rlibkind

The Food Trust's Saturday market at Headhouse Square has always played second fiddle to the Sunday version and today, with only four vendors, was no exception. As the season progresses, however, expect plenty of additional vendors, says Nicky Uy, who manages the farmers' market program for the Food Trust. Today, however, only one produce vendor (Two Ganders Farm), two flower/plant vendors (one who's still thinking what to name the stand, the other Sunday regulars Pam and Russell Young), and Amaranth gluten-free bakery showed up. What Headhouse has going for it which the other Saturday market I visited today, Rittenhouse, do not is easy parking for those of us who live a tad too far away to walk or don't want to cope with multiple SEPTA buses. Headhouse, however, was chock full of vendors this morning, filling up the portion of Rittenhouse Square between 18th and 19th streets. Joanna Pernick, who runs this and other farmers' markets operated by Farm to City, said that as the season brings more produce to market, and hence more farmers, the market will likely "turn the corner" onto 18th street. I limited myself to a pint of strawberries and bunch of asparagus from Rineers, a regular at this and other city markets, but there were more than a dozen vendors to visit. Among the vendors I chatted with were two sellers of pig meat: Cherry Grove Farm of Lawrenceville near Princeton and Rabbit's Run of Quakertown in Bucks County. Both farms specialize in cheeses (Cherry Grove from cows, Rabbit's Run from goats), which means they've got a lot of whey left over from their cheese-making. It makes a great, cheap pig feed, so they both raise pigs. Rabbit's Run (which also sells goat meat) uses a commercial mix of pigs (Duroc and Yorkshire among them) while Cherry Grove sells meat cut from Berkshire hogs, a heritage breed admired for its fat and flavor and priced accordingly, i.e., very expensive). Among the other vendors was Fahnestock Fruit Farm, which brought hothouse tomatoes to market. Fahnestock sells at another Saturday market as well, Clark Park (year round) in West Philly, which is probably the busiest of the Saturday venues. Other Saturday markets include the Piazza at Schmidt's, Chestnut Hill, and Fitler Square (year round), with more to open later in the season. Suburban markets currently open include Bryn Mawr, Phoenixville and Wrightstown.

Flower vendors at local farmers' markets are flush with peonies. Earl Livengood had them Thursday at Fairmount, and Pam and Russell Young at the Saturday Headhouse Square market today. SWMBO has always told me that ants are essential for the tight peony blooms to blossom. I asked Russell, and he told me that, in this one instance only, I should disregard my spouse. Just cut the at the bottom before placing the stem in a little water in a vase, and they'll open up, though it may take a few days. In the photo behind the peonies and strawberries are Lauren Swartz, who frequently helps out at the Livengood's stall, and Jon Glyn of the Food Trust.

Boneless rolled veal breast can be great in a braise. I find keeping the braising liquid and flavorings simple works best, and while you can brown the meat first it's totally unnecessary. I simply make a braising liquid of Riesling which is particularly well-suited to veal.

With a boned leg, you can butterfly it and grill it like a steak. I like a one-day (maximum; any more and you'll end up with mush) bath in full fat yogurt, which is then wiped off and replaced with a dry rub of your choice (though a paste of garlic and salt with lots of sage and freshly crushed coriander would be mine) and another day in the 'fridge. Use indirect heat on your gas or charcoal grill (add smoking chips/wood if you got it) and, when done, you've got lamb pastrami.

