Fort Dodge Community Apple Orchard

Jeffrey and I like to visit the Fort Dodge Community Apple Orchard when we're visiting my parents.  Last year we were there too late to get any Paula Red apples, which are my favorite for apple pies.  This year we got the last of the crop;  they must be a very early apple.

We sampled the Honey Crisp and Honey Sweet apples.  The Honey Crisp is indeed a very crunchy apple, with a taste that's a bit sweeter than a Granny Smith.  The Honey Sweet was also crisp, and just like its name forecasts, is a very pleasant, sweet apple- perfect for eating straight out of hand.

We bought a big bag of Paula Reds, the "seconds".  These are apples that aren't totally cosmetically appealing, but work perfectly well in pies, crisps, and other baked apple desserts.  They are significantly cheaper than the "firsts".

My son wanted some tart eating apples, so we got him a small bag of Cortlands, which are good for both baking and eating raw.



These were VERY tempting.

The gift shop was brimming over with Halloween cheer!

I was disappointed that there weren't any tin goats for sale this year.  I missed out on my chance to get one on our visit last October.  I thought for sure that they'd carry them again, since one of the big attractions of the orchard is a goat playground, ruled by the billy goat Uncle Buck.  Uncle Buck is a hoot;  everybody loves watching him and his cohorts.  There were a few tin turtles, but it's just not the same.

Travelling the Pumpkin Trail

There was even a Frankenstein-green tin rabbit.

Actually sort of scary.

I liked these glossy ceramic mushrooms. 

I could pose these for my non-existent tin goat to eat.

We had a great time at the orchard, and picked up some of Jeffrey's favorite teas from Fortune Tea along with the apples.  On the off-chance that anyone from Community Apple Orchards reads this, here is my solitary request:  Bring back the tin Uncle Bucks!

P.S. Thanks for the apples, they're GREAT!

Fort Dodge Farmers Market



Jeffrey and I took a very short trip up to Fort Dodge to see my parents and to check out two of our favorite places:  the Fort Dodge farmers market and the Fort Dodge Community Apple Orchard.  I took so many pictures that I'll be breaking our adventures up into two posts! 

 

We drove up last Friday night and got up early for the farmers market.  It had turned cold, and all the farmers were bundled up in sweatshirts, good-naturedly complaining about the weather.



There was even one truck filled with sweet corn.  I thought for sure it would be too late for the corn to be much good, and passed on picking any up.  Dad got some though, and we ate it for lunch- wonderful bi-color corn with that just-picked sweet flavor- so good!  If the market hadn't been closed by that time, I would have run out to get some of my own! 



Is it fall yet?



I spotted this colorful pickup bed filled with pumpkins, including the warty kind I find appealing.  If I'd had a little more cash, probably one of these would have come home with us.



There were still lots of tomatoes.....







And lots of squash, both summer and winter varieties:

Even more!

Also lots of vegetables we've been seeing all summer:

We ended up buying two small basil plants for $2 each, which I thought was quite a bargain. Seed, the charming and magical shop in the East Village area of downtown Des Moines, has  pretty much the same thing for $6 each.  Now I just need to get them safely planted in pots we can keep indoors this winter.

Pictured from left to right starting at the bottom:

Row 1:  basil plants, Giant Marcone peppers, ripened Jalapeno peppers, lemon, cherry, and grape tomatoes, striped delicata squash.

Row 2:  popcorn, Kouri squash, beefsteak tomatoes, creamy white pattypan squash

Row 3:  apples from the orchard (more about them in an uncoming post)



Drew's Chocolates- Dexter, Iowa

Jeffrey and I decided to go to Omaha for part of the Labor Day weekend.  We left Friday after work, and stopped in Dexter to fill up the car's gas tank.  I spotted a sign that said, "Drew's Chocolates - 3 blocks", and it didn't take much persuading to get Jeffrey to agree to check out the place.  I was pretty sure it was going to be closed, but we were in luck- the shop had about 10 minutes left before their normal 5:30 closing time.


We went downstairs to a chocolate- lover's paradise.

There were chocolate creams, caramels, toffee krunches, a wide variety of nuts dipped in chocolate, peanut butter cups, and just about everything chocolate you could imagine.  The small shop was decked out in beautiful fall colors, and the gift boxes were nicer than any I've ever seen.

This machine tempers the chocolate.



We got to see the chocolate tempering machine at work.  It moves the glossy chocolate around almost as if it was a miniature chocolate river.  Then the owner showed us how to fork-dip a cashew nut.  The fork is an antique - they've been in business since 1927 - and it looks almost like a flattened out Easter egg dipper, but much sturdier.

