rlibkind

Sounds yummy, Andrew. I picked up some plain old mild Italian sausages a few weeks ago to have with some baked penne and they were perfect. But don't forget Harry Ochs' sausages, either. I used some chorizo in a caldo verde when the cold weather first hit and it was superb.btw, how did that pork belly from Charles Giunta turn out as bacon?

Cheese Steak correction. In previous post I erred in reporting that the Down Home Diner offered cheese steaks. That used to be the case, but not now. Recently revised menu, however, only lists a cheese steak burger, i.e., a burger with provolone, peppers and onions.

Earlier this week I returned to the Spring Garden Market, the large Asian supermarket at Fourth and Spring Garden and was delighted by some of my finds. In the meat case, frozen whole ducks could be obtained for $2.19/pound, including those Pennsylvania-raised birds by J. Jurgilewicz & Son. Over in the produce section a great-tasting find were the Clementines priced at $1.79/pound. The taste was marveous, and the 10 I bought were totally seedless. I'm going back for more. Avocados were a relative bargain at 94-cents apiece. BTW, last winter I picked up a couple of pounds of pork belly; it braised very nicely.

I've neglected these past few weeks to mention that fresh, unpasteurized apple cider has been available at the Reading Terminal Market. You can get it at Kauffman's Lancaster County Produce and, on Saturdays, at Earl Livengood's. I've taken lately to heating it up, then adding a shot of bourbon and half a shot of apple brandy (Laird's 7-1/2 year old 100 percent version). If the weather's warm, use a highball glass, fill with ice, and top with a splash of ginger ale. Unless I've missed something, the ciders I've seen at Headhouse have been pasteurized. Making a butternut or pumpkin soup? A splash of the cider won't hurt. Craving a cheese steak while at the Reading Terminal Market? Rick's may have moved on, but you can still satisfy your urge at either Spataro's or the Down Home Diner. I haven't tasted either, so I can't vouch for them. It shouldn't affect shoppers, but a new validation technology started this week for the Parkway garage across 12th street from the RTM. Merchants had to install new validators. Still the same price for customers: $3 for stays under two hours with when you spend $10 (cumulative) and get your parking ticket validated at by an RTM merchant. Overstay the two hours and your fee will escalate rapidly. The Pennsylvania General Store will be honored by the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce as its Retailer of the Year. Proprietors Mike and Julie Holahan opened the business at the Reading Terminal Market 21 years ago. Market representatives will be among those attending the Nov. 6 awards dinner at the Hyatt Regency.

Funny thing about that Rye bread: I almost bought it 'cause it was baked in my home down, Elizabeth NJ (no surprise, it has a very large Polish population). Katie, I definitely noticed the case of frozen perogies, but we had just stuffed ourselves silly with them for lunch, and I'm out of freezer room. But next time . . . . . As for the preserves and other grocery items, it's a lot closer than Bell's, though the latter has a much wider selection.

If they're bigger than a Jonathan, I doubt they'd be Macs. In any event, I vote for baking. Try one that way and see how it works.

With the cold, rainy, windy weather today, what better way to wait out the day then a hearty Eastern European lunch. So after filling ourselves with soup, pierogy and potato pancakes at Syrenka Luncheonette, we ran between the drops on Richmonad Avenue to Krakus Market, whereupon we arrived at Krakus Market home to many different kielbasi. (Please correct my Polish for the plural!) Among the many varieties I spied: Warszawska, Warsaw style; Weselena, Wedding kielbasa; Kabanosy, Polish "slim jim"; Mysliwska, Hunter's kielbasa (smoked longer); Zwyczajna, regular smoked kielbasa; Krakowska Swieza, Cracow kielbasa (cooked); Jalowcowa, Juniper kielbasa; Kielbasa Ostra, hot and spicy; Polska Surowa Wedzona, double smoked kielbasa; Szynkowa, ham kielbasa; Poznanska, smoked rope kielbasa;Wiejska, country style (whatever that means); Serdelki, wieners; and Kaszansa, kishke (blood sausage). Lots of other goodies in the meat case, too. I walked away with Boczer Zawijany, rolled bacon with herbs. But also available were: Pieczek Rzymska, Meat Loaf; Pasztetowa, liverwurst; Pasztet, pork liver pate; Salceson Wloski, Italian headcheese; Salceson Czarny, blood and tongue; Salceson Bialy, headcheese; Metka, metwurst; Boczer Pieczony, roast rib belly; and Galareta Wieprzowa, jellied pigs feet. But the biggest find, to me, were the herrings, particulary the salt herring fillets, loose bulk in a tub of brine. I've been considering mail ordering a few pounds so I could create my own pickled herrings, now I've got a source just a trolley ride away (Route 23, and for only $2.99/pound (vs. up to $8 a pound plus shipping if ordered off the web)! Krakus Market also had a tub of milkers (headless but innard-intact male schmaltz herrings, so you can enjoy the milt). Plus there was a very decent variety of packaged herrings: in cream and various other sauces, matjes, rollmops, etc.

