First of May

If you're unfamiliar with the Jonathan Coulton song for which this post is named, you should familiarize yourself at www.jonathancoulton.com, but probably *after* work.

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:

• 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!

I finally found my eggs from these guys:

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.

Out of Season

Just thought I'd give a quick update on the status of Operation Market Garden. We're not dead, we're just sleeping, much like perennial plants do in winter. In fact, the reason for the downtime is precisely because of that; most of the Farmers' Markets in the city are closed down because things don't grow locally during the winter.

Yet it's important to note the forecast! Mayor Bloomberg has been gleefully bitten by Chuck the Groundhog, so winter...should be ending soon? Apparently, unlike New York's fearless leader, seasons have term limits, and winter will be over soon. The Greenmarkets will reopen, and I'll be back to tell you all about it.

West 57th St. Greenmarket

The West side? I knew I'd have to make the journey across town eventually, but I didn't think it would happen as a spur of the moment thing. I had some free time, I needed some food, so I decided to actually go through with it. It was quite an adventure. As you know, on the West Side, people wear shoes on their heads and hats on their feet, and their clothing is all inside-out by comparison.

More seriously, it was pretty accessible getting over to 57th and 9th where this Greenmarket is located. Admittedly, it wasn't the most exciting trip ever, but I did get to see some sights and I suspect that for a large number of people this market is very conveniently located. It runs from 8 AM to 6 PM on Wednesdays, from April to December, so it's also pretty good for a hump day produce run.

However, I can't really say that it is convenient. It might be in the right place for some, but I found it lacking in a lot of ways. There was basically a fruit and vegetable stand, and a baker stand. Earlier in the day, apparently, there was some kind of salad-making demo, but I missed it. So it goes. Perhaps more vendors were present earlier; I'm going to try revisiting some of these smaller markets at their opening times in coming weeks, to see if they have more stalls present.

Again, I also found problems with the "local" nature of this market. Call me picky, but I don't think that PA is really close, nor did I find the stall from a farm there to be particularly interested in what I'd call sustainable farming. They didn't seem to have indications about the use of organics or sustainable techniques in their farming processes, they looked really sort of industrial, and it just generally left me with the stark taste of "marketing" in my mouth. I mean, don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with nicely printed materials and a clean storefront with good produce. But when that is present, I want to also see the extra commitment to letting me know how the farm is staying sustainable, green, and healthy. Maybe my standards are too high, but if I'm strict about it, then my readers can at least make their own informed decisions.

Seriously? PA?

Examining their website I find that they have a commitment to pesticide-free growing, which I can respect. In fact, they even use Integrated Pest Management, which means using natural deterrents and beneficial insects. However, they don't say if all their produce is subjected to this kind of treatment, or only a fraction of it. It also bothers me that they traveled about 211 miles to bring me heirloom tomatoes. They don't even distribute in Philadelphia; instead they reach all over Virginia and all the way to Washington, DC. A network like that, I feel, is defeating some of the purpose of "buying local."

I also took issue with this jar of tomato soup. Here is an unfortunately blurry picture of the ingredients list:

For one thing it bothers me that this product contains butter. Olive oil would be a superior choice for that kind of soup from a food perspective, though perhaps they used butter because it is available locally. One ingredient that isn't available locally, though, is evaporated cane juice; that stuff isn't growing in Shippensburg, PA, and the only reason that they add it is to get away with "no sugar added" on the front of the jar. I find that pretty sneaky. I also wonder if the tomato puree that they use is made from their tomatoes or is a generic industrial tomato puree, and why there is modified food starch (a thickener) in here if there is already heavy cream and butter in the recipe. I dunno, this tomato soup is not what the front of the label seems to be. Toigo Orchards, I have doubts about you.

On the other hand, Meredith's Bread presented me with the only purchases I made at this market. For $8.50, I ended up with two sliced loaves of bread, from what was an impressive selection for the small stand pictured above. One was a sourdough rye that has turned into an excellent bread for coldcut sandwich lunches over the past week, and the other was a rustic whole wheat bread which I turned into a modified Tuscan bread soup, the recipe for which will be found in my next entry. It utilizes Brooklyn Breweries' Brown Ale, and so I'd like to talk about the soup when I talk about that. Look for it! The rustic bread also makes pretty good toast, so if you see Meredith's out there, try it. Nothing like a tasty local bakery.

