rlibkind

Local Snow Peas At Fair Food I was a little surprised to see snow peas, which seemed at least a couple weeks early at the Fair food Farmstand at the RTM this morning. They looked great, priced at $4.50/pint, and hail from Green Meadow Farm in Gap, Lancaster County. Both Fair Food and Kauffman's Lancaster County Produce are selling local berries, priced at $5, give or take a nickel, per pint. Although they were picked an overnight truck ride away, the South Carolina berries at Iovine Brothers Produce represent good value at $1.99 pint and looked tasty; they're the best bet if you need to induce berry intoxication in a big crowd. Iovine's also scored some less expensive avocados, for $1 apiece, and good looking string beans at 99-cents/pound. Scallions, berries asparagus and tomatoes at Kauffman's

You're not being a spoilsport, Barry. Read to the end of the article. Even with air freighting, wild fish will usually have a less pronounced carbon footprint than high-input farmed salmon. An even worse offender is the farmed fish that gets air freighted from Chile or Norway or Scotland! But I don't heavily weigh my restaurant/food buying decision by carbon footprint, anyway. It's the price/value (taste) relationship that drives me. Which is why I indulge in Copper River King just once a season. (The sockeye is considerably less expensive than the first King of the season, and just as delicious in its own way.)

London Grill, in Fairmount near the Art Museum, offers three-course (salad, entree, dessert and coffee) private banquets for your dollar target: $45 for meat, $36 poultry, $38 for fish, $30 for pasta/vegetarian. Here's the link: London Grill private parties.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has decreed this Thursday the start of the season for Copper River salmon. ADFG will permit 12 hours fishing this Thursday, May 15. On Saturday, ADFG is expected to announce additional dates. The first king salmon will reach Seattle Friday. Expect to see it elsewhere soon thereafter.

Anyone else enjoy the rigatoni with chicken liver? Had it last Thursday for lunch. Yum!

High ISOs will allow you to take photos under dim lighting situations, but they do not result in better pictures. They will, however, allow you to capture usable images that would be okay for email and web use. Just don't expect to make 8x10 prints of any quality. Keep in mind the higher the ISO, the "noisier" the resulting image. Although cameras vary in their ability to suppress noise, it starts becoming bothersome at ISO 400. I'd suggest going with a camera that feels good in your hands and isn't too heavy. For the type of shooting you describe, you want a camera that can not only take a half-decent photo, but one that feels ergonomically good (and fits in your pocket or bag of whatever) so you'll take it along and use it. A "compact" point and shoot would probably work best, but if "pocketability" is paramount, go for a "subcompact". The former, however, will usually offer the best combination of features and picture quality for the dollar, and can still fit in many pockets; to get similar features and quality in the smaller subcompact, you'll pay more. You will also want a camera whose autofocus system works well in dim light. (Most can, but some can't.) If restaurant food photos is the primary way you intend to use this camera, make sure it can focus as close as two feet (most compacts can). Some point-and-shoots don't offer shutter speeds of less than 1/60 of a second (slower shutters are when camera shake becomes pronounced, causing blurry photos); but that usually means they'll automatically increase the ISO to a level where it encourages noise. Other point-and-shoots will offer slower shutter speeds so you can shoot at a lower ISO. For those, you want the camera with image stabilization (IS) which allows you to shoot at 1/30 or even 1/15 without a tripod, which you obviously will not have available while dining. (Image stabilization is probably what you meant when you used the term "steady shot".) You also don't need a camera with extreme zoom, since you won't be using the telephoto focal length. Something with a 35mm equivalent range of 35-105mm would be more than adequate. And don't worry about megapixels; just about any point-and-shot built today has as many as needed, given the sensor size, to produce very good photos.

'DINNER IMPOSSIBLE' VISITS MARKET Cleveland Chef Michael Symons, tagged by a crew including three cameras and assorted production folks, visited the Reading Terminal Market this morning for an installment of Food TV's "Dinner: Impossible." Symons, an Iron Chef America champ, succeeds as program protagonist the prevaricator Robert Irvine. The goal in this episode: cook a meal for residents of a seniors' residence. They were having a bit of a meat problem, however. After they bought enough pork loin to feed 250, producer Marc Summers learned that pork is the residents' least favorite meat. Oh, well. Can't bust the budget over a little detail like that. Jim Iovine reports the crew purchased more than $500 worth of food from him, including half a dozen or so boxes of exotic mushrooms.

