Life in Cowtown

I’ve been too lazy to haunt the farmers markets for the last two weekends, which is rather inexcusable since fall is coming oh so soon, but I have not been too lazy to eat. Since my lazyness perfectly dovetailed with another Serious Eats Weekend Cook And Tell: Too Hot edition, I gleefully participated.

Many people suggested all sorts of delicious sounding recipes that don’t require a stove, like salads and gazpacho, but when true laziness strikes one cannot be bothered with chopping, washing, plating and all that other mundane stuff called cooking. Instead I went with my ultimate fall-back technique – shopping. I’m a champion shopper, and did not disappoint myself, by traveling to the wonders of Blush and indulging myself.

Blush Lane is a wonderful addition to the Calgary food scene, taking care to source local and organic foods that are reasonably priced as well as delicious. I’ve shopped at their farmer’s market stand before and was overjoyed when their store opened. To date I’ve seen small baskets of Hotchkiss tomatoes that were pure heaven and a source of local pride, organic apples that tasted like honey, summer and freshness all in one bite, and rainbow carrots that were so delicious we ate half before we had a chance to cook them.

But serious efforts require serious sustenance, so this foray included:

The best, sweetest, most tomatoey tomatoes I’ve ever had:

A wedge of perfectly ripe Brie:

Incredible dried beef Salami:

And people, I totally popped over to A Ladybug Café next door, for a loaf of rye bread:

And the single greatest lemon tart in the whole world:

When I got home, all I had to do was slice up a tomato, and artfully arrange a beautiful still life that makes for one of my favorite things to eat – a composed plate. Washed down with some red wine it was a wonderful repast – dried, spicy salami with an intense beefy flavor, perfectly smooth brie, incredible tomatoes and a dark, earthy rye.  Nothing could be easier or more satisfying.

James recently went out for a quick mid-week drive to visit his parents in BC, and returned bearing gifts. Seemed fitting to me, since I had to stay here and work and feed the starving hordes cats and all. He returned bearing the single largest squash I’ve ever seen (larger than my cat), and some wonderful, fantastic, frozen salmon caught by my father-in-law.

Here’s a photo of the squash:

I know that mature squash are supposed to be less tender than baby squashes, but James assures me that this is not the case. Apparently if hollowed, stuffed with chopped flesh, garlic and herbs and barbecued, it becomes an amazing treat. I’m adding some bread crumbs to test that theory. But the salmon sang to us with its rosy perfection, and was cooked that very night, served on a simple bed of rice.

With fish that good, you hardly have to do anything to it – a light sprinkle of salt, some slivered garlic, a julienned hot pepper, and some lemon juice was all we did, and really it was gilding the lily.

It was quite thick too

Baked for about twenty minutes it was  fragrant, warm silky perfection. We didn’t take a photo of the finished shot as we were busy drooling and dishing the rice.

It was awesome.

There’s a neighborhood in Calgary that’s called Marda Loop, named for the owners of Marda Theater demolished long ago.  It’s a pretty area, one of the few non-homogenized pockets of the city, owing to old houses and independent businesses. Every year Marda Loop hosts the Marda Gras Street Festival – a one day event that riffs on the culture of New Orleans, and is a fun outing aimed at families. The streets are shut-down, traffic re-routed and kids and dogs get equally excited.

I haven’t been in a few years, and this year a friend and I went over, spurred by her proximity to the festival and the gorgeous weather, something that’s been in short supply this summer.

Every store was spilled out onto the sidewalk:

There were booths everywhere, selling absolutely everything:

Clothes:

Shoes:

Sunglasses:

There was tons of entertainment too, like belly dancers:

A mime:

Sidewalk chalk:

And the largest cutest dog I’ve seen in ages – the size of a small pony:

And of course, the food.

Oddly enough there weren’t that many food vendors out, we only saw about five or so, but the set up was great, with each vendor having small, fixed price dishes that you could enjoy at one of the many outdoor tables.

First we saw the Red Tree:

Where we had some amazing ribs. Very flavorful and moist, they were a sweet and tangy treat.

Then we moved on to Rasoi:

Where we had great veggie samosas. Crunchy with a delicate filling, they were full of potatoey goodness.

And some beef kabobs, seasoned with masala and oven roasted peppers.

These were a mild disappointment. The kabobs were made out of some overly-ground beef and had a very mushy texture. The seasoning overpowered the meat and the sauce they were slathered in was simply not very good. The ‘roasted’ peppers were barely broiled on the bbq, and didn’t really offer any roasted flavor or texture.  But washed down with some Kingfisher Beer they still went down like a breakfast of champions, to the tunes of Santana played by local musicians on the patio.

And of course, the festivities weren’t complete without some mini-donuts.

All in all it was a great way to spend a Sunday, and I look forward to going back again.