Got to the OH last night with SWMBO and an out-of-town friend. Although both are of Norwegian heritage from extraction, only I ordered the Aquavit. Katie has concocted a classic Aquavit, the major variation being the citrus. Although fruit-flavored aquavits are hardly unknown, it's less common to find a predominantly herbal/spiced aquavit with a distinct fruit component (even though in Sweden, at least, all aquavits must contain at least some carraway, if only a miniscule amount, even those varieties that are designed to be fruit-flavored). The combination works but you also better like anise flavor, because the fennel component jumps out. It's hardly arack, but the flavor is distinct. What pleased me most is that it arrived at the table barely chilled. That's contrary to how aquavit is most commonly served, both here and in some of Scandinavia: icy cold. As I noted upthread, the proprietor of an Oslo aquavit bar insists that cold hides the flavor. SWMBO tried the Gin and Jersey and enjoyed it, though our companion, who tasted it after much of the ice had diluted the drink, remarked that's why she removes the ice when a drink comes to the table. My half dozen Pemaquids were briny and easy to slip down the gullet, especially with the mignonette sauce. (I, of course, ate way too many OTCs with horseradish.) I actually started with a fresh tasting Manhattan clam chowder and finished my small plate meal with the grilled sardine, its Omega 3 fatty acid richness offset by thin slices of what tasted like a pickled yellow tomato. SWMBO, not a big fish eater, complained at first bite that her burger was too "livery" tasting . . . but she finished it and enjoyed it. The fried potatoes reminded her (and this is a compliment) of the old O&C canned potato sticks, which are impossible to find these days. Our dining companion loved the seafood gumbo, which appeared to be filé thickened. Our only complaint is the same one we've had when dining at OH previously: noise level. Even though the room was only two-thirds full, the hard surfaces do not provide a pleasant venue for conversation. Alas, that's true of all too many restaurants these days. Is it to speed up table turnover that the designers want to amplify the sound? It didn't help that there was a party of about 12 adjacent to our table. I think the best way to enjoy the Oyster House is when you're serious about consuming quanities of shellfish uncurtailed by dining partners and you sit yourself at the bar. BTW, the Pemaquids were excellently shucked: not a single shell fragment and it seemed like all the valuable liquor was retained in the half-shell.

When the Reading Terminal Market inaugurates its farmers' market this Sunday, some producers new to the city will field stalls. Although Cherry Grove Farm's cheeses have been available at the RTM's Fair Food Farmstand for a couple of years, the Lawrenceville NJ producer has never sold directly to consumers in the city, to the best of my knowledge. Their cheeses are excellent, but they'll also be selling organic beef, pork, lamb and eggs. Other vendors in the early lineup (more may be added) include: Steve Bowes Family Farm. Eggs along with vegetables, berries, tree fruit, eggs, cut flowers, seedlings and other plants. Jack’s Farm. Organic vegetables, herbs, cut flowers, seedlings and chicken. Derick's Orchard. Preserves, baked goods, vegetables, berries and, as the season progresses, tree fruit and melons. ShellBark Hollow Farm. A familiar name to city farmers' market shoppers. Goat cheeses, yogurt, and milk. Two Gander Farms. Produce, eggs and honey. John & Kira. Chocolates. Sweet Roses Twisted Lemonade. Herbed lemonade. The RTM's farmers' market will run Sundays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. directly across 12th Street from the edifice. Working with RTM management in organizing the market has been Farm to City.

Earl Livengood at Fairmount Sam Stolfus at Fairmount Earl's baby collards Visits to both the Fairmount and South Street farmers' markets confirm that, indeed, spring has arrived. Earl Livengood made it to Fairmount last Thursday, along with Sam Stolfus and Wild Flour Bakery. Bill Weller, an orchardist who sells plants for the garden in spring, was scheduled but didn't make it; he's expected this Thursday, however. Among the although the strawberries weren't Earl's, which are a couple weeks away from harvest, the veggies were. Most unusual were the baby collard greens, which Earl classified as a mistake. Seems Earl didn't get around to pulling out last year's collard stalks and, what with the warm and early sprint, they started putting out new growth. So Earl harvested the young greens and has been selling them both here and, via a farm-to-chef service, to New York City restaurants where they are a big hit. Sam Stolfus started out selling baked goods at the Fairmount market, but in the last few years he's added more and more produce. He had plenty of early vegetables, but even though I arrived just an hour after the market opened, he had already sold out of beets. Instead, I picked up some storage beets at today's South & Passyunk market at Livengood's stand there, manned by son Dwain Livengood, friend Sam Consylman (who supplied the beets from his cellar), and farmhand John, recently back from his honeymoon. (It's the first time Ive seen Dwain since late 2008. He and wife Audrey spent all of last year on a Mennonite mission in Honduras, where Audrey taught and Dwain established a vegetable garden for a school.) Normally this time of year Sam calls me to say he's got some morels. He went looking, but few were to be had. He kept all he gathered (hardly half a pound's worth) for himself. The only other vendors at South Street yesterday were Big Sky Bakery and Taproot Farm, a new produce vendor from Berks County, who had great looking tat soi greens; I bought baby asian turnips, with greens. They accompanied carbonnade flammande for dinner (turnips roasted, greens nuked) along with steamed baby yukon potatoes from Iovine's at the RTM.