We sampled some dark chocolate on the spot, and it was very, VERY good!  The thing that really caught my attention was their salted nut rolls.  I don't think I'll ever be able to enjoy a Pearson's Salted Nut Roll again after tasting the Drew's version!  It's like comparing a can of store-bought peaches to a fresh, fully ripe Colorado peach pulled fresh from the tree on a perfect sunny day. 

I also indulged my sweet tooth with a cute little clear container of pure caramel, which came with a tiny white spoon on top.  I had intended to save it for a day I really needed a pick-me-up, but I couldn't wait.  I ate it today!

Just a small part of the candy counter

We had hoped to stop back at Drew's on the way home and buy another little box of treats, but our timing was off.  It's definitely worth a drive out to Dexter, and one we'll be making again!

Drew's Chocolates is located at 426 State Street in Dexter.  State Street is the main drag in town.  We took I-80 exit 100 and followed the signs to Casey's, then went another 3 blocks to the shop.  If you're coming from the west, you can also take exit 97 for a more scenic drive through part of the town, which includes some well-kept gravel roads.  Just watch for the Drew's sign, it will take you right to the shop.

Store hours are Monday-Thursday 9AM to 5:30 PM, Friday-Saturday 9AM to 5 PM, and Sunday 12 noon to 4 PM.  We highly recommend this place!

Knoxville Farmer's Market, Late August

The weather was quite pleasant Saturday morning, so I took a nice, long walk.  I timed my walk so that after walking about an hour, I'd end up at the local Saturday AM farmer's market, spend a little time buying things I'd be using over the weekend, then have another, shorter walk home. 

With it being later in the season, there's naturally a different mix of products than when we wrote about the farmer's market back in June.  There are some commonalities - fresh eggs, a variety of baked goods, locally-produced honey - but now there's a lot more in the way of mid- to late-season produce, including tomatoes, chili peppers and a variety of winter squashes.

My purchases included:  cartons of large cherry and small plum tomatoes; fresh carrots; two large zucchini, one orange and one green; some fresh shallots; a nice-looking loaf of caraway-rye bread; and a carton of plump, delicious blackberries.  I paid a total of $17.50 for all that, which I consider a pretty good deal. 

I've already used some of Saturday's purchases.   One of the zucchini and the cherry tomatoes were used for Saturday dinner, while the blackberries ended up being used in pies.  Some of the shallots, the carrots, some of the plum tomatoes and the bread went into Sunday dinner.  I plan to use more of the tomatoes in Monday's dinner.  I'll write more about the dinners and the pies in upcoming posts.

Iowa State Fair 2011

The Iowa State Fair has changed a lot from the days back in the late 40's/early 50's when my Great-grandma Myrtle got up at 3 AM to fry up a chicken or three and packed up a big picnic lunch for herself, her children, and the grandkids, which included my mother. 

For one thing, there may be a few more people.

A crowded day at the fair!

Estimated attendance today was 112,542 people.  I think it was more.  It felt like a LOT more.  By the time we rolled in, around 12:30 PM on a sunny Sunday, all the parking lots on the fairgrounds were full.  That wasn't so bad, because it cost $10 just to park on site.  We found a $5 spot on one of the local resident's lawns, and trekked over to the north gate.  Another $20 got us in.  Our state fair is a great state fair, as the song goes, but it can also be an expensive proposition, so Jeffrey and I only go every 2 or 3 years. 

J. wasn't terribly keen to go this year, so I promised him I'd have my picture taken with a big snake this time, and it sealed the deal.  That might sound crazy, but the last time we were at the fair, there was a very well-kept, if nerve-wracking, display of all kinds of snakes, and at the end of the exhibit, you could get your picture taken with an enormous python.  I declined then, because snakes kind of make me scream. 

AIIIEEEE! 

BUT... I really wanted to go this year, so I had to give Jeffrey some incentive to come along.  Fortunately, I do not have a picture of me and a constricting snake to show you- if there was a snake display this year (Snakes Alive!, where are you?), we managed to miss it.  I was not very sad.

We went looking for food right away.  Jeffrey started with a Greek gyro at a place right across from Bauder's Ice Cream, but I was holding out for the excellent lamb kabobs at the Iowa Sheep Producers Stand.  We shared some really great pizza, too. Neither one of us was interested in deep-fried butter on a stick, a new fair treat this year.