Cukes and onions make a great salad to accompany cold cut sandwiches, grilled meats and lots of other dishes. Both were on sale at Iovine Brother's Produce yesterday. The Vidalia onions were a cheap 50-cents a pound, while decent regular cucumbers (though with a heavy wax coat) were selling four for a buck. Also down in price this week, after many months in the stratosphere: limes, now five for a buck. Juice oranges were 25 cents apiece, and pints of South Carolina strawberries $1. Jim Iovine was also touting the California peaches and aprocits at $1.99/pound. Over at John Yi's, the price of soft shell crabs went up to $6 apiece this week (two for $10); the softshells were $5.50 each at Golden. This week's rains must have killed off the lilacs: Earl Livengood didn't have them this week. He did have some great looking lettuces (I picked up a head of romaine) and asparagus. I bought some of his very fresh eggs, mixed them up with gruyere, parmesan and romano cheeses, heavy cream and made a crustless quiche (inspired by Mark Bittman's Times' column last Wedneday) for dinner last night; I tweaked the dish with some lightly steamed chopped asparagus and gently fried dices of pancetta. Served with Earl's lettuce (and one of his greenhouse tomatoes, some Iovine cuke) and a baguette, it made a great dinner, especially accompanied with a crisp Riesling. Like artichokes? O.K. Lee had gargantuan specimens for $1.69 apiece. Local strawberries made their debut at the Fair Food Farmstand, which featured Rineers' crop, which you can also find at some of the area's farmers' markets. The stand also had a sale on some frozen meat products from a variety of vendors: it was priced for sale -- 50 percent off -- because of some packaging issues: won't hold up to long-term freezing, so thaw it now and enjoy.

The savory crustless quiche Mark Bittman featured in last Wednesday's Times offers plenty of possibilities. I did it last night: eggs, cream, cheese, butter for the ramekins, plus salt and [cayenne] pepper. I tweaked by adding diced panicetta (gently fried out) and barely steamed asparagus (chopped). Serve with a crisp Riesling, baguette, butter and salad.

RIPE AND READY It's only 35 miles from Woodstown, in South Jersey's Salem County, to Center City Philadephia. I'm sure glad A.T. Buzby Farm made the trip to Headhouse Square this morning, especially with the load of red, ripe, sweet and flavorful early strawberries they brought along. Although we're likely to see even more intensively flavored berries in a couple weeks, these beauties hardly lacked in strawberry-ness. I tasted a couple right after I got home with my haul, but about half the quart has been sliced and now macerating for my breakfast yogurt (maybe with some squished, ripe banana added as well). The remainder will top ice cream for dessert tonight. They were priced at $5 a quart. At Headhouse, no merchant can sell before the market manager rings the bell, literally. So I stood next to the French radishes at Weaver's Way's stand, blocking all other potential buyers starting at three minutes to 10:00 a.m. (Last week they were gone in a flash). I got mine, as well as a bunch of pristine dandelion greens. Over at Culton Organics I picked up a couple of leeks for $6 (I forget the pound price), which will be grilled to accompany Country Time Pork's chops purchased yesterday at the RTM's Fair Food Stand. Talula's Table brought along paté this week as well as all those sausages. The summer sausage I bought last week was spot on. No doubt abut it, Talula's is better than the summer sausages I've bought from Miesfield Meat of Sheboygan or Usinger's of Milwaukee, but it's not three times better than a quality commercial version. (Talula charges more than $20/pound vs. the $7.50 you'd pay for a good Wisconsin summer sausage from Miesfield of Sheboygan or Usinger or Milwaukee, and that price includes the shipping). And it's not that Talula's overcharges based on its raw material and production costs; it's just that the larger firms specialize and take advantage of economies of scale Talula's hand-crafted method can't match. So, if you want a six-ounce stick of summer sausage, splurge on Talula's. But if you plan on making sandwiches for a gang, order from one of the Wisconsin butchers.