Termini Brothers is offering "Bones" for All Saints Day. They are hard-to-the-teeth pastries (they appear to be flour-reinforced meringue) shaped in the form of bones, spirits, gravestones, etc. Hard to imagine they're not also available at the South Philly bakery and Termini's other locations. Fair Food Farmstand is selling heritage breed turkeys from Griggstown Quail Farm at a considerable savings compared to what Griggstown charges at its own stall at Headhosue Square: $6.50 pound at the Farmstand's Reading Terminal Market outlet vs. $7.99 by Griggstown at Headhouse. In addition, the Farrmstand is selling traditional turkeys for $2.99 (naturally raised) or $$4.50 (certified organic). Don't count on picking one up on a lark the day before Thanksgiving; reservations are essential. For the rest of your Thanksgiving table, you can take advantage of Fair Food Farmstand's other offerings, including both common and unusual squashes and white and red cranberries. Aaack! The Farmstand is still using the term "wildcrafted". Last spring it was used to describe fiddlehead ferns. In the FFF's most recent weekly newsletter they are promoting Hen of the Woods mushrooms "wildcrafted by Patrick Murphy". Wildcrafted is taken to mean the gathering of wild plants in a manner which causes no permanent harm to the environment or the species. The goal is laudable, the nomenclature deplorable, a grave abuse of the English language worthy only of the most depraved advertising copywriter. How about "sustainably-gathered" instead? Wild-crafted erroneously suggests Patrick created/raised/nurtured the mushrooms. Oh, well. At least the newsletter no longer considers the Jonamac a heritage apple!

Based on visits the last two Sundays, Headhouse Square's roster of vendors, though still strong, are fading with the autumn leaves. But there's still plenty of good produce from a variety of farmers to choose from. Queens Farm offers a small, selective but unusual array of vegtetables, including these bowl-shaped Ta Tsai greens suitable for use as salad or in cooking, though I can't imagine the latter since it would destroy the beautiful sculpture formed by these lovelies. Better to place of scoop of Asian-inflected chicken or fish salad in the center. North Star had three different Asian pears the last two weeks. I picked up the Hosui variety, which were crisp but incredibly juicy. Five or six varieties of apples were also offered by North Star, as well as at other fruit vendors, including Three Springs and Beechwood Orchard. Bunches of credibly fresh, thin-bulbed scallions (a.k.a. green onions) were selling for $2 at Blooming Glen at the south entrance to the Headhouse shambles. Queens Farm, meanwhile, had what at first glance appeared to be scallions but upon closer inspection (by the nose) were clearly small bunches of pugent fresh garlic. A number of the Headhouse vendors will be there on the day before Thanksgiving (Nov. 26). You can order pies, turkey, sides, etc., in advance from them. Griggstown Quail Farm offers Red Bourbon turkeys at $7.99 pound, traditional birds at $3.79.

Corned beef? Steak tartare? Kibbe?

A lovely tale, Meanderer. Where, pray tell, did this ritual take place? At least tell us the state if it wasn't in Pennsylvania!