Pierce and Schurr once occupied Stall 820 at the Reading Terminal Market where Martin's Quality Meats continues the butchers' tradition. But they live on through this American Angus Association beef chart poster, which adorns the exterior wall of Martin's walk-in refrigerator. If I recall correctly, Pierce & Schurr lasted until circa 1980 at the market.

I stopped by Mid Atlantic yesterday (Market near 38th, not far from Penn campus) for lunch and just out of curiousity I asked how crowded they were for lunch on Saturday. Turns out while they do expect to be busy, they had plenty of room for lunch reservations. If it interests you (check out the menu at this link) and you think your stepdaughter and boyfriend would go along, I can recommend it.

Small 'C' potatoes at Iovine (see below) The Fair Food Farmstand at the Reading Terminal Market had plenty of fiddleheads $16/pound) and ramps ($4/bunch) this afternoon. They are considering adding a ramp supplier from a more northern area of the region, which means at least a few added weeks of availability. Both ramps and fiddleheads were quite fresh and in good shape. I'll be combining the ramps I bought today with mushrooms (both roasted) to accompany leftover flank steak. Bunches of different greens were prominently displayed at Fair Food today, too, all supplied by Paradise Organics. In addition to a variety of tender greens for salad, you could obtain Lacinato and Curly kales, rainbow chard, collard greens and mustard greens. A.T. Buzby's Jersey strawberries, available at $5.50/quart Sunday at Headhouse, could be had today at Fair Food, with a markup to $7. Simply for comparison's sake, I picked up a pint of strawberries at Iovine Brothers' Produce, $2.49, from their contract Bucks County grower, Shadybrook Farm. These berries are smaller than Buzby's giants, but still nice sized. They get the taste test for dessert tonight. Beyond berries, Iovine offered plenty of other local produce, especially various green things from Flaim Farm in South Jersey. Bunches of spinach were featured out front for 99-cents, but there was also green and red leaf, Boston and romaine lettuces, arugula, dandelion, green chard, leeks, basil, cilantro, radishes and sweet potatoes from Flaim and other South Jersey growers. They weren't local, but the 'C' sized red and yukon potatoes (photo above) sure looked tempting, especially at 99-cents/pound. Might be time for some potato salad. Busman's holiday? Tom Nicolosi, proprietor of Dinic's, can't get enough of the heat from his ovens. So he went out and bought himself one of the Green Egg outdoor ceramic barbecues. He started experimenting last weekend and loves it; he even is going to try to make red gravy (Italian tomato meat sauce) in it! In my garden, the chives are starting to flower. They should be fully open tomorrow when I'll add the edible blooms to salad.

Rotisserie update: The chickens were going round and round on Charles Giunta's rotisserie today, but they weren't for sale. Charles is still testing and tweaking the device, but hopes to offer birds for public sale this weekend.

When the Fairmount Farmers' Market opens for the 2010 season Thursday afternoon, regulars from past seasons will return. Leading the way will be Earl Livengood. If we're lucky he'll have his gorgeous lilacs to provide color and aroma, and morels gathered by neighbor Sam Consylman. Sam Stoltzfus who sells both produce and Amish style baked goods will also be back, as will Bill Well from Orchard Hill Farms in Pennsylvania's Northern Tier, though at this time of year Bill only brings plants for home gardens. Wild Flour bakery is also expected go be back at the market, which begins its run at 3 p.m. at the corner of Fairmount Avenue and 22nd Street. Rueben Lapp of Country Meadow Farms will be back with his meats in another two weeks, according to Katy Wich, who manages the market for the Food Trust.