LET THEM EAT BREAD!Fairmount market opens with baker among vendors Each year, on the Saturday nearest Bastille Day, rowdy Fairmount residents gather in the street in front of Eastern State Penteniary's gate, demanding that Marie Antoinette be put to the guillotine. But before she is sliced and diced, Marie (played by London Grill co-owner Terry McNally) advises the rabble to eat cake, then promptly attacks them from the parapet by tossing Twinkies. René Mondon would rather they eat bread. The Collingswood baker (pictured above) is one of four merchants who opened the farmers' market at Fairmount and 22nd Street Thursday afternoon, directly across 22nd street from the historic prison. Although I love the baguettes from Metropolitan and Le Bus, Mondon's are truer to the bread brought home every day in France: it's a tad denser and chewier, not as light an airy as the boutique breads. Which means it's bread for eating, not for display, and very versatile, since it's as good to eat for a sandwich or grilled over charcoal with garlic as it is to slather with sweet butter and jam. The bear claws, apple turnovers and danish pastries are fine, but what I really enjoy are the parmentiers, vaguely pretzel-shaped, light, sugary pastries that are an excellent accompaniment to Gallic coffee. Mondon formerly based his wholesale bakery in Pennsauken, but has moved 100 percent of his operation to retail, with a store on Haddon Avenue in Collingswood and an expanded presence at farmers markets. He started going to the markets last fall, dabbling his toes at Headhouse Square with great success, along with the Collingswood farmers' market. This year he's at New Hope twice a week, Fairmount, 25th and Spruce, Headhouse and Haddonfield. Mondon explained that his wholesale business suffered after 9/11 because he supplied airlines flying out of PHL, and the prices demanded by hotels have simply become unprofitable for him. So, the Loire Valley native has placed his bet on retail. Returning to Fairmount are Earl Livengood and Sam Stoltzfus. Manning Livengood's this week was son Dwain, offering rhubarb, potatoes, spinach and a few other goodies (but none of the morels which graced Livengood's Reading Terminal Market stand the past two Saturdays, courtesy of forager Sam Consylman). Dwain also sells beef from his own small herd. Stoltzfus offers a similar range of produce in season, with the addition of Pennylvania Dutch baked goods. I'm not fond of that style of pies and cakes, but if you enjoy them and live in Fairmount, Sam's got them. Another new vendor at Fairmount is Bill Weller, who stands in the photo below among a colorful raft of hanging baskets, potted plants, seedlings. We won't see Bill's main crops until late spring, since he specializes in stone fruits (cherries, apricots, peaches, etc.), pome fruits (pears, apples), and berries. But it's obvious he also has a green thumb for some very hardly looking plants for the patio or porch. The hanging baskets sell very well back in Bloomsburg, where his farm is located, Bill says. The larger baskets might be a tough sell here, though not because they aren't beautiful and fairly priced. Most shoppers at Fairmount arrive on food, and the hanging baskets aren't easy to haul home when you're also carrying a bag or two of veggies.

It's not funny. That doesn't mean the sale of raw milk in Pennsylvania should be banned, as they are in some states. But it's entirely reasonable to enforce regulations intended to assure the highest possible quality attainable. (Unreasonable enforcement of regulations to protect economic interests in the guise of health is another matter.)