As a less green, more food-oriented aside, on my way back I needed some internet and a cup of tea, so I ducked into a Starbucks (I know, I know, not exactly the paragon of sustainability, but at least they do try) and was offered some kind of free sample. This free sample was of hot chocolate, but some new super-expensive super-rich line of it called "signature." Mine was an unsigned work, as far as I could tell, but what was interesting about it was that on the whipped cream, I don't know if you can see in the picture below, they put some sea salt. I was skeptical, but I thought I'd be adventurous and try it. Turns out, sea salt really enhances hot chocolate. If you don't believe me, I recommend some delicious experimentation with a hot chocolate that you like.

Apparently Starbucks has a "taster" size cup. Does it get a bizzarely Italian sizing name, or like tall, does it get some non-glorious nomenclature? I, for one, will call it "Little Tall," for the sake of its feelings.

Green Apple Cleaners: Crisp and Refreshing

In my post about the Third Avenue Street Fair, I noted that I had found a place called Green Apple Cleaners, notable for the large amount of advertising that it was doing and for being something that I'd been looking for in Manhattan for awhile: a Green Dry Cleaner. My $20 free promo gift certificate in tow, I went over to their 2nd Avenue location, which was the most conveniently located for me. Other locations do exist; 92 Greenwich Avenue is notable for being very convenient for theoretical NYU student Amelia, and their 322 Columbus Avenue location is great for West Side dwellers. For the commuters among you with extremely high car insurance but tanks of cheap gas, they've also got a location in Mahwah, NJ.

To begin with I have to say that I was impressed by the nature of Green Apple Cleaners. While at times I can be described as a bleeding-granola, hippie-hearted liberal, there are times when I'm wearing the hat of a savvy and calculating New York businessman, or the labcoat of a detached intellectual. Green Apple manages to appeal to all of these sensibilities by being a completely traditional dry cleaner that just so happens to use green materials and methods. I could see everyone from dyed-hair punkish college women to the soccer moms they are terrified of turning into being very happy to use Green Apple. That kind of pluralism is the thing I look for in green business because it means that green stops being something that you have to be a "nut" in order to care about. If something can make it seem like everybody in society is concerned about sustainability and the environment, I say bring it on.

It's this that left me inclined towards Green Apple from the moment I walked into the door. Mainstream appeal means that things will move forward with making the US a greener place to live. This place had pretty reasonable prices, an on-staff tailor, and a friendly set of employees. Anybody could have a good experience at Green Apple without ever knowing that they are a green business, and that's the way that we are going to move this philosophy into the hearts and minds of more than just the activists out there. So points for you, Green Apple, for being completely normal. It's not for me, but I respect you for it.

Further, I got the clothes back and they weren't just clean. The principle by which Green Apple's dry cleaning works is that they use carbon dioxide (at least someone is putting it to good use) to clean clothes. As a biologist, I can tell you that carbon dioxide can be a pretty effective disinfectant, and it can dissolve lots of exciting forms of dirt that make their way into your clothes. It even did a bangup job of removing an ink stain that I just could not get out of one of my shirts, something which was a major cause of celebration when I got to wear that shirt and still feel presentable.

I have to admit that my visit was definitely incentivized by the 10% off for new customers that they offered me, along with the gift certificate that I'd been given at the street fair, but after the experience of getting what I would expect from another dry cleaner and still sticking to my green principles, I will definitely be going back to Green Apple. You should check it out.

Mt. Sinai Farmers' Market: Go Uptown, Moses

This little angel lives at the 96th st. Subway Station in the Station Operator's booth; isn't it fantastic? Kinda looks like it's rockin' out.

Given that the Bowling Green farmers' market was so lackluster I decided that I needed to try and get out to another market this week, so I went 80+ blocks away for the Mt. Sinai Hospital Greenmarket, which is at 99th St. on Park and Madison, closer to Madison. Some materials online will tell you that this market meets on Fridays, but don't be fooled, it meets on Wednesdays now. I've made this mistake before, and it's no fun going up to Mount Sinai only for the revelation that there is no deliverance. Er, I mean, no produce delivered. You reap what you sow.

The market itself is small, so don't come uptown expecting some kind of huge gathering of tents. However, there are a bunch of stalls, and they offer a pretty wide variety of things. I would go so far as to say that Mt. Sinai is a small market done right.

It may be small, but it's tough.