Then we made our way past the sheep barn.  Look at the building entry, isn't it neat?  The tile around the entrance is amazing.  It's kind of hard to tell, but on either side of the "SHEEP BARN" proclamation, the end tiles are three-dimensional sheep heads.

We heard a commotion, and found a lot of exhibitors, like this young lady, tidying up their sheep for competition and showering them clean with curly garden hoses.  The sheep do NOT like their bathtime, and it was a discordant symphony of baaing and bleating!



Next we went to the 4-H building, and my favorite fair drink, Lemonade Shake-ups.  I asked the lemonade lady how much sugar was in each drink, and she told me I wouldn't want to know.  I'm guessing maybe a quarter cup for each glass.  But so good!

It was really a hot day, hotter than the forecast had promised, and so it was a relief to go to the air-conditioned building where quilts, knitting, and other handwork are displayed.

So many little pieces cut out and sewed back together again!

We next tried the Varied Industries building, but it was so crowded, and people were moving along at the approximate speed of drunken snails.  Honestly, what is there to look at there that's so riveting?  Do these people dream of replacement windows, college campus info, and hot tubs/sauna closets all year long?  (Ok, maybe I understand the hot tubs.  But still!).  I had hoped to find a dealer that might have sewing machine tables/cabinets, but we both agreed to exit as quickly as we could.   Fifteen minutes later....



We stopped for ice cold root beer, probably the best value of the day at $2.25 for a big glassful, and went to the Bauder's Ice Cream stand.  I usually get their superb peppermint ice cream sandwiches, but we wanted something smaller and settled on a scoop each of strawberry and peach ice cream.  Easily the best ice cream I've had this year, if you don't count our own Hawaiian Ice Cream. 

Another year, another fair.  This was a fun visit, but next time we go, I think I'll take a day off work and hope that the weather is rainy so that there aren't as many people vying for space.  What are your favorite things to do/ foods to eat at the fair?  Drop us a comment!

Update:  Our sympathies to those involved in the tragedy Saturday at the Indiana State Fair.  Compared to that, slowly shuffling through the Varied Industries building doesn't sound like a bad deal at all.  -Juli

Spaghetti with Pancetta, Mushrooms and Basil

The May 2011 issue of Bon Appetit included a feature article on cooking restaurant-quality pasta dishes, plus several recipes.  The article included several good tips and techniques, including the observation that while home recipes often specify one making the sauce, cooking the pasta separately then serving the sauce atop the pasta, in restaurants the pasta is often cooked until nearly done, then added to the pan or skillet with the sauce along with a bit of extra liquid to finish cooking.  This results in the pasta absorbing some of the flavors from the sauce, and in it being more evenly coated with the sauce.

I decided to try out the article's suggestions, and after studying the sample recipes to get a sense how the cooking techniques were put into action, I tossed together a recipe of my own featuring pancetta, mushrooms and garden-fresh basil. 

I should note that the pancetta I used was La Quercia brand.  La Quercia, based in Norwalk, Iowa, produces a selection of Italian-style dry-cured artisan meats.  The company has gotten a lot of favorable reviews in the food press, including exceptional reviews in Bon Appetit, Cook's Illustrated, Fine Cooking, The New York Times and even Vogue.  In the Des Moines area, La Quercia meats can be found, among other places, in the better Hy-Vee and Dahls supermarkets.  The brand is also available in Whole Foods stores and many premium markets. The pancetta was certainly excellent in this dish.

In fact, the entire dish was excellent.  The rich taste of the pancetta, the earthy flavor of the mushrooms and the savory cheese and fresh basil provided the sauce with tons of flavor.  As promised in the Bon Appetit article, the cooking method resulted in some of this flavor being absorbed into the pasta, as opposed to the pasta simply being topped with flavorful sauce.   This made for a wonderfully satisfying meal. 

I should note that the picture above was taken before I remembered to sprinkle the pasta with the basil and grated cheese.  It would have been great even without those final touches, but adding them pushed it to another level of flavor excellence.

That article turned out to have a lot of great advice, and unless you're already cooking pasta dishes on par with those offered at the better Italian restaurants, I'd strongly recommend tracking down a copy of that issue of Bon Appetit, or at very least the article on pages 136-143. 