Aviator Park Market Opens: It's The Berries! The sign says it all: first berries of the season. Highland Orchards Farm proudly displayed these gargantuan strawberries at the first day of the Aviator Park market, not just of the season, but ever. The Food Trust established the new market at the urging of the Logan Square Neighborhood Association. The market, located on 20th street across from the Franklin Institute and Moore College, runs Wednesdays from 3 to 7 p.m. Highland Orchard offered a much larger variety of fresh produce than anyone has a right to expect the first week of May. That's due to the Wilmington farm's use of greenhouses, though the berries, rhubarb, asparagus, and some of the broccoli were harvested from plants in the ground. Highland Orchard's Ruth Linton said some of the produce from the greenhouse (like the various legumes and Persian cucumbers) are grown in hanging baskets, while other crops (fennel, beets) are in planting boxes. Among the other produce items on sale Wednesday: English peas (both in the pod and shelled), fava beans, salad greens, cabbages, baby bok choys, carrots, potatoes, leeks, scallions, onions, flowering chives, parsley and other herbs. Linton also sells mushrooms, meat, chicken and cheese from other area producers, and baked goods from her mom. Highland also appears at a few other area markets, including Fitler Square. The only other vendor at Aviator Park this week was Betty's Tasty Buttons. Fudge isn't exactly produce, but She Who Must Be Obeyed says it's one of the basic food groups, just like pizza and beer. From Highland I bought the strawberries and a bag of Ruth's mother's donuts. The donuts were in the soft-cake style (alas, not fried in lard, which gives a great crispy finish), with plenty of apple flavor and even a few bits of apple, presumably from chunky apple sauce. Just a light touch of cinnamon in the exterior sprinkling of sugar. The berries were big and fire-engine red (if any fire engines were still painted red these days). Although the early season berries lacked the intensity we'll see in a few weeks, they were fresh-tasting and, the next morning, considerably brightened my bowl of puffed wheat. They were even better dipped in Betty's fudge sauce. Highland Orchards at Aviator Park

I can't speak from experience this season, but poultry producers were much in evidence: Griggstown, Mountain View, Natural Meadows Farm. Whether they're still working off last year's frozen birds and or selling this year's "spring chickens" (though still frozen) I don't know.

HEADHOUSE MARKET OPENS The Food Trust began its 2008 farmers' market season with a bang: 25 vendors showed up for opening day at Headhouse Square Sunday. Considering how early it is in the growing season, that's a phenomenal turnout. Among the returnees, Queens Farm, whose mushrooms are pictured above. (Scroll for more photos.) Other vendors appearing today were: Hurley Nursery, plants; Versailles Bakery; Los Taquitos de Pueblo, restaurant; Yoder Heirlooms, produce; Weaver's Way, produce; Joe Coffee Bar; Natural Meadows Farms, eggs, meats; S&S Kitchens, baked goods, preserves; Busy Bee Farms, honey, soap; Happy Cat Organics, produce; Young's Garden, flowers; Griggstown Quail Farm, poultry and pot pies; Patches of Star Farm, goat dairy, centermeat; Hillacres Farm, cheese; Mountain View Poultry Farm, eggs, poultry; Culton Organics, produce; A.T. Buzby Farm, produce; Talula's Table, charcuterie; Demarah, body care products and fragrances; Spring Hill Farms, maple syrup; Betty's Tasty Buttons, chocolate; Longview Flowers; Birchrun Hills Farm, cheese; Wildflour Bakery. Versailles Bakery, which last year just sold at Headhouse and the Haddonfield NJ Farmers' Market, is adding other local markets this season, starting Thursday at Fairmount & 22nd. Versailles will also sell at Schuykill River Park (Spruce & 25th) and New Hope. They retail at the bakery, 1026 Haddon Ave., Collingswood NJ. Versailles. whose bread is pictured above (their pastries are also fine), won't be the only new vendor at the Fairmount market, according to The Food Trust's Jon Glyn. Amish produce seller Sam Stolfus is scheduled to return, and new vendor Bill Weller's Orchard Hills Farm of Bloomsburg will start out selling budding plants and hanging baskets, but is expected to expand offerings as the season progresses, starting soon with strawberries and asparagus, then leading up to mid and late-summer stone fruits. Bryan Sikora of Talula's Table (that's Bryan on the far left) said he'll be bringing a couple of patés in the future, along with his wide ranging sausage selection. I tasted the lamb curry with golden raisins, dry juniper and summer sausages. The lamb had nice but manageable heat along with the sweet notes, the juniper was pleasantly smokey, and the summer sausage (which I bought) cries out for some Spotted Cow Ale from Wisconsin, home of many fine summer sausages. One of last year's farm vendors who didn't make it back is Old Earth Farm. I've been told they've shuttered their operations. At least for much of the first hour, crowds were manageable, not at all like a peak summer weekend. I left before the 11 a.m. speechifying began, but a band was playing from the small plaza leading into New Market opposite the Shambles. Youngs Flowers, no longer at the Reading Terminal Market, also sells at Rice's Market in New Hope this year. That's a long haul for Russell and Pamela Young (above) from their greenhouse operations deep in South Jersey's Salem County. Weaver's Way held the entry corner spot opposite the Young's. Their fine selection of radishes disappeared quickly. This photo was taken shortly before the market's 10 a.m. opening bell; the radishes were gone by 10:30.

iirc, small Griggstown pot pie was $9 last year. So I don't think prices went up quite as dramatically as you think.

