A Week in the Life...of a Farmers' Market Vendor

Originally I titled this post 'A Day in the Life' but as I began writing I realized that it actually doesn't happen in only one day. I spend all week to prepare for the big day. I have it scheduled to a T.

I romanticized about being a farmers' market vendor for many years. I love the atmosphere, meeting all the people, making delicious food and, well, in my mind there is some status or caché in being at the market.

Bread is baked on Friday.

I have always thought of the vendors as belonging to an elite group of passionate foodies. Food is made with tender loving care. It is sold with the story of its making. It is enjoyed in homes that do not usually make these foods. The vendor is actually adding to the quality of family food.

It should be no big surprise that I sought out the market when I moved to my little city. I had big dreams, high hopes and then found that it was just a few tables at the mall. That did not dampen my spirits and I jumped right in. After trying several baked products it seemed that they liked my rustic breads. Then it was my scones, especially my saskatoon berry and white chocolate scones. And my healthy dips. My menu grew to the point that I am thinking 'who am I anyway?' One cannot make money with one or two products in my little city. So the large menu remains.

It was a welcomed surprise when the City decided to create Market Square downtown. They invited us to participate and even bought a big tent to house us. Now the market is exactly what I have dreamed about. There is music and fun, food and lots of people enjoying being out and about. Kids and dogs are tagging along. Everyone welcomes the opportunity to buy fresh baking, vegetables and crafts.

However, I had no idea how much work was involved. I have scheduled baking 4 days of the week to have enough product for Saturday. After the market on Saturday I sit down with a glass of wine and unwind. I count my money and prepare the float for next week. I plan the amounts and menu for the following week. I make my grocery shopping list. And then off to bed by about 7:30pm.

Sunday is my cleaning and shopping day. This week it included sweeping out half of the area under the big tent. It was necessary and the city kept putting it off. So now we have nice clean stalls. The city did clean the other half two weeks ago. I stopped sweeping when I felt a blister coming on. Today I lay down at 2pm for a 2 hour nap.

Monday is my only complete day off!

On Tuesday I make 144 - 168 white chocolate and saskatoon berry scones plus 48 cheddar and jalapeno by hand.

I make my scones and freeze them so I can bake them on Friday. Friday is a big baking day. All is fresh baked. No frozen foods....yech!

Cinn Buns mixed on Thursday and baked on Friday.

I add my logo to all my grocery bags. I spend a night making a big batch of them!

I personalize all my shopping bags and labels by hand. I buy packaging products by the case. I have learned more about flour than I ever knew I could. I have a deck oven that bakes 10 loaves on a stone. I have a $700 blender! I have hired a student to help me out. Oy! Sometimes I wonder how I got here! I just wanted to do a bit of simple baking!

And the list goes on. Marshmallows, rosemary raisin crisps, chipotle pepita brittle, Vietnamese fresh rolls, fruit smoothies, and other specialty items as the spirit moves me.

Phew! I'm tired already. My feet ache. My back hurts. I don't eat all day long and wake up during the night hungry. My hair is always tied back.

Then it is the euphoria of market day. We spend the day in fun and happy engagements with all the eager buyers lining up at the stalls, waiting for the 10am opening bell. The end of the day is almost melancholy as we say our good byes to each other and look forward coming together again next week.

July Virtual Supper Club - From the Sea

Welcome to our table. I am so sorry to be late!! My apologies everyone.

It is Supper Club time again. Each first Wednesday we share a virtual meal, a virtual breaking of bread. We take turns choosing a theme and take turns preparing the courses of the meal. This month Sandi from The Whistlestop Cafe Cooking, down south in Alabama, has chosen From the Sea as our theme.

I live in a small town on the Canadian prairies and there ain't much From the Sea out here! Plus I am to bring the side dish. As I searched the grocery store aisles I found nori and sea salt. These were the inspiration for my contribution. I am making Vegetable Temaki. It is a relatively simple recipe except for cooking the sushi rice. The process is exact. Follow it closely.

Check out all the tasty dishes that my friends are bringing.

Sandi - Whistlestop Cafe Cooking- Rosemary Shrimp Skewers
Val - More Than Burnt Toast - Baja Style Grilled Rock Lobster Tails
Susan - The Spice Garden - Coconut Crab and Shrimp Salad
Jerry- Jerry's Thoughts, Musings and Rants - Margarita 
 

Vegetable Temaki

    2 cups cooked Sushi Rice

    4 nori (seaweed) sheets, cut in half

    1 teaspoon prepared wasabi

    24 snow pea pods, steamed

    1 red bell pepper, cut into 16 strips

    1 avocado, peeled and cut into 8 wedges

    Spread 1/4 cup rice on bottom half of 1 nori sheet. Spread 1/8 teaspoon wasabi diagonally over rice, starting at lower right corner.

