Trip to San Fran Part I

sipping on fresh juice- wheatgrass, apple, cucumber, and basil

Back in April, JJ and I took a trip to San Francisco to see my sister and her family. I expressed interest in seeing the local farmers market while we were there and so we did. That is one of my favorite things to do when I visit a city to see all of their local vegetation ripe for the picking and eating! It reminded me of our trip to Santa Monica where we experienced their local market. California always produces the best crops because of their mild weather. There was so much to see and sample. It was hard not to buy everything, but I stuck to only things that I could consume on the spot (like the yummy juice in the picture above) or items that wouldn't perish on the trip back home.

harvested mushrooms

more mushrooms!

flowers for sale

jumbo asparagus

We ended up purchasing a glass jar of organic apple wood smoked salt. The vendor had an assortment of flavored salts, but this one was our fave! I still have not opened the jar yet... If anyone has any ideas, please send them my way. I am a little intimidated by this complex ingredient. We also bought a small bag of dried mild chilies; Poblano, New Mexico, and Anaheim chilies. This mixture can be used to make salsa or as seasoning for poultry or fish. I used some of the dried chili mixture to make tacos a few weeks back. They were delicious. I couldn't pass up the dried fruit vendor where I bought a bag each of Lubanah dates and dried persimmons. I bought both of them because they were the most peculiar, yet delicious.

I envy all of the Californians that have such quality organic produce at their finger tips. Don't get me wrong... I love our local Kansas City market, but it just doesn't compare to the size, quality or variety of the west coast markets. I guess I'll just sit here in the disgustingly, muggy Midwestern heat, eat my sweet corn and watermelon, and be glad that I have food to put on the table.

Udon Miso Soup

A couple of weekends ago, after shopping at the River Market for fresh produce, I decided to drop by the Asian Market. If you can get past the heavy aroma of fish (I only breathe through my mouth), it can be quite an experience. There are ingredients there that you cannot find any place else and the prices are pretty hard to beat, as well. On this particular shopping trip, I picked up a few different packages of noodles; whole wheat, buckwheat, soba, and udon. I also grabbed a couple of varieties of mushrooms and tofu. They had frozen packages of shumai which I ended up taking to a friend's house that night. They were delicious little dumplings that only needed microwaving for prepping.

I couldn't wait to get my ingredients home and start cooking. I didn't know what I wanted to make while I was shopping, but I was inspired by a soup that JJ ate over Christmas last year in L.A., traditional Ramen. Reminisce with me. I didn't use pork belly or hard-boiled eggs, but the soup was pretty tasty. I decided to cook the udon noodles in a soup. They came with a miso seasoning packet, so the rest of the cooking was pretty much just figuring what else I wanted to go in the pot. I guess you could say it was a little more authentic version of Ramen Noodles. (you know...you lived on them in college...) The udon noodles came already cooked and vacuum sealed. Udon is my favorite, because the noodles are so chunky.

INGREDIENTS
· 1 full package of udon noodles with the flavoring packets
· 3 cups water
· 1 package of oyster mushrooms
· 1 package of enoki mushrooms
· 1 grated carrot
· 1 package of form tofu, sliced into cubes
· 2 green onions, sliced
· 3 tbsp. of soy sauce

DIRECTIONS
· follow instructions on package to cook udon noodles.
· add in the remainder of the ingredients
· let simmer for about 10 minutes to let the flavors marry.
Use chopsticks for the noodles and a soon for the broth.

Enjoy!