LILAC TIME AT LIVENGOOD'S A couple of bushes' worth of French and common lilacs brought a delightful fragrance to center court at the RTM yesterday, tended to here by Joyce Livengood. She was selling the French lilacs for $12 a bunch, the common lilacs for $9.50 (two for $18). Livengood's might have them available again next Saturday. Also on sale at Livengood's this week was Earl's deep green spinach, $3.95 bag. Plenty of Sam Consylman's morels this past Saturday, too. Livengood's begins the farmers' market season this week, putting in appearances at South & Passyunk (Tuesday, 3-7 p.m.) and Fairmount & 22nd (Thursday, 3-7 p.m.) Another specialty of Sam Consylman is poke (above), whose roots he gathers in the fall then stores in a root cellar until they develop new shoots in late winter and spring. Sam says the young shoots make mighty fine eating. This winter his production was disappointing, but spring seems to have put them back into gear. Plenty were for sale at Livengood's stand Saturday at $3.25 a bunch. This coming week's predicted warm weather might lead to strawberries next week from some of the region's farmers. They'd go great in a pie with the rhubarb for sale at Livengood's (pictured above), Fair Food, Kaufman's Lancaster County Produce and other produce vendors. Both O.K. Lee and Iovine Brothers Produce offered one-pound bags of key limes yesterday. You could save a buck by buying them at OKL ($1.99 vs. $2.99). The ramps at Iovine's are considerably less expensive than those at Fair Food Farmstand, but at least judging from what was on the shelves Saturday the quality was a bit better at FFF. Prices were $3.99/bunch at Iovine's, with a bunch weighing in at about four ounces for $16/pound, vs. $27/pound at FFF. Below, Fair Food Farmstand co-manager Sarah Cain proudly displays her bounty. The market begins a week-long ad campaign on KYW Newsradio Monday. The 30-second spots feature Mike Holahan, president of the Reading Terminal Market Merchants' Association and owner, with wife Julie, of the Pennsylvania General Store. So far 40 merchants have agreed to stay open until 7 p.m. on June 30 and July 1 and 2. No, not because of the Independence Day celebrations. It's because 8,000 souls will be attending "New Awakening 2008", a meeting of JAMA, a prayer and spiritual awakening movement arising out of the Korean-American community. Another 8,000 conventioners can be expected to munch their way through the market May 14-18 when the Oncology Nurses Association meets. Visitors to the RTM are running six percent ahead of last year. The running total for 2008 has topped 1,876,000, vs. 1,770,000 for the same period of 2007. The "tenant obtained" signs are up in the vacant space formerly occupied by Natural Connections and, before that, Margerums. As previously noted, it will be occupied by upscale grocer Jonathan Best, expanding to the RTM from its Chestnut Hill shop.

That's a useful nuance, but "harvest" and "gather" aren't contradictory. Harvesting, after all, is a form of gathering.

I just recently came across the term "wildcrafted" on shelf signs for fiddleheads and dandelions at a local non-profit food vendor. I poked fun at the term in my blog and got back a response from the stand's manager who wrote: I still think the term is a linguistic deceit. The intention behind "wildcrafted" may be laudable; the language remains deplorable. It really doesn't matter who or what organization "crafted" this nomenclature, it remains an abuse of language and meaning. What's wrong with "sustainably-gathered" or "sustainably-harvested"? Such a construction takes advantage of the established usage of "sustainable" in the food-agriculture context. Using "craft" clearly means it was made by human hands, but neither fiddleheads nor dandelions nor ramps are made by human hands. "Wildcrafted" remains an oxymoron only a bureaucrat or marketer could love.