Too bad my countertops are  the same colour as the nori.

    Arrange 3 snow peas, 2 pepper strips, and 1 avocado wedge over wasabi. Lift left lower corner of nori over vegetable mixture, pressing gently. Wrap top half of nori over vegetable mixture, pressing gently to form a cone shape. Repeat with remaining ingredients.

Sushi Rice

Makes about 7 cups of cooked sushi rice. Prep time – 1 ¾ hours total consisting of rinsing and draining (35 min), soaking (30 min), cooking and steaming (25 min), finishing (15 min).

Ingredients
2 ½ cups uncooked sushi rice
2 ½ cups water
3 “ square of dashi konbu (or kombu) dried kelp seaweed, optional
2 ½ tsp sake

1. Swirl rice gently in a bowl of water, drain, repeat 3-4 times until water is nearly clear. Don't crush the rice in your hands or against the side of the bowl because dry rice is very brittle.

2. Gently place rice into a strainer and drain well for 30 minutes.

3. Gently place the rice into a heavy medium pot with a tight fitting lid (if you have a loose fitting lid use a piece of aluminium foil to make the seal tight). Add 2½ cups of water and the dashi konbu. Set the rice aside to soak for 30 minutes, during this time prepare the sushi rice dressing.

4. Sushi vinegar dressing – 5 T rice vinegar, 5 t sugar, 1 ¼ t salt. Mix together in a pan and heat until sugar and salt are dissolved. Set aside at room temperature until needed.

5. After 30 minutes of soaking add sake (if using) to the rice. Bring rinsed and soaked rice to the boil. Reduce heat to the lowest setting and simmer, covered, until all the water is absorbed, 12-15 minutes. Do not remove the lid during this process. Turn off heat. Let stand with the lid on, 10-15 minutes. Do not peek inside the pot or remove the lid. During this time the rice is steaming which completes the cooking process.

6. Finishing the rice has 3 stages – turning out the rice, dressing the rice, and fanning the rice.

7. Moisten lightly a flat thin wooden spatula or spoon and a large shallow flat-bottomed non-metallic (plastic, glass or wood) bowl. Do not use metallic objects since the vinegar will react with it and produce sour and bitter sushi rice. Remove the dashi konbu (kelp) from the cooked rice.

8. Use the spatula to loosen gently the rice and invert the rice pot over the bowl, gently causing the cooked rice to fall into the bowl in one central heap. Do this gently so as not to cause the rice grains to become damaged.

9. Slowly pour the cooled sushi vinegar over the spatula onto the hot rice.

10. Using the spatula gently spread the rice into a thin, even layer using a 45° cutting action to break up any lumps and to separate the rice. Don't stir or mash rice. After the rice is spread out, start turning it over gently, in small portions, using a cutting action, allowing steam to escape, for about a minute.

11. Continue turning over the rice, but now start fanning (using a piece of stiff cardboard) the rice vigorously as you do so. Don't flip the rice into the air but continue to gently slice, lift and turn the rice occasionally, for 10 minutes. Cooling the rice using a fan gives good flavour, texture and a high-gloss sheen to the rice. The vinegar dressing will be absorbed by the hot rice. Using a small electric fan on the lowest speed setting is highly recommended.

12. Stop fanning when there's no more visible steam, and all the vinegar dressing has been adsorbed and the rice is shiny. Your sushi rice is ready to be used.

13. Cover with a damp, lint free cloth to prevent the rice from drying out while preparing your sushi meal. Do not store sushi rice in the refrigerator leave on the counter covered at room temperature. Sushi rice is best used when it is at room temperature.

14. Cover with a damp, lint free cloth to prevent the rice from drying out while preparing your sushi meal. Do not store sushi rice in the refrigerator leave on the counter covered at room temperature. Sushi rice is best used when it is at room temperature.

Nutritional Information

Amount per serving

Calories: 120

    Calories from fat: 30%

    Fat: 4g

    Saturated fat: 0.6g

    Monounsaturated fat: 2.4g

    Polyunsaturated fat: 0.5g

    Protein: 2.6g

    Carbohydrate: 19g

    Fiber: 2.3g

    Cholesterol: 0.0mg

    Iron: 1.4mg

    Sodium: 87mg

    Calcium: 16mg

 

The Song That Never Ends

I have not posted in a long while. Without all the boring details, let's just say I have been sooooo  busy! Saturday was our very busy Farmers' Market and Sunday I catered a luncheon for 40 people. Parachuted into this I have had 3 young women cyclists stay over Friday and Saturday nights.  All were fun but today has been a day of never ending dishes, cleaning, sorting and planning.

I will be back with some real blogging very soon! Meanwhile enjoy The Song That Never Ends with Lamb Chops. This is a picture into my insanity!