Giunta's Prime Shop should begin roasting chickens soon at the Reading Terminal Market, now that proprietor Charles Giunta's legal battle with market management over whether he could add that item to his inventory has been won. As of yesterday, the rotisserie had been installed, but needs a bit of tweaking before the birds start turning. Expect to see them cooking sometime later this week. Given the diminutive size of the countertop appliance, it hardly provides significant competition to Dienner's, which has rotisseries lining its back wall.

At today's opening of the Sunday Headhouse Square market the biggest surprise came from A.T. Buzby. Despite my prediction as recently as yesterday that local strawberries had a few more weeks before they made a solid appearance. Buzby had loads of them, grown out-of-doors. The quart I purchased ($5.50) is destined for dessert tonight, but the single berry I tasted -- admittedly, the reddest in the bunch -- was real. Good flavor, and it will require only the smallest boost from some added sugar. Tom Culton of Culton Organics had a line of fawning purchasers for his pricey produce today. He also flashed a small quantity of morels at me, which he said he should have available next Sunday (figure north of $100/pound, which would make them expensive, even for fresh morels which usually sell for about $65). The ones Tom displayed looked big and clean. Whether I'd pay that much for them is an entirely different matter. Ringing the opening bell for the 2010 Headhouse Square Farmers Market were Lindsay and Brad Lidge. The Phillies' reliever and his wife have long been active in local charities both here in Philadelphia and, before that, in Houston when pitcher was an Astro. Lindsay, who has a background in nutrition, will be writing healthy eating tips weekly for the Food Trust's web site. There were plenty of vendors at Headhouse today, though Blooming Glen, which usually anchors the southwest entrance to the Shambles, was missing. Katy Wich, manager of the market, said the farm has skipped opening day in recent years because they just don't have enough to sell so early in the season. Among all the produce vendors at Headhouse, Tom Murtha and Tricia Borneman's Blooming Glen usually has the cornucopiest stall, overflowing with great looking produce, so it's worth the wait.

Some warehouse stores have them. I bought one (might have been a Misto) for less than $20 a couple weeks ago at BJ's Warehouse. Works like a charm.

Northland makes some of the best sheep cheese to be found anywhere. Though I'm blessed by a plethora of farmers' markets in the Philadelphia area, as well as the great Reading Terminal Market (a public as opposed to farmers' market), I do miss the Ithaca market. It's here I learned of Northland, and tasted many, many varities of antique apples. And the breakfast of South Asian fritters kept me going 'til dinnertime. Maryrose Livingston (below) is maintaining the great tradition of Northland started by Jane and Karl North.

The Headhouse Square Farmers' Market begins the new season with its opening tomorrow at 10 a.m. The Fairmount market, also sponsored by The Food Trust, starts its season Tuesday afternoon (3 p.m.) at 22nd and Fairmount. From then, other markets will start their seasons through May and into June. For full schedules, visit these websites: All Markets, Farm To City Philadelphia Markets, The Food Trust Suburban Markets, The Food Trust When Headhouse opens tomorrow, one of the new vendors will be Renaissance Sausage. Basically, a lunch truck. They'll be offering Country Herb, Mediterranean, Chicken and Vegetarian sausages. Here's the expected roster of other vendors: Produce: AT Buzby, Queen's Farm, Three Springs Fruit Farm, Savoie Organics, Weavers Way Farm, Culton Organics, Happy Cat Organics Meats: Griggstown Quail Farm, Mt. View Poultry Dairy: Hillacres Pride, Patches of Star Dairy, Birchrun Hills (Birchrun also offers some meats) Baked goods: Wild Flour, Ric's Breads Flowers, plants: Longview Farm, Young's Garden, Hurley's Nursery Other: John & Kira's Chocolates, Joe Coffee, Busy Bee Farm, Stargazers Vineyard, Talula's Table