April showers bring May flowers. And May morels. Sam Consylman called last night to say the heavy rains earlier this week in Lancaster County caused an explosion of morels. Indeed, Sam quipped that he "ate $10,000 worth" over the last few days. At $85/pound, that's a lot of mushrooms (more than 117 pounds' worth). Okay, so maybe Sam was indulging in a bit of hyperbole, at least in terms of his personal mushroom consumption. But I have no doubt of his account of the dramatic increase in morel availability. Sam said most of what he's picking now are white morels, morella deliciosa (the scientific name says it all), which is the immature version of the yellow morel, morella esculenta. Expect to find them at Earl Livengood's center court stall at the Reading Terminal Market Saturday. I cooked what I bought last weekend in cream sauce. You can find my recipe for Morels in Cream Sauce in RecipeGullet. The Fair Food Farmstand does lots of good works, but it loses a gazillion points for murdering the English language when it insists on calling fiddlehead ferns "wildcrafted," just as it labeled dandelions last week. What's wrong with "wild-harvested" or "foraged" or "gathered"? Does everything have to be made? Can't we just have a eureka moment and "find" things? I want to know what, precisely Vollmecke Orchards (the Coatesville CSA which sold the ferns to Fair Food) did to "craft" these lovely spring veggies? In any event, you can obtain some nice, freshly harvested fiddleheads there. (At least you could Thursday afternoon. Last week the stand sold out its 10-pound allotment in a few hours.) If Fair Food sells out, walk over to Iovine Brothers. Jim Iovine expected to have them on hand this week, although they will be pricey. Fair Foods was selling them for $17/pound. Jim Iovine hadn't received his when we spoke yesterday, so he couldn't quote a firm price, but figured Fair Food's price isn't far off the mark. I serve them steamed or, after parboiling, sautéed, usually with garlic, though combining them with ramps can't be a bad thing. Just go easy on the ramps so as not to overpower the fiddleheads. To prep the fiddleheads, just remove any papery feathers you might find by rubbing them off and rinse. Iovine also expected more deliveries of ramps for this weekend, which have been selling for $3.99 a bunch. That's enough to sauté in bacon fat for home fries with a couple of medium-sized potatoes, though two bunches would be better. Be sure to use the leaves as well as the bulbs.

Morels in Cream Sauce Serves 1 as Main Dishor 2 as Appetizer. Serve this over your favorite pasta (I think it works better with vermicelli or linguine rather than thicker ones such as penne). It also works over toast points. A good, crispy Riesling pairs wonderfully with a cream sauce. I enjoyed a Hermann Wiemer 2007 Dry Riesling (Finger Lakes) with this sauce over vermicelli. It's not a cheap dish to make, since fresh morels for a single serving will set you back $10 or more per person. You can trim the costs by cutting back on morels and adding other mushrooms, fresh or dried. If dried, use the strained reconstituting liquid to provide a flavor boost. (You might be tempted to add some grated cheese to the cream sauce as it finishes; I restrained myself because I think it interferes with the morels' flavor. A little bit of thyme, salt and pepper are all the sauce needs.) 3 oz Morels, fresh 4 fl oz heavy cream 2 oz Vermicelli, linguine, etc. 1 shallot, minced 2 T sweet butter 1 tsp Dried thyme (one sprig if fresh) Halve the fresh morels lengthwise and soak in some well-salted cold water for a couple of hours, then remove to paper towels to let them air dry. The soaking helps rid the morels of any tiny litter critters that might linger. (Depending on how quickly your pasta cooks, you might want to start it now. Thinner pastas, such as vermicelli, can wait to be added to boiling water until when cream is added to pan.) Sweat the minced shallot in butter over medium-low head, then add the morels to sauté over medium-high heat. After four or five minutes, when morels are just starting to brown, remove morels, which tend to discolor cream when cooked together, and set aside. To the pan add heavy cream with thyme and reduce over medium-low heat by half, adding salt and pepper to taste toward the end. Return the morels to the pan to reheat (removing thyme if used in sprig form), then add cooked, drained pasta to pan and toss. Keywords: Main Dish, Vegetarian, Appetizer, Easy, Pasta, Lunch, Dinner, Vegetables ( RG2124 )

If they are not slimy, taken them out of the package, put in a brown paper bag and/or loosely wrap in paper towling. Place back in fridge (do not use plastic wrap). Don't worry of they shrivel a bit. How were you planning to use them? for many recipes, cooking in advance could work with little dimunition in flavor, appearance.

