greens, however, and found some great kale from an organic farm in Long Island. I admit that I'm not totally sure that they were selling things they'd grown themselves, and that's a little concerning in terms of buying local food, but they had some great products.
Not sure about local, but certified organic nonetheless.
The onions I needed are always available, so that was no problem. Apples and apple cider are another one of those products that are "always available" in NY, but I didn't go for them this time, so I can't yet tell you how good they are out of season.
Unfortunately tuna is also out of season! Keep this in mind when you are buying it. I was aware of this going in, and had decided I'd be going for canned tuna anyway, so this was not a major issue.
The next things I really needed from the market were eggs. Eggs are basically everywhere, so really it's quite easy. Things you want to look for with eggs, though, are as follows:
A totally benign form of swine flu...since no-one else anywhere has made that joke
Usually in the US you don't need to worry about salmonella too much with eggs, but when you're shopping for things fresh off of a small farm, it's important to be extra careful.
Now of course, I've raised the spectre of swine flu with my caption up there. I don't eat pork. What meat I do eat, I eat less than once a week. That's why you don't see a lot of meat on here. That said, I am a virologist for my day job and I work on influenza viruses. There is absolutely no danger of catching the flu that you have heard about on the news from pork. It's safe to eat and anyone who tells you otherwise is not just paranoid; they're wrong. And, of course, some foods made from pigs are downright captivating, as one vendor at the greenmarket reminded me:
The protesters I showed you earlier were actually just people entranced by this blackboard
Unfortunately tuna is also out of season! Keep this in mind when you are buying it. I was aware of this going in, and had decided I'd be going for canned tuna anyway, so this was not a major issue.
The next things I really needed from the market were eggs. Eggs are basically everywhere, so really it's quite easy. Things you want to look for with eggs, though, are as follows:
- Freshness
- Free-range eggs come from happy hens. Remember that "cage free" and "Free-range" are very, very different things. "Cage free" means "I grew up on a conveyor belt and my next door neighbor lived in my abdomen." "Free-range" means "I grew up outside in the sun."
- Of course, remember to check that none of the eggs are cracked!
A totally benign form of swine flu...since no-one else anywhere has made that joke
Usually in the US you don't need to worry about salmonella too much with eggs, but when you're shopping for things fresh off of a small farm, it's important to be extra careful.
Now of course, I've raised the spectre of swine flu with my caption up there. I don't eat pork. What meat I do eat, I eat less than once a week. That's why you don't see a lot of meat on here. That said, I am a virologist for my day job and I work on influenza viruses. There is absolutely no danger of catching the flu that you have heard about on the news from pork. It's safe to eat and anyone who tells you otherwise is not just paranoid; they're wrong. And, of course, some foods made from pigs are downright captivating, as one vendor at the greenmarket reminded me:
The protesters I showed you earlier were actually just people entranced by this blackboard
With ease, I managed to find most of what I was looking for. Since I wanted to put some cheese into my salad, I took a look at some of the local dairies for some feta, and let me tell you: farmers' market feta is a total rip-off. Most supermarkets have fresh, local cheeses at them for far better prices. I recommend them over what I've seen so far at greenmarkets.
Sometime later I'll update with what I made from my purchases. In the meantime, get out there and enjoy the spring.
Sometime later I'll update with what I made from my purchases. In the meantime, get out there and enjoy the spring.
No comments:
Post a Comment