At the intersection of Rt. 130 and Haddon Avenue in Collingswood, just across the line from Camden, Roney's Restaurant has been serving up breakfast fare, burgers and sandwiches since 1981, and before that as an outpost of the Midwestern-based White Tower chain, established as a White Castle immitator. For this former Elizabethan living in Philadelphia for the last 29 years, Roney's was (excuse the Hackensack-related pun), manna from heaven. I first found Roney's about 10 years ago in search of authentic Jersey sliders akin to the White Diamond burgers I enjoyed in the 1960s and 70s. Regrettably, the small slider was taken off the menu a couple months ago, so now it's just this regular-sized burger (my guess is it's five or six ounces): But it's a decent burger, even if it had been pre-shaped. The secret is that the shaping doesn't compact it to death, and the cook restrains herself from further compacting on the diner's small grill. Hence, it arrives reasonably juicy even when well done. Topped with sauteed onions, the burger definitely satisfies. And at $2.80, fairly priced. This is a joint that looks like it's a favored sobering-up spa after the bars close. Breakfast looks to be the main attraction, with pancakes, three-egg omelets, Jersey pork roll and similar goodies. When I visited in the late morning, a man with a food truck (the type serving manufacturing plants at lunch and college dorms at night) was loading up on burgers, french fries, onion rings and a limited assortment of sandwiches. For nostalgia sake alone, a visit to Roney's Restaurant would be rewarding. And the burgers beat out McDonald's and Burger King any time.

I've long known that there was a Hungarian heritage in Trenton, thanks to a family friend raised there who went to school with Ernie Kovacs. But I never had an opportunity to experience the little bit that remains until this past Saturday night, when we met cousins there for dinner, since it is about halfway between our respective homes in Manalapan (them) and Philadelphia (us). Our meeting place was the Blue Danube Restaurant, just off South Broad at the corner of Elm and Adeline. The restaurant, carved out of the first floor of a house with a kitchen addition in the rear, was suitably Mittle-European inside, with lots of dark woods and moderately dark lighting (though still sufficiently illuminated for easy menu reading). Lively violins and clarinets could occasionally be heard over the room's gentle din. Maybe there were 12 or 14 tables (about two-thirds of them four tops) in the two-level dining room, which seemed considerably larger thanks to mirrors on the raised level. The food was old style: plentiful, rib-sticking and tasty. Nothing nouveau here. We started out with a pickled vegetable platter which was a little more mundane that I would have wished. Cucumber pickles, some celery, some carrots, one or two tiny pieces of cauliflower, excellent slices of pickled beets and some whole cherry peppers. There's lots more variety just walking down the pickled veggie aisle at a Russian supermarket, like Bell's Crossing in Philadelphia. Still, the pickles did their job in whetting our appetites. Most entrees come with either soup or salad. Three of our party selected the salad which, as I would properly expect, was largely composed of chopped vegetables with just a few pieces of lettuce added to satisfy suburban American expectations. All agreed it was quite good; the selection of dressings was much akin to a Rt. 130 diner's. I opted for the cream of mushroom soup and was pleasantly surprised. Most COMs tend to be overly thickened, usually with cornstarch or a lightly cooked roux. While this soup had sufficient body, it avoided the pastyness I've come to dread. More important, the flavor of dried mushrooms predominated, much to my pleasure. Since this was my first trip to Blue Danube, I wanted to experience as broad a variety of samples as I could, so I was grateful for the Touch of Hunedoara (which my cousin Jeff also ordered), overloaded with wiener schnitzel, stuffed cabbage, a Romanian sausage, and a noddle-fried cabbage mix. It came with a choice of another vegetable, so I selected more cabbage, this time red. The schnitzel was a perfectly cooked, thin, four or five-inch square of greaseless board of veal (next time I might go for the Jaegerschnitzrel plate, which is schnitzel with a mushroom [hunter's] sauce). The stuffed cabbage reminded me of one of the two versions my mother cooked: the sour one, which was braised with extra cabbage and sour kraut. (Her other version was sweet-and-sour, with a decided tomato presence.) The most interesting meat on the plate was the mititei, a Romanian (not Hungarian) beef-veal casing-less sauage. It's basically highly seasoned minced meat (I think I detected garlic and coriander among the many flavors) formed into a sausage shape, then grilled. Jeff didn't care for it too much, nor did his wife; I enjoyed it with dabs of the accompanying mustard, but given all the other wonderful things on my plate, it was the only protein I didn't completely devour. Jeff's wife opted for the lamb chops, a bargain at $22. Five or six little rib chops cut from the rack and Frenched. She ordered hers with roasted potatoes and a dish of stringbeans cooked with onions and bacon; the beans were soft without being mush, and the onions and bacon elevated them considerably. The same beans were selected by She Who Must Be Obeyed, whose Chicken Paprikash (tender and flavorful) was accompanied by Spaetzle. I purposely only dabbled with my noddles to leave room for dessert, since I've yet to meet a strudel I didn't like. In this version some substantial, firm pieces of apple (tasted like Granny Smith) were encased phylllo dough (I'm probably one of the few who likes the cakier type) and was adequate. Jeff enjoyed a pumpkin-cranberry cheesey cake, and SWMBO liked her plain cheesecake, which was considerably lighter than she expected. You don't go to Blue Danube for dessert. It may be Central European, but it's not a Viennese cafe. With the cool weather upon us, it's an ideal spot for some heart-warming (and clogging) central European home-style cooking. Open for lunch as well as dinner, but the website doesn't list hours.

