Monday Afternoon Field Trip

Over on the other side of town, past the city, just beyond the horizon is a little place that the whole world knows about, at least if you live in Dekalb County, Georgia, called Your_Dekalb_Farmers_Market It’s a World Market founded in 1977 and still run by Robert Blazer and his wife Barbara and son, Daniel. It has grown from a 7500 square foot produce stand into a 140,000 square foot, true world market serving up to 100,000 people per week.

I have wanted to go there to see what the hoopla was all about for quite some time now and today, Alan and I took the afternoon off and ventured over to Decatur. The first thing that caught my senses was the odors coming from the fresh fish market. Of course, we ventured into the market on the fish/meat side of the facility so it was pretty hard not to miss the distinct odor of muscles, oysters, king crab, lobster, squid, grouper, mackerel, and yes, even live tilapia swimming in a tank; just waiting for someone to come along and scoop them out with a net, just to end up on the dining table with a pecan crust and roumalade sauce…..mmmmm, perhaps on my next trip. Rumor has it that they have over 450 different types of seafood, including fish, to tantalize your taste buds.

The first thing we decided to do was hit the Market Restaurant since it was lunch time and we hadn’t eaten. We were both able to get a decent lunch with meat and vegetables and tea for $8.00, total. Not too bad given the inflated prices we have to pay for everything now days. While we were in line, we noticed how diverse it was. There were people from all walks of life and nationalities. There was one guy in particular who didn’t seem to speak much English or understand it, for that matter. He had gotten to the end of the line and decided that he needed to get something he missed. Well, let me tell you, a few people in que started badgering him and telling him that he needed to go to the end of the line, which was back to the entrance door by this time. Needless to say, I didn’t go back for the broccoli I missed….I just didn’t feel like it was worth the tongue lashing that would have ensued.

After lunch, we started down the isles. First through the bakery, fruit and pastry shop, past the coffee & tea, into the nut butters and on to the International foods. They had any and everything you’d ever want to find in one place. There was the wine & beer shop, spices, fresh fruits and vegetables even a fruit that I had never ever seen before. It was in one of those stretchy mesh bags in a freezer container. It had spikes and weighed about as much as a nine pound bowing ball. It would have made a nice weapon if you needed to defend yourself. One punch and they’re out cold with spike marks to boot. I couldn’t tell you what it was called, but it was scary.

I was able to get my Blood Oranges that I have been looking for since Ina Garten made the Blood Orange Margarita’s on her Food Network Show a few years ago; Barefoot Contessa. You can find her and her fabulous recipes at http://www.foodnetwork.com/ I made the Margarita’s my own by adding a few more ingredients such as temple orange juice, Tropicana Healthy heart OJ and a few splashes of Angostura bitters which is used to flavor and add a dry zest to cocktails and cooking. Two thumbs. I just love my Margarita’s ;)

We ventured back through the fish market, but decided that we’d pass on our Omega 3 fix. The next stop was the meat market. Everything looked really good. They even had Bison, but the one thing I was looking for was Elk meat. I didn’t see any, so I guess it isn’t in demand in that world market. We did pick up some fresh Italian sausages and some mild sweet Italian sausages which will be great on the grill.

We also picked up some fresh Italian prosciutto to wrap around our burger patties we made for dinner. We put a piece of provolone cheese in the center of each one and pan fried them instead of cooking them on the grill like we normally do. We had picked up some fresh white corn at the market too so we grilled it in the shucks and opened some Leisure peas. Great meal.

The last shop we ventured through was cheese and dairy. We picked up some fresh cheese ravioli and some spinach and cheese ravioli along with some of the Market’s own fresh made tomato sauce. We plan on lightly frying the ravioli in some EVOO, that’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil for those that don’t know, and serving it with the tomato sauce. I’m sure it will be a fabulous meal too.

I can’t close without telling you about the fabulous dessert I made. I am a huge Paula Deen fan as well as Krispy_Kreme doughnuts so when I found her recipe for Bill Nicholson’s Krispy_Kreme Bread Pudding with Butter Rum Sauce, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. You can find the recipe on Paula's site at http://www.pauladeen.com/recipe_view/411

Well, just so happens that if you travel back to Douglasville, via Ponce De Leon Avenue, you go right by one of the oldest and biggest Krispy_Kreme Doughnuts in the whole Southeast territory. Of course, the car veered to the left just as we got to the Krispy_Kreme so you know I had to go in and buy a box of glazed doughnuts so I could make a half recipe of the pudding.

Let me tell you, if you like bread pudding and Krispy_Kreme doughnuts, then you have got to make this for yourself. It is by far the best bread pudding I have ever put in my mouth. I will never look at Krispy_Kreme’s in the same light again. Paula would say, "best dishes from my kitchen to yours", but my motto has always been, "skinny cooks can’t be trusted"….