At First Sight

As promised, a Couple of Cooks blog has returned. We finally got our new camera after several long and undocumented months. I have to say that it feels a little strange to be posting and writing so I figured I'd just post some photos and let them speak for themselves until I get my bloglegs back:)

Like Grandma Used to Grow

Johnnycakes and I picked up this "superfruit" from the Reid's Orchard Stand at the Farmers Market this morning. I read that grapes, while uncommonly common, are actually considered a "superfruit" because of all the antioxidants and nutrients they contain.

I was actually intrigued by these local garden variety grapes because they reminded me of my grandmother. My "Nonna", who passed away some years ago, used to grow grapes at her suburban Baltimore home. My Italian grandparents recreated their homeland by growing grapes on overhead vines and on various racks and trellises throughout their property all inside the Baltimore beltway. In addition to grapes, they also had a plum tree, peach tree, a rather large vegetable garden and they raised chickens for eating.

We used to visit my grandparents and many cousins every Sunday night. In the summertime, my sisters I would always ask if the grapes were ready. "Are the grapes ready, yet" would be our mantra as Summer progressed. It seemed we could never eat enough of the grapes once they arrived.

I don't know what kind or variety they were. All I know is that they were "slipskin" grapes like these which meant you couldn't eat the skin. You had to spit the skin out and swallow the "meat" whole. Nonna's grapes were sweeter and had a more blue appearance than the ones I picked up today. I wouldn't be surprised if my grandparents somehow brought the variety from Italy since there is an old "fig tree" story in my family that goes something like that.

I'm not sure what you would call them. I don't recall seeing a sign at the stand, which usually labels all of the fruit varieties. I would call them Concord grapes but I'm probably wrong. Are there any Viticulture experts out there that could help with this?

Regardless, I plan to enjoy these "superfruits" and reminisce about my childhood summers running through the grapevines and playing with my cousins and, of course, gorging on grapes!

Summer's Bounty

You know Summertime is in full swing when the local farmers market is overflowing with fresh abundance. The peaches, nectarines, corn, melons and tomatoes are in season and every market stand features plenty of variety.

We picked up a few unique fruits and vegetable to enjoy this week, including a "great white" heirloom tomato, white nectarines, a cantaloupe, sweet corn and purple string beans. We were intrigued by the crazy colors and names of your typical everyday fruits and veggies. I don't know about you but I've certainly never seen purple string beans.

The corn is so delicious. The vendor was handing out raw pieces of corn to sample. It was irresistable and it wasn't even cooked! We had to pick up a half a dozen ears for the week.

We also love heirloom tomatoes and have been waiting for them to make their annual appearance at the market. It seems like the selection of their colors, shapes and names are endless. Last year, we made a delicious pasta sauce from a variety of heirlooms. We haven' quite decided what to do with our first heirloom of the year.

Another Johnnycakes and Butters favorite is white nectarines. Like white peaches, their flesh is white instead of the standard yellow tinge. They are also a lot sweeter than the regular yellow fruit. I'll be sure to go to the market the next several weekends to make sure I stock up. We wait all year for the white peaches and nectarines!

As you can see, we'll be eating plenty of fresh and healthy foods this week thanks to our local farmers market. Keep an eye out for this week's meals featuring the purple string beans and corn.

Sensational Summer Spring Roll

Johnnycakes and I sampled the most delicious fresh spring rolls today from the Baltimore City Farmers Market. One our favorite stands recently started selling fresh spring rolls. They have been selling delicious coconut sticky rice with mango and fried variety of spring roll for some time but last weekend we noticed a man at the stand hand rolling fresh spring rolls.

They looked so fresh that we couldn't pass them up. The stand sells both tofu and shrimp fresh spring rolls with an Asian dipping sauce. I believe we paid $3.00 for two shrimp rolls. I'm not sure if the tofu was the same price.

It was tough to wait until we got home to eat the rolls but we wanted to truly enjoy them since we had eaten a couple of other goodies already.

The shrimp looked like they were going to explode out the top of the transparent rice wrappers. We topped the beautiful creations with the Asian influenced dipping sauce and dug in. The rolls were busting with fresh rice vermicelli, lettuce, cilantro and shrimp. The flavor was very fresh. I ended up just using my hands to dip the roll into the sauce instead of a fork.

This little snack is perfect because it's healthy and tasty so you don't feel guilty after eating it unlike so many other items at at the Farmers Market. The worst thing about the roll is that I ate it too quickly and only had one. Maybe next time we'll buy the shrimp and the tofu kind so that it lasts longer:)

$6.00 Asparagus

Well, for a blogger who is supposed to write about cooking, I think I fell a little short today. I didn't cook a thing! Wait! I did toast a bagel and heat up some left over spaghetti sauce to make a sort of pizza bite w/ freshly shredded parmesan. Too make up for my lack of cooking, I did plenty of eating. Our morning started out at the Baltimore City Farmers Market which is a rather large Farmers Market with a variety of local farm stands, craft stands and prepared food booths. Today being Mothers Day, it was packed! I think I now know where the saying "Everyone and their Mother" came from because that was certainly the case today. While at the Farmers Market, we indulged in a fresh pumpkin nut muffin from "the muffin lady" and a vegetable samosa and Sante Fe patty from the "Curry Shack" stand. They were out the West Indian patty, my favorite.
While at the market, we picked up a few items to assist in our culinary pursuits over the summer, including $6.00 asparagus. We saw plenty of stands with $3.00 asparagus but Johnnycakes was drawn to the organic stand. The asparagus stalks were bright green and thick and definitely looked more appetizing than some of the splindly bunches at nearby stands. The sign read that the asparagus was $4.25 per lb. We tried to pick a smaller bunch but the total still came to $6.00! I told Johnnycakes that we better enjoy that asparagus.
We also visited Nick, the local barbecue guy, to pick up some of his special "rub". This being our first visit to the market this spring, we were all out of his special seasonings for our barbecue. This time we opted for traditional "Carolina" instead of the southwest blend we tried last summer. We can't wait to try it.
In addition to these tasty items, we picked up some herbs to flavor our dishes. Johnnycakes picked thyme, while I picked basil, mint and cilantro. I've tried several times in the past to grow cilantro and it always dies. I am determined to make it grow this year! Johnnycakes also waited through a minor altercation between a farmer and a clueless patron over pepper plants and marigolds to score him self a banana pepper plant and a jalepeno plant for $.50 each. We also looked for cut flowers for our Moms and sisters but they didn't have much of a selection. It's a little early in the season and many of the booths aren't set up yet.
That pretty much sums up our first trip of the season to the Baltimore City Farmers Market.