We were there in May and again in July. Some slight seasonal changes (particularly the ice creams). Holds up well on repeat visits! Only minor disappointment from She Who Must Be Obeyed is the chocolate fountain: more showy than tasty. I'd definitely go for the nitrogen-frozen dessert.

A different tack on pickling fish is a quick pickle AFTER the fish as been cooked. Basically, pan-fry the fish (I've used fresh and salt mackeral filets, headed-but-bone-in fresh herring, etc.), then layer in a dish, top with sliced onions. I then mix vinegar and water with a little sugar and whatever whole spices suit my fancy (allspice works, among many others). Let it sit in the fridge overnight and enjoy the next day. This is a pickle for flavor, not long-term storage; eat within a day or two.

Re: Bassetts vs. Capogiro. That's like debating apples vs. pears. Their both good! Gelato is gelato and ice cream is ice cream. Yes, they're both frozen treats, and it's perfectly fine to have a preference for gelato over ice cream or ice cream over gelato. But they are different products. There are lots of great ice creams out there, and Bassetts is among them. Most of the flavors are true (I'm partial to rum raisin), the butterfat content suitably high, and the overrun perfect (I don't care for low overrun ice creams like Ben & Jerry's; it's got to have some air to create the mouth-feel I enjoy; likewise, too much overrun, frequently found in cheaper ice creams, is not a good thing). Asher's isn't the only chocolate carried by the Pennsylvania General Store. If you haven't tried the Neuchatel truffles, you're missing a treat. They are made in Oxford, Chester County, by a little old Swiss chocolatier, Albert Lauber who represents the fifth generation of his chocolate-making family. (And the Pennsylvania General Store also sells Wilbur Buds: the original Hershey Kiss.) Confirming Capaneus's understanding, DiNic's does have both rabe and spinach daily. And though I find it hard to order anything other the pork sandwich, I do occasionally stray into roast beef territory. Tommy's medium-rare cold roast beef (get it with horseradish and peppers) is yummy. I've never been a big fan of Beiler's baked goods. It's more a matter of I don't like that style of sweet goods rather than they don't do a competent job.

Last Thursday was a beautiful day for a field trip, so I visited some fields. In this case, they were in the Black Dirt belt of Pine Island, N.Y., just over the border from northwestern New Jersey, a three-hour ride from Philadelphia. The ostensible purpose of the trip was not to view the Black Dirt farms (ideal for growing yellow onions, but also good for potatoes and all sorts of other veggies), but to collect my annual supply of Cox Orange Pippins, an apple variety that I am quick to tell all and anyone is one of the finest dessert (fresh-eating) apples in the world. They're hard to find, but Warwick Valley Winery & Distillery's pick-your-own operation has a row of them along with many other varieties of apples. The winery is located just a half-mile down the road form the fields pictured here. The Cox Orange Pippin is a finicky fruit; like many other "antique" apples, it's not a commercially appealing variety, since you only get a decent yield every other year. The variety dates back to the early 1800s and remains a much-loved apple in England, which is imported from South Africa in the off-season much as we do fruit from Chile. Today's Gala apple is a descendant of the Cox Orange Pippin. Other than Warwick Valley Winery, the closest grower of this apple to Philadelphia of which I'm aware is Holy Root Farm in New Tripoli in Lehigh County. Farmer Rick Stuby advised me that his crop doesn't look so hot this year, hence, the trip to New York State. Warwick Valley Winery, btw, makes killer hard cider from apples and/or pears. For those wishing to learn more about the Black Dirt Belt of Pine Island, there was an interesting article last year in The New York Times.