It had some missing pieces; no plants, no real "bake" shop, and no fishmonger, so if you're looking for those components you might want to look elsewhere.

However, it did have a very wide selection of both fruits and vegetables, with several varieties of fruit that I haven't seen at a small market before. The presence of a dairy vendor was especially welcome, as I'd exhausted my butter supply last night on browning butter for the fish and pasta I'd made. That recipe will get posted eventually, don't worry.


The dairy stall was actually pretty good; yogurt, cheese, and butter available from both sheep's milk and cow's milk. Ravioli and gnocchi made with sheep's milk. Cave-aged cheeses. An amusing French staffer. They had a wide variety of cheeses, and something that I simply had to buy; fresh mozarella that was ready for sale yesterday. A recipe for how I used it appears at the end. One warning, though, is that their butter is made from both sheep's and cow's milk, and so you need to be careful that you like the flavour of sheep's milk, as it may be different from what you're used to having.


While there was no bake shop, there was a little fruit vendor who also had some wares that were made from his fruits, like pies and cider, so if you're looking for a good pre-made apple pie, this might be your place. I, however, went straight for the cider because it had been pressed only a few days before and is super-fresh. Given that the apple crop is making its way to market right now, it's pretty fantastic.

The vegetable selection is pretty worth it, but the corn is really the best part of this market. It is consistently good. Personally I'm not sure that this market is worth it for a person like our NYU student Amelia, since the market is so far uptown, but for people living on the middle-to-upper East Side this is a place that I would strongly recommend visiting if Union Square is less convenient.

I ended up buying some Roma tomatoes, the fresh mozarella, and the cider. I couldn't resist the idea of doing an insalata caprese for lunch, seeing as I knew I had some leftover basil from the fish I'd made the night before, and if you don't use up basil quickly, it becomes a green and black mess of rot. It turned out fantastically:

This dish is a breeze to prepare. It has all of five ingredients (six if you're feeling like adding a little excitement), and there is no actual heat involved, just chopping. To prepare it as a light lunch for one person, you'll need:

1/2 lb mozarella cheese, fresh. Don't use the hard, rubbery mozarella from the supermarket here. You want your cheese the freshest possible, as its very delicate flavours are what will tie this entire dish together.
1/2-1 lb Roma tomatoes. I use Roma tomatoes because they have more meat than seeds, and so you don't end up with tomato seeds all over eveything and a lot of the flavour translates to the dish itself rather than running off in juice.
Basil; the amount of basil that you use should be based on your own preferences, but I recommend at least one leaf per slice of cheese/tomato that you produce so that you can mix all of the flavours appropriately.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil, again to be added based on your preferences. Do not use "pure" or "light" olive oil, or olive oil that is too old, or has been heated; all of these lack the fantastic flavours of Extra Virgin olive oil because heating or time has destroyed the volatile oleic acids that make the magic happen. Use first press oil if possible.
1 tsp-1 tbsp Salt, again varying to taste
Balsamic Vinegar (I do not actually recommend using this at all; lots of places will give it to you with a caprese salad, but there are a few gastronomy reasons not to apply it. For one thing, its astringency totally masks the taste of the cheese. Second, the fats and oils from the cheese and olive oil block out the less astringent tastes of the vinegar and both worsen the effect while removing its advantages. I suggest only using this if you have cheese that is getting a bit old and losing its flavour, and even then, sparingly. In Italy you will rarely see this served with Caprese, especially because the cheese there has an even more distinct flavour as it is made as intended, from bison milk)

Preparation is simple. Cut the tomatoes and cheese into 1/4 thick slices. Ideally the slices should be able to fit in the palm of your hand, unless you have especially small hands. I suggest cutting both on the plate you intend to use for serving; runoff from the cheese and tomatoes will mix on the plate and soak into the cheese for a nice effect. Arrange the slices along with basil leaves so that the cheese, tomatoes, and herbs cover the plate, are layered, and overlap each other. The whole point of this salad is to make sure the flavours and tastes interact. I tend not to overlap my basil, but that's done mostly for presentation purposes. Sprinkle salt on to taste, but try not to overdo it. Salt can really overpower the mozarella's flavour and turn this into the equivalent of chewy, freshly washed, salted basil. Then, drizzle on the olive oil liberally. I use about 4-6 tbsp of oil, though I've never measured. I tend to just eyeball it, since I'm pretty sure you can go wrong unless you completely coat everything on the plate in oil. Don't do that.