Kauffman's Lancaster County Produce offered local strawberries at the Reading Terminal Market today. But only technically. These berries, priced at $5.95/pint (two for $10) were raised indoors, according to Benuel Kauffman. Don't expect to see outdoor grown local strawberries for at least another two weeks, more likely three. Ben also had some gorgeous looking indoor-grown seedless cukes, at least a foot long each. Both Iovine Brothers Produce and the Fair Food Farmstand are selling veggies from New Jersey's Flaim Farm. Both, for example, had Flaim's leeks ($1.75/pound at FF, $1.95/pound for smaller examples at Iovine's). As I wrote last year when Iovine's began carrying Flaim's produce (sometimes marketed under the name Panther), the Vineland farm produces romaine, kohlrabi, spinach, mustard greens, collard greens, swiss chard (green, red), rainbow kale, turnips, napa cabbage, squash, eggplant (four varieties), peppers, escarole, endive. tomatillos and scallions on 450 acres. The farm was established in 1934 and is now operated by brothers Kevin and Bob Flaim. They also sell at the Collingswood Farmers’ Market. Iovine's is also handling another producer's output in common with Fair Food: eggs from Natural Meadow Farms, Lancaster County. Fair Foods still had fiddleheads today, $16/pound. No sign of ramps anywhere at the market, but FF had some rather pungent fresh spring garlic. IPM asparagus was $3.30/bunch, chemical-free stalks $3.50. Most of the halibut I see at the Reading Terminal hails from Alaska, usually frozen. Today, at a savings of $7/pound vs. the $18.99 for the Alaskan version, John Yi had firm white filets from Canada. I bought some to try tomorrow. One of the fishmongers said it's slightly "fishier" than the Alaskan version, which is no sin in my book so long as it's fresh. Boston mackerel also made a reappearance at Yi's, $2.99/pound for whole fish. Jim Iovine was touting tomatoes and corn this week. I tried the former, and they weren't bad: $1.49 pints of cherry tomatoes that, if they didn't quite taste like summer, came close.

I don't recall purchasing rib eye from any of the Headhouse vendors (though I had great veal brisket from Birchrun Hills). I don't think any beef vendors will be there this Sunday, which is the first of the season. Two poultry producers, Griggstown Quail Farm and Mountain View Poultry, are scheduled. Later in the season I would expect to see some beef available. In almost all cases, meats come to market frozen. Most of the beef you're likely to find a farmers' market will be grass-fed. Quite healthy for you, and can be tasty, but I do prefer corn-finished beef. Livengoods, which I understand will be at the Fairmount Market next Thursday afternoon, and at South & Passyunk beginning the following Tuesday afternoon, does sell some of son Dwain's beef; again, frozen. A beef vendor also shows up at the Piazza at Schmidt's, as do a number of beef vendors at the Saturday Rittenhouse Square market. There should also be some when the Reading Terminal Market begins its Sunday farmers' market in mid-May, but then, you could simply go to the Fair Food Farmstand in the market which offers (mostly) frozen grass-fed beef from a number of area farms, including rib eyes from Natural Acres, Millersburg. (If I'm buying rib eye, however, I'd rather get some four-week dry aged prime beef from Harry Ochs or, if I want to spend a bit less, excellent quality beef -- usually choice, but sometimes prime -- from Charles Giunta.) As much as I'd like to, I don't get out to the burbs to try the markets too often. Below are links to the schedules of farmers' markets operated by The Food Trust and Farm To City which includes locations and dates/times of all their markets, city and suburban. (Note: Farm to City hasn't put in opening dates for some of their markets yet.) The Food Trust Farm to City