White and red cranberries are in season at the Fair Food Farmstand. Lemons and limes were both eight for a buck at Iovine Brothers Produce Saturday, and rather ripe but eminently useable Hass avocados were a buck apiece. Iovine's local red bell peppers were selling for 99 cents, as were suntans; the orange and yellows (not local) were $1.99. Regular and Sicilian eggplants from South Jersey were two pounds for a dollar. Across the way at L. Halteman, quince was $1.99 and both butternut and acorn squashes 69-cents. Andy of Hershel's East Side Deli said he's eliminated the middleman and is now buying his briskets (for corned beef and brisket) and navels (for pastrami) directly from one of the major Midwest suppliers. He's also brining his own corned beef and pastrami. Much to my surprise, Andy said he doesn't smoke his pastrami; it's all done through the magic of the cure and the seasonings. After some web research I learned, indeed, that pastrami does not necessarily have to be smoked to be authentic and tasty. Whodathunk? Those $6.49/pound packs of duck legs at Giunta's Prime Shop. I wrote about in a previous post were $5.95 as of this past Saturday. I picked up some mild Italian sausage Saturday from Martin's Quality Meats & Sausages; I sliced and sauteed them to top a penne baked with homemade tomato sauce (made from Roma's from Margerum's at Headhouse), fresh mozarella, ricotta, and parmesan. Chocolate By Mueller at the RTM has long been a licorice-lover's delight. This week I discovered a favorite hard candy among them: Hopjes, a Dutch coffee-flavored confection. I was reacquainted with this treat earlier this year when a couple of pieces arrived with the check at the Belgium Cafe in Fairmount. Work has started at Jonathan's Best, the grocery-soup-sandwich emporium which will occupy the former Natural Connection/Margerum's space. The new shop is looking for a late October opening. Last week I complained about the condition of the stools at Fisher's. RTM GM Paul Steinke advises the vendor will be re-doing his stand, but not until after Christmas. The RTM's annual Harvest Festival is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 18. There will be hayrides around the block, stacks of hay along Harry Ochs Way (Filbert Street), a pumpkin patch, and special autumn treats from a number of vendors. Mitch "Wild Thang" Williams was selling his salsa and signing autographs Saturday. A portion of the proceeds went to the Greater Philadelphia Chapter of the ALS Association.

Tom Culton never fails to put together a photogenic display of his produce, like these leeks and white sweet potatoes at his Culton Organics stand at the Headhouse Farmers' Market Sunday. No less impressive are the varieties of colorful French carrots from Culton. This was the weekend for me to pick up some Roma (plum) tomatoes. I purchased mine from Margerum's at Headhouse, but there were beautiful speciments from other vendors there, as well as at the Reading Terminal Market Saturday (Rineer's Family Farm, selling via Fair Food Farmstand, and at Benuel Kaufman's Lancaster County Produce). The price at most vendors hovered around $2/pound, though you could get a deal if you were planning to make a lot of sauce and could buy by the case. I skinned, cored and seeded the quart from Margerum's and made a sauce with onions, garlic (lots) and basil, which then went into some penne baked with parmesan, fresh mozzarella and ricotta. I topped it with some slices of sauteed mild Italian sausage from Martin's of the RTM. Radishes seem to be back en force with the autumnal equinox. I purchased a bunch of French radishes, along with some Toscano kale. Among other fall vegetables, Culton, Earl Livengood and others are offering sweet, young knobs of celeriac; julienne and serve tossed with a remoulade sauce, or puree and mix with mashed potatoes. The hurricane remants that but a damper on outdoor activities the Saturday before last caused the postponement of 10th anniversary festivities of the Clark Park Market operated by The Food Trust. Re-mark it on your calendar for Oct. 4.