Teaching on a Colony in June

June and the school year is all but over. I am a substitute teacher at some of the Hutterite Colonies. Last year's barbecue was a resounding success and now I am probably branded to do it every year. The children range from Grade 2 through 9 and there are 8 in school. We make everything from scratch and spent the entire morning getting everything ready. I wish I wasn't so picky. I didn't want any sticky fingers on my good camera and as a result we have no pictures of food! Next time I am going to designate a photographer so we get pictures of the great food they make.

Mostly it is from scratch. The menu today was BBQ chicken wings that we grilled first and then tossed in some purchased sauce. It worked so much better than last year when I marinated all the wings in a sauce. They just got crusty and black. We're learning!

We made a buttermilk dressing to serve with fresh veggies. We enjoyed radishes and asparagus from their garden plus a few from the grocery store, like jicama. If I had a dollar for every time that one of them asked me the name of that vegetable I'd be rich.

Then there were hamburgers and hotdogs with the fresh made buns from their kitchen. Our side dish was coleslaw.  The meal was completed with banana boats or banana split as the kids described it, filled with milk choccolate, wrapped in foil and grilled and then with vanilla ice cream. Oh, and we made fresh lemonade.

The girls were so amazing. Without even a hint from me they carried the dishes to the sink and washed each and every plate and fork. We swept the floor. Got the camera ready. I put on my hiking boots and we went to the coulee.

These pictures are the product of putting a digital camera in the hands of a child. 306 pictures later I have selected these to share.

The Canadian Food Experience Project - My Earliest Memory of Canadian Food

Have you met Val at A Canadian Foodie? She is a woman of boundless energy and creativity. This is her newest food challenge. She is passionate about good, clean, fair and local food. After attending the Canadian Food Blogger's Conference in Toronto this spring she is searching for our Canadian food identity.

This will be a year of challenges and I hope you join us on this journey of exploration. Every challenge is designed to make us dig deep into our Canadian psyche to record our interpretation of our culture as described through food.

Our first challenge is to share our first authentic Canadian food experience. I am a baby boomer born and raised on a small farm in southeastern Saskatchewan. My family homesteaded this land seven generations ago. We still own a part of that farm although we no longer work it ourselves.

Suffice to say that my first remembered food experience is authentic Canadian. My mental journey back to almost birth has been fascinating and enlightening. My mother was not well most of my life and as a result she did not do a lot of cooking. Our food was very basic but her one passion was baking. I don't even know if she ever used a recipe but we did have one thin book, the Five Roses Flour Cookbook.

We enjoyed home made doughnuts on special occasions. Almost weekly we would have raisin or lemon meringue pie. The cakes were simple but a family favourite was Matrimonial Cake.

When I was very young, as young as three years old, my mother would be in the hospital for extended periods and our neighbours, the Brock's, would look after me and my sister. This is my first memory of food. They cooked with a wood stove. Even we had a propane stove and oven but they still used wood.  We were grain farmers with chickens, ducks and pigs but they had a farm that completely fulfilled their needs. They had a dairy herd, berry bushes and a large garden as well as poultry. I remember them milking the cows by hand and separating the cream. They made butter! That was a treat even way back then when it really was not so unusual. But what I remember most vividly is the homemade bread that would come out of that wood oven almost every day. I remember the yeasty dough fermenting, the darkened bread pans and that oh so heady aroma. Smell is the strongest sense to bring back memories.

I have not made old fashioned white bread in many years. Today we are trendy with sourdough and rustic artisan loaves. This is my contribution to this month's challenge. I am making that wonderful pillowy soft white bread that I remember as a young child.

The Best White Bread     from Annie's Eats

Yield: 2 9-inch loaves

4½ tsp. instant yeast
¾ cup plus 2 2/3 cup warm water, divided (105-115˚ F)
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp. salt
3 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
9-10 cups all-purpose flour
3-4 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted (for brushing)