This salad is a very refreshing lunch. Enjoy!

Bowling Green Farmers' Market Revisited and Panned

If you can see the customs house, then you are near the Bowling Green farmers' market.

Today, I tried to give the Bowling Green Greenmarket a second chance. It just has such a fantastically redundant name that, really, I couldn't let my first impression condemn it.

My second impression, however, was sufficient. The basic details are that the market is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8 AM to 5 PM. I arrived at about 2 PM, so it's possible that things are better in the early morning, but I really doubt it. The space available for the market is so insufficient that I really just don't know where more stalls would fit.

The entire market is pictured here

Three stalls. Two of them with more or less identical offerings, though one had corn and potted plants and the other did not. One had cleaner okra. I was not pleased.

The middle stall was a little interesting. It carried baked goods with a dessert focus, and seemed to have some pretty good confectionarial technology going on. Unfortunately it just wasn't what I'm looking for when I try to get food. Pre-baked desserts, to me, are like the souvenir shop of the foodie world. They're generally overpriced for their quality, they're not as good as what you could make yourself, and while they might look good for an impulse buy, sometimes they sit around until you don't want them anymore.


The thing that this vendor did have, though, was the advantage - I think - of offering a product that the likely consumers at Bowling Green would be interested in. It was a little difficult for me to figure out quite what the intended audience of this market is; after all, the place is situated right near all of the major stock trading groups and many financial buildings downtown, there is not a lot of residential living around there, and the park attracts people who want to see sights during the hours that it is open, not regular stiffs who want to work their 9-5 jobs. I can only assume that it grabs two markets; tourists, and commuters to the financial businesses who might need to bring the odd dessert or forgotten ingredient back home to make sure dinner goes off well.

The baker stall seemed to agree, with its array of premade desserts, but the other two vendors had such an incoherent set of items that I just don't think they would get any purchases from that crowd except by chance. There were certainly people there, but the selection just wasn't very wide and the quality wasn't high enough for me to recommend this market to anyone who doesn't just accidentally happen upon it while in need of cucumbers.

However, because the market was so unfortunate, I decided that I would make my way over to the not terribly far away New Beer Distributors (167 Chrystie St.):


This place easily has one of the widest bottle selections I have ever seen in such a small area. They have specialty brews from a great many US microbrewers, and a very wide selection of imports.

I picked up a few interesting things; the Stone Brewing Co.'s 08.08.08 Vertical Epic, released the same day as the Beijing Olympics opening ceremonies. Stone has been doing a series of "Vertical Epic" brews since 02.02.02, all of which are designed to be aged until 12.12.12, at which point they are to be all opened and tried together. I'll be trying the 08.08.08 now, and then will store a second bottle until that later date.

The second interesting beer is something I've had before; He'Brew's Origin, which is an ale that is brewed with pomegranate juice and I find quite enjoyable. But the best of all is definitely Paulaner's Oktoberfest Märzen. It's like caramel on toast, with a honey undertone. It's delicious and malty. Love it.

After that, I tried to make my way on foot to Union Square, as I like walking, and was interrupted by becoming an innocent bystander to a street fight in Chinatown that got kind of dangerous and I'm glad I got away from unscathed. Not everyone was so lucky, but we made sure the police got called and hopefully everything will sort out well. Very unusual for Chinatown, though.

Finally I made it to Whole Foods, where I got some locally caught bluefish, an orange, and a lemon, along with some linguine and basil. These became an interesting dish, which I'll pass on to my readers once it has become finer-tuned. Until next time...

The Loftier Branches

Frequently I have to fight the impulse to turn this into a general purpose blog on sustainability, especially scientific and engineering problems in making our society cleaner, leaner, and greener. It's already mean enough.

Of course, I fight this impulse with my strong desire for this blog to remain useful as a tool for those seeking to find good farmers' markets. Luckily (!) I have discovered this new phenomenon wherein individuals with little formal journalism training - if any - write episodic, topical websites.

Namely I was looking up an old friend who I have not spoken with in some time, and discovered that this fine fellow has started a blog that lets me vicariously live out my desire to wax poetic about awesome things like alternative energy and cellulosic biofuels. He calls it Green Rumors, and after close investigation I have decided that it rocks pretty hard. And so, gentle readers, I pass its noble, epic deeds on to you. Hope you enjoy it.