Did the Chicken Have Friends?

Some pretty & yummy produce from the QA Farmer's Market

Delicious and exotic smells waft from trucks off in the distance. You amble closer to be delighted (and perhaps slightly annoyed) at the giggling children running around underfoot. You come across to a neat row of white shelters containing rows of rainbow-colored produce, freshly baked bread and pastries, homemade jars of jam and fresh pasta. Everyone around you is happy and unusually chatty for a more reserved Seattle. Somehow a farmer's market can make change your mood and make you instantly happy.

I'm a huge advocate of perusing your local neighborhood farmer's market - and it's not just because you want to make sure your chicken was free-range, organically and vegetarian-fed and had plenty of happy chicken friends. Here's why:

1. You eat with the season. Eating seasonally is healthier for you in many ways. Apparently eating crops grown during the right growing seasons help the produce present more nutrients than those not grown during the appropriate season. Since the product was from local farms, the produce was harvested closer to its peak freshness which helps make it yummier and more nutritious. Also, local produce has less of a carbon footprint which means it didn't pollute the planet more on its way in a truck from Peru.

2. You try vegetables and things you might not otherwise cook with. Last week I saw interesting produce like lemon cucumbers, two different varieties of kohlrabi, cute clumps of romanesco and garlic shoots and flowers. This isn't stuff you would find at your corner Safeway and you can expand your palate by trying it. If you don't know how to prepare some of the unusual produce, you can ask! The folks who work there always have recipes and recommendations of how to use their product. Aside from fresh vegetables and fruit, some market butchers have unusual cuts of meat, fresh fish, artisan cheese and breads that you might not normally encounter. Markets can help you eat adventurously without getting beyond your comfort zone too much.

Colorful and awesome things!

3. You get to meet local farmers, bakers, artisans, musicians and awesome people. You learn so much about the produce, products and farms which brings you closer to what you eat. It's nice to know that the purple potatoes and kale you bought were grown in Fall City - only 15 minutes away from your office at Microsoft in Redmond. Plus, you know that they were grown from a small family farm rather than a giant industrial conglomerate. The chicken and speckled eggs you purchased were from happy chickens that roamed freely and were chased by toddlers and bumbling puppies rather than put in impossibly tiny cages in a stressed environment. It's nice to meet your neighbors and realize that one of them bakes specialty pies at the market from a recipe handed down to her from her great aunt. We ate Mexican food on the grass the other day and realized that the small acoustic band was performing great covers of 80's and 90's hits. My pal Beth commented that had I not already figured out my wedding music already, they would be a great option for a band during the cocktail hour. Meeting these wonderful people not only connects you to the food you eat and cook, but also introduces you to wonderful people whom you can support.

A bunch of rainbow carrots & romanesco I purchased

4. The food trucks and vendors use market ingredients. Many of the food trucks and stands selling tacos, Indian rice bowls, grilled cheese sandwiches, falafel and pizza utilize the fresh ingredients found from the market. Have you ever tried a quesadilla brimming with kale, fresh squash, beets, peppers and onions? It's AWESOME. I can't exactly go to Qdoba and get the same, can I?

5. You get to dine al fresco for cheap. Most farmer's market fare is reasonably priced and is delicious. I think it's super fun to hand Nick a $20 bill and tell him to bring us back with something tasty to eat and drink. He comes back with something mouth-wateringly yummy, brimming with market ingredients and often oozing with cheese, along with fresh lemonade. There is always change... just in case we feel like sharing some ice cream for the walk home.

Nachos from Los Agaves. Oh so much yum.

Check out where and when your local farmer's market is and go to it with an open mind and a hungry stomach.

What's in season right now? http://www.seattlefarmersmarkets.org/ripe-n-ready

Washington Farmer's Market Association: http://www.wafarmersmarkets.com/washingtonfarmersmarketdirectory.php

Seattle Farmer's Markets: http://seattlefarmersmarkets.org/

Our local market! http://qafma.net/

Roasted ginger carrots, roasted romanesco and an heirloom tomato gratin - served with meatballs. The only thing not from the market were the meatballs.

Baking with Booze

Incorporating alcohol into one's cooking and baking can make you seem like a lush... or it can be awesome! I am famous for my top-shelf jello shots but I also like baking boozy cakes and cupcakes. Baking also seems daunting and time consuming but it can be just as easy to bake from scratch or modify a mix as it is to bake straight from a cake mix; it just happens to be more delicious, fresher and better for you. I'm more of a savory cook than a baker or pastry chef so these recipes are easy enough for any dude to don an apron and bake away. Feel free to sip on any extra alcohol as you bake.

Chocolate Stout Cake

This is one of my favorites that I make for St. Patrick's day every year - although this cake is a delicious way to indulge any time of the year. I use this amazing recipe which has been foolproof each time. It results in an irresistibly moist, rich and decadent cupcake without being too sweet. Recipe notes:

• I've made it in the past using only whole-wheat flour which usually makes it denser and poundcake-like. If you want this cake to be on the lighter or fluffier side, you can use cake flour or use half all purpose and half cake flour.
• I subsitute sour cream with Greek yogurt because I eat a lot of Greek Yogurt.
• My favorite beer so far is Young's Double Chocolate Stout. It works really well and has a great and smooth chocolatey finish. I love Guinness but I didn't think it tasted as good and I've tried other Oatmeal Stouts and most recently, a Cappucino Stout but Young's has still been the best.
• This recipe makes A LOT of batter. It will easily make four dozen cupcakes or a bundt cake and two dozen cupcakes so unless you want to make a layered cake like in the recipe, you'll want to half the recipe.
• If you make a bundt cake, I use the slighty cooled chocolate ganache icing as an icing drizzle over the cake. This year, I drizzled the icing over the cupcakes, then frosted them with a Bailey's frosting using a modified version of this recipe. I added some cream cheese to the frosting because I like the richer taste and texture you get instead of only using butter.

Miracle Margarita Flan Cake

This cake is also incredibly delicious yet deceptively simple. You would think a fancy baker made it but you can enjoy it for Cinco de Mayo along with some margaritas or micheladas. I got the recipe from a great margarita cocktail book I got for my 21st birthday but I also found the recipe online here. It combines two delicious desserts - a caramelly rich flan with a coconut yellow cake - but tastes like a glorious margarita. Making this cake is like pure magic; it makes you seem like a fancy and skilled pastry chef but requires the skill of a drunken frat boy. And if you're taking swigs from the tequila bottle as you're baking, that may very well be you.
Go bake. It will be a fun and delicious alternate way to consume alcohol. If you're further interested in baking with booze, I recommend this book which my cousin Jennifer so generously bestowed upon me one Christmas. My dad isn't much of a dessert person so for his birthday one year, I made him a cake incorporating some of his favorite things: beer and nuts. He adored it and its hefeweizen icing goodness.