• To make the dough, dissolve the yeast in ¾ cup of warm water in a large mixing bowl.  Stir in the sugar, salt, remaining 2 2/3 cups water, butter, and 5 cups of the flour.  Mix until a dough begins to come together.  Gradually add in the remaining 4-5 cups of flour about ½-1 cup at a time at first, more gradually with the last cup, until the dough is smooth and slightly tacky but not sticky.  Continue to knead about 6-8 minutes, until a smooth ball of dough has formed.
• Transfer the dough to a lightly greased large bowl, turn once to coat, and cover with a clean kitchen towel.  Let rise in a warm place until the dough has nearly doubled in bulk, about 60-90 minutes.
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and gently punch down to deflate the dough.  Divide into two equal portions.  Press one portion of dough into a rectangle, about 9 x 15 inches.  Starting on a short end, roll the dough up tightly into a log and pinch the seam shut.  Roll the ends under the loaf.  Transfer to a greased 9 x 5-inch loaf pan and press down gently to reach the sides of the pan.  Repeat with the second portion of dough.  Cover the pans loosely with a clean kitchen towel and let rise once more until nearly doubled, about 30-45 minutes.
• Place an oven rack in the lowest position and preheat the oven to 400˚ F.  Just before baking, lightly brush the tops of the loaves with some of the melted butter.  Bake for 15 minutes.  Rotate the pans 180˚ and continue baking until an instant read thermometer reads 190˚ F in the center of the loaf, about 15-18 minutes more.  If the tops of the loaves reach your desired golden brown before the baking time is complete, cover the tops loosely with foil to prevent over-browning.  Transfer the pans to wire racks to cool.  Let cool briefly, then turn the loaves out onto the racks.  If desired, brush lightly with additional melted butter.  Let cool completely.

Spring has Sprung, Let's Have Rhubarb

Jerry at Jerry's Thoughts, Musings and Rants is hosting the supper this month. The theme is 'Fresh and Local'. After such a long winter we, here in Saskatchewan, are anxious to get out and eat fresh. Great idea, Jerry! Unfortunately we are experiencing a late spring and there is precious little to glean from the garden. Thank heaven I have dessert. My rhubarb is red and tender and just right. Welcome, enjoy all the offerings this month. Let us know how they worked for you.

At first thought you might not find my Rhubarb Fool Napoleans to be a lower calorie recipe but it did come from Cooking Light! I have cut back on the sugar but my rhubarb was young and sweet. If you think about a typical napolean it has a rich cream between layers of puff pastry. Phyllo pastry is a much lighter version. This is where you are dropping the calories without losing any crispy texture and flavour.

Roz - La Bella Vita   Tomato Basil Soup
Jerry - Jerrys Thoughts, Musings and Rants  Risotto with Shrimp and Asparagus
Val- More Than Burnt Toast      Baby Beets with Walnuts, Goat Cheese and Greens
Susan Linquist –The Spice Garden    Spinach With Garlic Vinaigrette

Sandi -Whistestop Café Cooking    Garden Tomato Basil Pesto Pizza 

Rhubarb Maple Napoleans

The fluffy rhubarb mixture is based on fool, a traditional English dessert of cooked, pureed fruit folded into whipped cream. Here it's spread between crisp layers of maple-flavored phyllo dough. For the prettiest color, use bright red stalks of rhubarb. The intense nutty sweetness of maple sugar affords the best flavor, but you can substitute brown sugar in a pinch. The phyllo crisps can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container for up to three days. Assemble desserts just before serving so you get the benefit of crisp pastry contrasting with the soft rhubarb fool. Yield: 8 servings

Crisps
2 tbsp butter
10 (14 x 9 inch) sheets frozen phyllo dough, thawed
5 tbsp maple sugar

Fool

4 c chopped rhubarb (about 1 1/4 pounds)
1/2 c maple syrup, or to taste
2 tsp grated orange rind
1/3 c fresh orange juice
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
Dash of ground cloves
Dash of salt
1/3 c whipping cream, chilled
2 tsp maple sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 c fat-free sour cream

Preheat oven to 350°.

To prepare crisps, melt butter in a small skillet over medium heat; cook 3 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.

Lightly dab 5 phyllo sheets with half of browned butter; sprinkle each sheet with 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar. Stack layers together; gently press. Cut phyllo stack into 9 (4 2/3 x 3–inch) rectangles. Repeat procedure with remaining phyllo, browned butter, and 2 1/2 tablespoons sugar. Place rectangles on baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 5 minutes or until crisp. Remove from pans; cool completely on a wire rack.

To prepare fool, combine rhubarb and next 8 ingredients (through salt) in a large saucepan; bring to boil. Reduce heat, and simmer until reduced to 2 1/2 cups (about 30 minutes), stirring occasionally. Place half of rhubarb mixture in a blender. Remove center piece of blender lid (to allow steam to escape); secure blender lid on blender. Place a clean towel over the opening in blender lid (to avoid splatters). Blend until smooth. Pour into a medium bowl. Repeat procedure with remaining rhubarb mixture. Cover and chill completely.

Place whipping cream, 2 teaspoons sugar, and vanilla in a small bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until stiff peaks form. Gently fold in sour cream. Fold whipped cream mixture into chilled rhubarb mixture.

Place 1 phyllo crisp on a dessert plate. Layer crisp with 1/4 cup rhubarb mixture, 1 phyllo crisp, 1/4 cup rhubarb mixture, and 1 phyllo crisp. Repeat procedure with remaining phyllo crisps and rhubarb mixture. Lightly dust with powdered sugar and garnish with edible flowers or mint leaves. Serve immediately.