Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Vegetables, among other things

The market was a great success. I am pretty sure I can find the first one on my own. It was like a permanent structure farmers market; very good vegetables and cheese. I was also able to find the baking soda. Had I needed rice and sugar, those were also available in bulk.

The vendors were very nice and Adolfo taught me how to manage the system: you take a basket and pick your own vegatables (This is much prefered to the market in Paris where the vendor picked all the half-rotten peaches out for me. My stupid French was not good enough to say, "hey, put back those rotten peaches and give me the good ones!"), then you must step up on the little ledge between you, the veggies and the vendor, to signify that you are done and ready to pay.

I think the vendor knew everyone around the stand except for us. He took a look at us and said, in a very friendly way, "Are you guys from here?" Adolfo said he was from Guadalajara and I said that I was not. Then, not assuming anything, the vendor asked me where I was from. I replied that I was from the US.

We got lettuce and other salad ingredients, a few mangos and a papaya. Saddly, Adolfo said that he prefers cantalope (boring) to papaya (exciting and exotic!). Actually, I thought both were good (with a squeze of lime juice and a sprinkle of course sugar).

I'm planning to return to this stand for more vegetables.

After this, we went to a more industrial market. This is the place were the restaurants buy their veggies and they may only sell onions (or whatever produce) by the bushel. There were many photo ops that were missed. There are a couple stores there that sell bulk grains, dried fruits and nuts. Exactly what I needed for granola.

Unfortunately, the parking around this area is very exciting, a bit more exciting than I may be comfortable with right now. There are lots of large trucks loading and unloading, bicycles piled high with boxes of green onions and motorcycles weaving in and out of the traffic. Not to mention, the ever-present potholes and pedestrians.

Driving around this market seemed to be a two-person job. One person drives and looks out for pedestrians, potholes and produce-laden vehicles and the other looks for parking.

Last night, I tried the oven for the first time and produced a grand failure. There were too many variables. I was trying a recipe from a web site that had some errors in it, I had never made this recipe before and I didn't pre-heat the oven long enough. On top of that, I could not determine what exactly was the right place to point the knob for the oven temperature. So, at the end of the baking time, I looked at my "date bars" and they looked exactly the same as when I put them in the oven, except that 40 minutes later, they were a little bit warm. I upped the temperature and put them back in for another 40 minutes. Adolfo said they made the house smell great. But, that was about it.

If you haven't checked it out yet, Adolfo posted the photos of the trip.

4 comments:

barbara said...

your oven story reminds me of the time i broiled (burnt) my first turkey because i though the temperature you wanted should be at the 12 o'clock position on the dial, and instead it was supposed to be at the 6 o'clock position!!

aj burke said...

When I moved into my apt here in Portland, the Right Front burner on my stove wasn't working. After nearly two months and one visit by the repairman, the R.F. burner is working, but you use the Back Left knob to control it, so the B.L. burner doesn't work at all. Can this be considered progress?

Beth said...

I think I would have still eaten the "date bars"!

Amanda - I guess that depends on if you would like to use the right front burner more often than the back left!

Cali said...

You got a job, YEAH!