Fishers' Stools Stink Walking around the Reading Terminal Market this morning I noticed the stools at Fisher's, the Pennsylvania Dutch section merchant who sells fresh pretzels, ice cream and candies. Seems like a little minor investment is in order. Certainly doesn't reflect well on the merchant or the entire Amish section. Proprietor Paul Fisher should either recover the stools, replace them or remove them. Keeping up appearances by individual merchants is in tune with some minor sprucing up market management is undertaking: a repainting of the seating areas, additional bins for recyclables, and the ordering of a new striped awnings to adorn the Arch and 12th street sides. Another merchant volunteered to me with no prompting that he thought it weird that the row between aisles 8 and 10 is where most of the market's vacancies occur. The market would still like to locate a produce vendor when Rick Olivieri vacates his space Oct. 31. GM Paul Steinke would love to see the Fair Food Farmstand move there, but placing produce where they get afternoon sunlight makes it a less than idea location for that use without significant engineering and electricity consumption. Fair Food will be spending more on electricity soon, even if they stay in place. Co-manager Sarah Cain said a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will pay for refrigerated vegetable gondolas, which should improve the shelf-life and quality of produce that needs cooler temperatures. That means some significant rearranging of the stand's layout is in the offing, including a possible expansion into a small part of the adjacent seating area. Another grant has been awarded for improved signage, which will be designed once the details on the new refrigeration equipment and stall design is locked up. The Fair Food Farmstand also began accepting USDA food stamp electronic cards this week. It's something many of The Food Trust's farmers markets have been doing for a while. The fall cabbage crop has started to show up at produce vendors. Earl Livengood had small heads of red and green cabbage. Benuel Kauffman's Lancaster County Produce had half heads of large green cabbages for $2. Ben also has the cauliflower I mentioned in a previous post: Another sign of fall could be found at Iovine Brothers Produce: pumpkins. They featured a bin of small "spooky" pumpkins selling for $1.99 apiece. Welch's, mostly known for their grape juice and jellies, is extending the brand by licensing their name to a distributor of table grapes; Iovine's had three-pound clam shells of green seedless grapes selling for $1.99 today. (Welch's is dear to my heart: I went to college at a historically Methodist liberal arts college with affiliated seminary where one of the women's dorms was named after the Welch family, which started their business in 1869 in Vineland to provide grape juice for communion for the alcohol-free congregations.) Yet another sign of autumn: chestnuts at Livengood's, right next to the paw paws. I've written before of the Joe Jurgielewicz & Son ducks available at Giunta's Prime Shop. In addition to whole ducks at $3.95/pound, Giunta's recently added packs of legs ($6.49) along with their boneless breasts ($12.95). Just in time for confit-making season. Another correction: I misspelled the name of the cooking school at the market in a recent post. It's "La Cucina", without an "h".

A few weeks ago I raved about Green Meadow's bacon, and said I'd also report on the nitrite-free product from Country Time. Alas, the Country Time bacon is one I won't be purchasing again. Much too salty, light in the smoke department. The saltiness is a problem I've tasted before in nitrite-free bacons. Gimme chemicals, especially natural ones like saltpeter.