Spaghetti with Pancetta, Mushrooms and Basil

yield = 4 servings

2              tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3              ounces pancetta, chopped
1/2           teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2           teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
1              medium onion, grated
8              ounces crimini mushrooms, sliced
3              teaspoons minced garlic
1              can (28 ounces) whole tomatoes, pureed
2              teaspoons table salt
12            ounces spaghetti
1/4           cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese
1              tablespoon butter, chilled
1/4           cup fresh basil, chopped

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat until shimmering.  Add pancetta and cook, stirring often, until crisp and lightly browned.   Add red pepper flakes and black pepper, stir for 10 seconds, then add onion.  Cook, stirring often, until the onion is starting to soften, about 5 minutes.  Add mushrooms and cook until they release their liquid and release in size. 

When the excess mushroom liquid has cooked off, add garlic and cook for 30 seconds, then stir in the the pureed tomato puree.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer.

While the sauce simmers, add table salt and 4 quarts of water to a large pan or stock pot.  Bring to a boil and add the spaghetti.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until 2 minutes prior to the pasta being done, or al dente, per package instructions.  Drain the pasta, reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking water. 

Add drained past to the skillet and toss with tongs to coat.  Add the reserved cooking water and cook until the pasta is al dente (about 2 minutes).  Remove from heat.  Add butter and 1/2 of the Pecorino and toss until the cheese melts.   Serve, sprinkling individual servings with basil and the remaining cheese.

A Day Off from Cooking

I love cooking, but there are days when I just don't feel like it.  Yesterday was one of those days.   It was my birthday, and even though it would have been a beautiful day for grilling, I just felt like taking it easy.  So, with that in mind, Juli and I went out for lunch and picked up some pizzas to warm up for dinner.   The lunch was great.  The pizza, sadly, was not so great.

For lunch we went to Kwong Tung Restaurant on Ingersoll Avenue in Des Moines.  As Chinese restaurants go, Kwong Tung is generally pretty average.  Their lunch specials offer a generous amount of food for around $5.00 (give or take a bit depending on what you order), but there's nothing particularly memorable or unique about their daily offerings.   Sundays are quite another matter, though.  They offer dim sum every Sunday from 10 am to 2 pm, and their dim sum is worth writing about. 

For those unfamiliar with the tradition, dim sum is a Chinese meal consisting of small portions of various sorts of food, typically served up in steamer baskets or on small plates.  In China, it is usually associated with drinking tea, but I don't recall anyone - including the Asian customers - drinking tea at Kwong Tung yesterday, unless you count iced tea. 

Dim sum restaurant fare typically offers several dozen dishes from which the customers choose.  Some are familiar Chinese restaurant fare, often served as appetizers (pot stickers, crab rangoon, fried wontons, egg rolls, spring rolls and barbecued pork, or char sui).  Other dishes typically include numerous types of dumplings, or gao, usually steamed but sometimes fried, and baked or steamed buns and rolls filled with meat, vegetables or bean paste.  As far as the dumplings, sui mai is one of the standards served at Kwong Tung.  These tasty steamed dumplings are filled with chicken, pork or shrimp.  Cha siu baau - fluffy buns filled with barbecued pork - are among the standard sorts of buns.  Fried squid, spare ribs, steamed meatballs, taro dumplings and chicken feet (fung zao) are some of the other standard dim sum dishes served at Kwong Tung. 

Dim sum also typically includes a few sweet dishes, and Kwong Tung follows this tradition by offering standard dim sum dishes such as egg tarts (pastries filled with egg custard) and sesame balls (jin deui). The latter are among Juli's favorites.  These balls of dough filled with red bean paste are rolled in sesame seeds then deep fried to make a chewy, tasty snack.  KwongTung's dim sum also includes a variety of noodle dishes, characterized by ample portions of soft- or crisp-fried noodles, vegetables (most prominently baby bok choy and mushrooms) and chunks of chicken, beef, pork or shrimp. 

At Kwong Tung, one orders Dim Sum by selecting what one wants, and how many servings, on a half-sheet of paper that lists the various dishes and their prices.   We ordered two helpings of crab rangoon, fried crescent dumplings and pan-fried potstickers, plus sar har (egg noodles) with beef, pan-fried noodles with shrimp and one order each of sesame balls and pork egg rolls.  Every single one of these dishes was excellent.  The fried crescent dumplings - little crescents of rice flour dough filled with spiced meat - and the potstickers are particular favorites of ours. 

As usual, we ordered a bit more than we could finish, because the leftovers are one of  the great things about going to Kwong Tung's dim sum, but we could have been more than stuffed even if we'd entirely skipped the noodle dishes.  All of that came to about $30, including tip, which isn't bad considering how much food we got.  Considering how good it was, that price is a bargain!

