Not So Random Thoughts

By Arlene

Portland’s Farmer’s Markets

Like many foodies, I love farmer’s markets.  And the Saturday Farmer’s Market in Portland, Oregon, is a foodies dream come true. It is part farm stand, part street food and all fun. There’s music and crafts (homemade soap!). It is a place to run into old friends and meet new ones.

Portlanders take their produce seriously. Organic is not enough; we insist that our foods are locally-grown, sustainably.  Sustainability means more to us than just responsible growing techniques; it means providing adequate, humane living and working conditions to the farm’s workers.

The real joy at the farmer’s market is well after you’ve bought your food. It is in the cooking and eating. Everything just tastes better!

After spending two years in Mexico and going to their local farmer’s market – Tuesday Market, I can’t help making comparisons.

Both markets are boisterous:  music blaring, crowds, a variety of produce and meats and crafts. Most of the foods at the Tuesday market (Tianguis del Martes) are grown within a day’s drive. It is a huge market, open air market that has vendors selling everything: fresh produce, fish, chicken, CDs, DVDs, clothes, furniture, kitchenware, radios, cassette, live song birds, dead car parts and almost anything else you can imagine. 

All of the food at Portland’s farmer’s market is grown within a day’s drive – usually just a few hours’ drive. It is also huge with vendors selling everything: fresh produce, fish, chicken, buffalo, lamb, prepared foods and crafts.  But no dead car parts.

In Mexico, you shop a little then stop for a quick snack, traditionally tamale with atole. Atole is a pre-Hispanic drink made with masa and sweetened with cinnamon and brown sugar. Some versions also include chocolate. You do the same in Portland, sometimes even with tamale.

Although Portland’s market is much smaller than Mexico’s Tuesday market, both create an opportunity for the buyer to buy directly from the farmer.

Viva el Mercado!

Bringing Home – and Making – the Bacon

You really don’t need to attend a class to learn how to make bacon. But if you don't attend one, you’ll miss the wonderful smell of bacon and pancetta (bacon’s Italian cousin) frying in a room full of pork-loving foodies.

Lately, I’ve been on a mission to make some of my favorite foods.  This winter, I made my own duck confit.  It’s really quite easy. Take some duck legs, sauté and then encase in duck fat. Put in the refrigerator until ready to use. You have some investment in duck fat – it doesn’t come cheap – but you can save it for your next batch.

What I really wanted to make was pancetta.  Not any pancetta, but Tuscan pancetta, which is flat – not rolled- and is flavored with garlic, thyme and rosemary.  I downloaded and read recipes from the web, but never took the first step of buying pork belly.

And then I saw a class being given by a local cook and butcher. He wasn’t just any butcher, but the owner of the shop where I buy my favorite pancetta. I couldn’t resist. 

I learned that making pancetta is easy. Basically trim up pork belly into a square. Rub all over with salt and herbs and then let sit – uncovered – in the refrigerator for a week or two.  Viola!

What to do with all this pancetta?

Some of my most treasured and most cooked meals, such as coq au vin and short ribs, owe their great taste to pancetta. I love to add finely diced, sautéed pancetta to salads. Wrap asparagus in some pancetta and it brings a great vegetable to new heights.

I’m including my favorite coq au vin recipe.

Cinco de Mayo

I am writing this blog just a few days before Cinco de Mayo. Last year at this time, I was living in Mexico and this holiday passed without a thought.

Cinco de Mayo celebrates a military victory on May 5, 1862, by the vastly outnumbered Mexicans over the French in the battle of Puebla. Cinco de Mayo is often a bigger holiday in the United States (Margaritas, anyone?) than it is in Mexico, where it is more of a regional celebration.

Don’t get me wrong, the Mexicans love to celebrate.  San Miguel de Allende is known, among other things, as the city of fiestas. At one time, the story goes, the city had so many fiestas that the state government told them to pick a few and stick with those. It was just too expensive to have employees partying so much.

One of the best fiestas that San Miguel has every year is the one for Mexican Independence.

Although San Miguel has been a favorite US tourist stop for many years, most US tourists visit in the winter months for the great, spring-like winter weather. The city, however, is a Mecca for Mexican tourists during the Independence Week fiestas.

A little Mexican history: Spain ruled Mexico for 300 years—from 1521 to 1821. Spain was not an enlightened ruler and subjugated the indigenous population. The Mexican War of Independence began on September 16, 1810 and the Spanish were defeated  in 1821.

The fiesta really begins on September 15 when Father Hidalgo delivered the “Cry for Independence” (el Grito). It was on September 16 that the first Spanish prisoners were taken and incarcerated.

At 11 p.m. the cry of independence, “el Grito,” is re-enacted at Ignacio Allende’s house by the mayor of San Miguel. Then the fireworks begin with red, green, and white confetti—the colors of the Mexican flag—sprinkled from the roof of the church over the jardin, the town square.

Large towers, called castillos, are lit. These wooden towers, made by Indian craftsman, are covered with fireworks and rocket-propelled pinwheels. When the fuses are lit, rockets project up and onto the street, bouncing off nearby buildings as fireworks shoot into the sky.

The town becomes a show of light and a shower of embers fall on the streets.

The next day, September 16, is a day of more fireworks, parades, a rodeo and a bullfight.

This year, I get to celebrate cinco de mayo with my friends in Portland, Oregon, and then celebrate Mexican Independence Day with old friends and new ones in San Miguel.

 

Below is a sample of Mas o  Menos, a weekly cartoon panel about expat life in San Miguel created by Arlene's husband, Mark Saunders (look for more cartoons in future blog postings).

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