Two new vendors joined the Fairmount & 22nd market today: a cheese-maker and a flower-herb vendor. The latter, whose name I forget (other than David) is an Amishman who also sells at South Street on Tuesday afternoon. The cheese-maker is North Jersey's Valley Shepherd Creamery, which makes superlative sheep cheeses which I've previously purchased at the Fair Food Farmstand. The paw paws were in, and they are ripe and ready, as you can see in the accompanying photo. As noted in another post in the RTM topic, you want to buy them heavily mottled. These were gathered by Sam Consylman and available at Livengood's, whose own paw paw trees have produced larger (but not quite ready yet) fruit this year, according to Dwain Livengood. The addition of David and Valley Sheperd Creamy brings to six the number of merchants at Fairmount. Other vendors there include Bill Weller (orchard fruit and other produce), Sam Stolfus (produce, Pennsylvania Dutch baked goods), and Versailles Bakery. Livengood's still has ground cherries. Audrey Livengood said she baked them in a pie that turned out very well. She pre-baked the shell, then sprinkled the bottom with sugar (brown, I think) and flour, then mixed the fruits with some additional flour (not much), sugar and a couple tablespoons of water before baking. The ground cherries don't release all that much liquid, she said. Dwain vouched for its deliciousness. Below is a sample of some of Livengood's produce available today, including celeriac and okra. Dwain says they don't plant late corn, so the ears they are selling come from other Lancaster area farmers.

Plenty of goodies reflecting both summer and autumn can be found at the Reading Terminal Market right now. L. Halteman, though primarily a butcher shop and deli, offers in-season produce at the Reading Terminal Market. Love the primitive Lancaster County scene that serves as a backdrop (see photo above) to their fruits and vegetables, which are usually of high quality and competitively priced. Expect to see paw paws this weekend at Livengood's and the Fair Food Farmstand. I'll be checking out the former this afternoon at their Fairmount & 22nd venue. For those who've got a yen to travel, or just want to learn more about this native North American fruit, visit the Ohio Paw Paw Festival this weekend, just about 8 or 10 miles down the road from Ohio University, Athens. Livengood had a few of the paw paws gathered by Sam Consylman last week, but there weren't many and they weren't ripe. If a paw paw is all green and lacks significant mottling, it's not ready. The browner and softer the better. They were priced at $2.95/pound. Local grapes are plentiful right now, including Concords, which Livengood's was selling for $3.95/quart. They've also got ground cherries, a curious, tomatillo-like fruit (a.k.a. Cape Gooseberries) in a papery wrapper, $2.95/pint. Good for snacking, but I also think they'd make great preserves. Iovine Brothers featured scuppernong grapes recently, $3.99 for a 1.5 pound clamshell. It's the peak of local pear season, especially Bartletts. Benuel Kauffman's Lancaster County Produce at the RTM was selling them for $1.49/pound. Apples, of course, are now starting in a big way. All the early commercial varieties could be found this past week at the RTM and city farm markets. Iovine's also had navel oranges from South Africa (it's the end of their season) at three for a buck. I'm still concentrating on peaches, however. Iovine's featured Jersey whites and yellows at $1.19 recently and nectarines at $1.49. O.K. Lee had Jersey yellows recently for 99-cents. Ben Kauffman's yellow peaches and nectarines were $1.99, white peaches $2.69. Plums are still plentiful, though the season is shifting to the late varities like the Italian prune plums, $2/pint at Kauffman's. Still plenty of local corn available, though the quality sometimes flags a bit late in the season. Livengood's was selling theirs for 70-cents an ear, Kauffman's for 50-cents, Iovine Brothers three for a buck. And ya gotta have tomatoes. Kauffman's was selling Brandywines for $2.99. Iovine featured Jersey plum (Roma) tomatoes at 99-cents; over at Fair Food Farmstand they were going for $2. It's fig season, and Fair Food was selling some from a South Philly tree at six for $3. (I can pick them for free up the next block in my Fairmount neighborhood). Iovine's got California black figs at less than half that price: $2.99 for a pint box of about 10-12. Cauliflower reared it's snow white head at Ben Kauffman's stand last week, $4 for an exceedingly large specimen. Other fall veggies won't be far behind. The price of lemons fell at Iovine's to a dime apiece, but limes are still a quarter. They are selling local green peppers for 99-cents, $1.99 for sweet red bells. Both come from Shadybrook, the Iovine's contract supplier in Bucks County. On the protein front, chicken feet must be getting more popular, since the price seems high at $2.19/pound at Godshall's, where hearts go for $2.09 and livers and gizzards $1.89. What happened to lamb shanks, which used to be a cheap meat, looks like it's happening to chicken feet. For comparison, Eberly's whole organic chicks were selling for $3.89 at Giunta's Prime Shop. Over at Martin's Quality Meats & Sausages, one of my favorite "trash" cuts, lamb breast (riblets) could be obtained for $3.29. I forget the price, but Martin's brother Charles Giunta had veal breast at a bargain price, too. I don't know if they'll have them this week, since fish supplies are so variable, but John Yi's recently had the largest porgies I've ever seen, $2.99 for Florida behemoths. Headed mackeral was for for sale at $1.99, whole black bass for $5.99. La Cuchina, the cooking class at the RTM, is working with Temple University to offer some star-chef classes this fall. Here's the lineup: David Ansill, Oct. 14; Marcie Turney, Oct. 20; Lance Silverman, Oct. 27; Ralph Fernandez, Oct. 30; Brinn Sinnot, Nov. 10; Marc Vetri, Nov. 15; and Aliza Green, Dec. 1. My guess is these classes will fill quickly. One wag called it the Bermuda Triangle of the market: the meridian between Tootsie's Salad Express and Olympic Gyro: vendors locate there but mysteriously disappear. The latest victim was the Everyday Gourmet, in the space formerly occupied by Andros. Their concept for prepared food never caught on. Further along the meridian, Dutch Country Meats gave up the ghost earlier this year, and Natural Connection left the space formerly occupied by Margerum's. The last spot will be filled by Jonathan's Best, brought to you by the same folks who operate a similar gourmet market in Chestnut Hill. In addition to groceries they'll feature homemade soups and pre-made sandwiches. The availability of a full "block" where Dutch Country Meats and Everyday Gourmet were located presents a challenge, but also an opportunity, as far as RTM GM Paul Steinke is concerned. Among the features of the space is a fully-installed range exhaust, a rare commodity in the market, and a walk-in refrigerator. Right now Benuel Kauffman is using part of the Dutch Country Meats space on a temporary basis.