I've written in other topics about the kringles of Racine, Wisconsin, but decided -- after returning from another Wisconsin sojourn -- that they deserve their own topic. Racine is a city that until recently had more Danes than any other in the world save Copenhagen. And where there are Danes there's Danish. The highest expression of the baker's art in Racine is the Kringle, the oval pastry pictured here at Bendtsten's. They come in myriad flavors, though the most popular for very good reason is the pecan; my favorite, though, is the almond macaroon. Bendtsten's is one of three bakeries in Racine known for their kringle (the others are O&H and Larsen's), and each has their partisans. A few other bakeries make kringles, but only these three are worth eating. I'm solidly a Bendtsen's enthusiastic Maybe it's the 1920s era oven shown here. More likely is the fact that while the other bakers introduce vegetable shortening to their pastry, at Bendsten's its strictly butter, and lots of it. Whether you get one of the smaller single-serving pastries, a large kringle or any of their other goodies, Bendsten's has what my in-laws admitted is a flavor that "is how kringles used to taste". Which is not to say that you should pass by the other bakeries. If cake is your thing, Larsen's is tops, especially their Danish layer cake, a soft yellow cake with raspberry filling and a luscious butter cream icing. Over at O&H, She Who Must Be Obeyed adores the poppyseed sweet rolls (your basic Danish pastry). However, at O&H's Danish Uncle specialty store I make a beeline for the deli counter where I order the rollepølse, a brined, pressed lamb cold cut. Two pounds are now sitting in my home freezer. All three bakeries also produce Seven Sisters, a coffee cake made by layering Danish pastry dough, creamed almond filling, custard and seven spiraled rolls. I haven't made a taste comparion, but any of them will demand a full urb of strong brew.

The culinary highlight of a week in Madison for us was a new restaurant, Cooper's Tavern on the north side of Capitol Square. It's billed as an Irish pub, but it's a lot better than that. (Though the one pub item I tasted was disappointing. More on that later.) Beer is essential for any pub and Cooper's doesn't disappoint. They didn't have one of my fav Wisconsin brews, Spotted Cow, so I opted for its stylistic equivalent, Lake Louie Cream Ale. Tasty, but I still prefer the unfiltered Spotted Cow. Overall a lot of nice choices both on tap and in bottles: not an overwhelming number of beers like you'd find at Monk's back home in Philadelphia but a broad selection to satisfy just about any craving. Speaking of Monk's, their Flemish Sour Ale, made in Belgium, made the draft list; Victory and Dogfish were among the Philadelphia area brews represented among the bottles. For food I could not resist the veal bone marrow appetizer, a longitudinally sliced femur of fine fat. The lengthwise butchering of the bone made it easy to spread the marrow on points of pumpernickel. The whole dish was made even better by half a dozen cloves of roasted garlic to add even more depth to the marrow flavor. With my diet blown between the marrow and the beer I went with a bowl of bacon-studded cabbage soup as my second and last course. Not exactly a diet dish, but no carbs beyond the cabbage's. It was a rich, vegetable soup that I'd gladly consume on a cold winter's eve. My companions (She Who Must Be Obeyed, a.k.a. SWMBO, and Executive Chef Tim Larsen's mom, Marlette) went for the sliders, a salad and the cottage pie. SWMBO's sliders were made high quality meat and served on small rolls that seemed to be a cross between brioche and biscuit, accompaied by hand-made potato chips hot from the fryer. Her salad, one of four on the menu, was spinach with crunchy, sweet and savory accents provided by brandied cranberries, walnuts, pear, apple, and crisped goat cheese in a balsamic vinaigrette. The cottage pie was a bit odd on two counts. First, it wasn't cottage pie. Where shepherd's pie is traditionally made with minced lamb, cottage pie is beef. This cottage pie, however, was made from lamb. And it wasn't really a pie at all, or even a casserole where the meat and veggies form the bottom layer topped by mashed potatoes. Instead, this was a large lump of the potatoes topped and lamb and gravy. Certainly satisfying, according to Marlette, but not what I would have expected. Highlights of the appetizers I intend to try on future visits include house made soft pretzels (strictly to compare with the Philadelphia version) served with a Belgian beer-Dubliner cheese dip; twice-fried Belgian fries (also done as poutine with gravy and curds); and, rounding out the appetizers, a take on Scotch egg using a local bratwurst patty as the wrapper. Among the sandwiches (all the popular meats plus burger, the latter accented with a couple strips of pork belly rather than bacon), I'd opt for the lamb on sourdough with tomato jam, caramelized onions and provolone. For an entree, I've definitely have to try the Pork Belly Mac with porter-glazed fresh bacon, Dubliner cheddar mac and cheese and baguette. Fish and chips, curried chicken (British style), goat cheese polenta and bourbon salmon with cranberries, truffled mushrooms, mashed and veggies are also on the entree list. The lunch menu is pretty similar, less the entrees. Coopers Tavern has only been open for a couple of months and still has kinks to work out: the server screwed up the order of service and, of course, blamed it on the kitchen. Tim wasn't in the kitchen, since we met him outside leaving as we were entering; my guess is he wouldn't be amused no matter where the failure originated. Still, that wouldn't keep me from returning. Larsen has created a something for everyone gastro pub menu that would be admired for both creativity and execution anywhere. The following night we dined with an old friend of SWMBO, Jerry Minnich, who long held tenure as the restaurant reviewer for Isthmus, Madison's alternative newspaper. (Then again, everything in Madison is alternative; it's like Ithaca with a state capital thrown in.) Jerry took us to Bandung, a local Indonesian restaurant where he's a regular. To start we shared an order of Otak-Otak, a fish cake grilled in banana leaf served with a spicy garlic peanut sauce. I would have eaten two orders myself: clean fish flavor and great texture set off nicely by the sauce. Jerry and SWMBO selected Krakatoa as their mains, a sizzling platter of lightly battered chicken breast (you could also get shrimp or tempeh) served on a bed of steamed veggies and bean sprouts with garlic sauce. Back to my diet, I ordered a bowl of Asse Cabe, shredded chicken atop soft mung bean noodles, lemon grass and jalapenos served in a candle nut and sweet soy sauce.