We had to do a bit of shopping, so I decided to drop by the Gateway Market on Woodland Avenue in Des Moines.  Gateway Market features organic produce, fine cheeses, excellent meat, imported pastas and a wide range of hard-to find spices, condiments, snacks and imported food items, plus an excellent cafe.  Although it is a bit pricey, Gateway Market has become one of our go-to places to shop for various odds and ends.   During previous visits, their store-made, ready-to-cook pizzas had caught my eye.  They looked delicious, and I decided my birthday was a good time to try them out.   We bought two 10-inch pizzas - one pepperoni and one margherita (soft mozzarella, tomato slices and fresh basil) at $7.49 each.

I have generally been quite pleased by my Gateway Market purchases, so I was surprised to find the pizzas pretty disappointing.  I didn't think they were terrible (though Juli really disliked the margherita one), but they weren't particularly good, either.   They struck me as the sort of pizza you get by being more concerned about healthy and organic ingredients than with flavor.  Honestly, I'd have been just as happy warming up a couple frozen Tombstone pizzas, so given the price, I didn't find Gateway Market's pizzas a very good deal at all, and I doubt we'll be buying any more of them any time soon. 

Drake Neighborhood Farmer's Market

This week we dropped by the Drake Neighborhood Farmers Market.   It's still pretty early in the season, so more of the vendors were selling other products - including some mouthwatering BBQ - but there were a few people selling pretty substantial amounts of produce.  We didn't remember our camera, so we don't have any pictures of the market to share, but we did take some pictures of our three purchases:  a carton of strawberries, a loaf of bread and a whole, frozen chicken.

The vendor for the chicken was Anna's Place Poultry Products based out of Grimes, Iowa (a suburb of Des Moines, for those not from this neck of the woods).  The proprietor, Ronald Bartelt, advertises "'The way chicken used to taste." Farm raised the old fashioned way. Outdoor birds that are fed no antibiotics or hormones."  I got a 4 1/2 pound bird for $10, which sounds expensive when you compare it to the price you might pay for a mass-produced chicken at the supermarket, but is pretty cheap compared to some of the free-range/organic vendors we've looked at.   The same vendor also sells eggs and, in the fall, ducks.   I'm planning to roast the chicken this weekend, and assuming it tastes as good as I expect it will, I will probably be buying from this fellow semi-regularly... and I'm definitely looking to buying a couple whole ducks this fall.

We also bought a loaf of sesame and flaxseed bread from a small local bakery, Keller's Breads.  This vendor sold only a limited selection of breads, but every one we sampled - each with a bit of the seasoned, whipped butter the vendor also sells - tasted wonderful.   I had a slice as soon as I got home, and I was very pleased by the wonderful, nutty flavor and nice texture.

We didn't catch the name of the produce vendor that sold us the strawberries, but we're very pleased with the berries.  I sampled a few when we got home and found them to be wonderfully sweet and fresh.   I expect we'll be going to this market semi-regularly, so next time we'll try to remember to get more information about her.

The Drake Neighborhood Farmer's Market is held every Wednesday from June through September at the parking lot for the First Christian Church at 25th and University Avenue in Des Moines.  Hours are 4-7 pm.

Knoxville Iowa Farmers' Market

Last Saturday Jeffrey and I went to check out the Knoxville Farmers' Market.  It's so early in the season for produce, but we thought we'd see what was out there.

I'm always happy to see someone selling fresh eggs, and Jeffrey and I bought some large brown eggs.  But look at what else the egg ladies had:

Here's a close-up.  Look at the pretty colors!   The vendor said that different kinds of chickens lay the different colors of eggs.

There were also interesting garden items:

And herbs and other plants for the garden:

We were also impressed with the Bread Lady and her wares:

The Knoxville Farmers' Market is open Saturday mornings from 8 AM to noon, and on Tuesdays from 2:30 PM to 6:00 PM. 

Jeffrey and I are trying to be patient while the local gardens do their thing, but it's hard!  Our tomatoes are flowering, but haven't yet set fruit.  The grape vine has lots of little itty bitty grapes beginning to form, and the raspberry canes are LOADED with growing berries. 

Some of our hot peppers have set fruit, and most of our herbs are doing very well.  We did have one window box of cilantro and parsley that didn't have very good drainage and got drowned.  I re-potted them, and I think they'll eventually recover.  Our broccoli are growing nice and big, although they haven't set their heads yet. 

We got our first CSA box of the season last week, and, not surprisingly, it was very light.  Hopefully things will pick up soon!

How are *your* gardens growing?  I'd love to hear from you!