Thanks for that recipe Pam, looks like my kinda food. I wonder if the lamb winds up looking a bit pink, since there's KNO3 in the dry mix. ← An alternate spelling -- and one that might bring up even more recipies, though the one Pam linked to is classic -- would be "rullepolse" . The lamb will come out a tad pinkish because of the KNO3, pleasantly so. You can also use beef flank, pork, or any combination thereof. For example, you could roll a small beef flank with the lamb shoulder. I've had various versions and much prefer the lamb. Rather than smoked salmon, I'd suggest gravad lax (gravlox); easy to make yourself and can be done with cheap farmed salmon (since cost is an issue) to good effect. As, as someone else suggested, herring. To quote Ula from "The Producers" as to her favored breakfast fare: "Many different herrings." Pick up some basic plain pickled herring and then toss them with various sauces: curry, mustard, dill, tomato, etc. Although not strictly a Viking dish, a Scandinavian classic would be yellow pea soup. Basically, it's porridge made from legume instead of cereal grain. Some Ekta Gjetost cheese would go well with the leftse. I'd suggest some crisp flatbreads, too. You'll also need much Akavit and beer. In Halifax you should have access to lots of good, cheap, small cold-water shrimp, even if it's frozen this time of year. Again, just toss in a dill sauce. Sausage made from lamb would go well with the beer. But it's tough to find unless it's done Moroccan-style, which no self-respecting Norseman would eat. If you have the inclination, Bergen (Norway) Fish Soup would be quite tasty. It's the best example I know of a dairy-based fish soup.

While Capaneus is correct in criticizing the article's elevated sense of drama, I think it captures the essence of the situation, though it's clear the writer sympathizes more with Rick than Ric. Both sides let ego get in the way of a solution. Rick had plenty of opportunity to swallow a little pride and keep his goose laying golden cheese steak eggs, and Ricardo could have given Rick a little more public room to maneouver and avoid all the bad publicity. The writer casts this is a "suits vs. jeans" battle, and in a way, he's right. But that tension between the "suit" and the "jeans" is absolutely necessary for the health of the market. There's a need to have the market operated as a business if it is to prosper. But that prosperity also depends upon a strong group of merchants committed to the market as a public market, not a food court. Both merchants and management must continue to honor the purpose of the market, as stated in its Mission Statement and Operating Policy Guidelines.