Yesterday's Italian Festival at the Reading Terminal Market nearly didn't happen. The reason: what many merchants consider a harassing approach by the city's Health Department. Even the pig paid a price. The roast pig from Cannuli's couldn't be served from a single piece. Instead, the Health Department insisted it be cut up in smaller pieces. Hence, Tom Nicolosi of DiNic's and Rich Foley of Martin's took their knives over to Tootsie's to do the dirty deed. Ostensibly, according to RTM GM Paul Steinke, the inspector thought keeping the animal whole would not allow it to keep at a safe temperature. The bureaucrats' insistence that one merchant submit a special HAACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) Plan for squeezing orange juice just for this occasion, something he does at his stall with Health Department approval, caused that vendor to withdraw from the festival. As Steinke delicately told me, there was intense "interaction" with the health inspectors. Some of the merchants were less delicate. Nonetheless, despite the diffficulties, center court was filled with tables displaying and dispensing Italian goodies, from espresso from Old City Coffee to Italian style beef chuck roast from Dinic's. It was not, however, the market's first-ever Italian festival. Dom Spataro said one was held in the early 1990s. Of course, given the number of Italian-American merchants, every day is an Italian festival at the Reading Terminal.

The Fair Food Farmstand at the Reading Terminal Market had great ramps and fiddleheads this week. Thursday I parboiled the fiddleheads, completed cooking by steaming, then finished by tossing them in a little olive oil and garlic. Great accompaniment to some sockeye salmon from Trader Joe's I had defrosted. Both Fair Food and Iovine Brothers Produce offered two types of asparagus yesterday. At Fair Food it was certified organic vs. the less expensive IPM (Integrated Pest Management). At Iovine's New Jersey stalks were $3.99 vs. $2.99 from those from California. Over at John Yi's the soft shell crabs are back, pricey as usual: four for $20.

That's how my veal marrow bone appetizer was served last week at Cooper's Tavern, Madison, Wi.

The Dane County Farmers' Market opened for the 2010 season today around the capitol building in Madison WI. Lots of cheese and meats, some early spring (and root) veggies, etc.