The phone rang at 6:30 a.m. yesterday, long before I had intended to greet the new day. But Sam Consylman was preparing to go out mushroom foraging and didn't want to wait to relay his news. The morels have popped in Lancaster County, reported Sam, forager extraordinaire. Not very large, but plentiful enough to pick in the local wood. Earl Livengood would sell what Sam picked the next day at the Reading Terminal Market. I made sure to set my alarm for the following day (today, Saturday) so I'd be among the first to examine this year's crop. Another fungi lover (who had not received Sam's call) spotted them on her early tour of the market and was starting to pick through the fruiting bodies when I arrived to snap this pic and select some for my own consumption. (She Who Must Be Obeyed avoids all fungi and other "ook".) My fellow urban forager said she had to be sure to set aside some for herself, because her 16-year-old son devours mushrooms of all types. We agreed that even the humble white button mushroom can be cooked superbly (she suggested a Russian dish, sautéed then mixed with sour cream), but that morels were, to use that overused term, "special". My two-and-a-half-ounce selection of morels (Sam picked black, common and red morels, though I'm told the "red" isn't a true morel but is close enough for culinary purposes) set me back $12.75, based on the $85/pound price. (Last year they were $80). Earl Livengood asked me if he had priced them correct. Alas, he had. Morels imported all the way from the Pacific Northwest, which arrive slightly dry though still quite useable, were selling over at Iovine Brothers Produce for $60, so Earl's price, though considerably higher, wasn't out of line considering the quality and freshness. By the time I left the market at 10:30, Earl's stock of morels had been depleted by at least 50 percent. I would suspect that they would be totally gone by noontime or shortly thereafter. It's possible Sam will still be picking them next week, but don't count on it. The morel season lasts a nanosecond. They'll be my lunch today, sautéed with shallot, then turned into a cream sauce over toast points. Sautéed morels also work exceedingly well with soft scrambled eggs, or just about any other egg dish. One dish I particularly enjoyed a few years ago was a sauté of morels and asparagus tips surrounded by a ring of savory custard (at L'Étoile in Madison, Wisconsin). Another sign of spring could be found at Iovine's: ramps. These wonderful examples of a wild allium were fresh, with nearly pristine leaves, were selling for $3.99/bunch. Ramps should be available through much of May. I'll be cooking these pungent wild leeks (both bulbs and greens) with potatoes sautéed in bacon fat to go along with reheated brisket for dinner this evening. Jim Iovine reports he'll be directly sourcing some of his leafy vegetables this season from a South Jersey grower. This includes scallions, spinach, all varieties of cooking greens, lettuces, as well as radishes and other veggies. He and brother Vin will also continue their contract with Shadybrook, which serves as the vendor's main supplier of local corn in season. Jim said he hopes for another great crop of raspberries this year again from Shadybrook as well. Fair Food Farmstand briefly featured another veggie foraged in springtime: fiddlehead ferns. They received a 10-pound case earlier this week from a local gatherer, but it sold out the same day. They expect to have them again next week, so, buy early. I know I will. (Try them in Chinese stir-fry dishes were you'd normally add string beans or asparagus for veggie crunch.) Another foraged food you'll see this year (at both Earl Livengood's and Fair Food Farmstand) is wild dandelion. But I wonder just who "crafted" the wild dandelion greens at Fair Food. The label writer should teach a class in writing oxymorons. Plentiful sardines still available, at least at John Yi's. Whole sardines (herring) were selling for $3.99 again today. We're still a few weeks away from fresh Alaskan salmon. For Passover, Flying Monkey had some delicious macaroons, a buck apiece for the large cookies. Lots better than the Manischiewicz version that comes in the equivalent of a coffee can. Lease negotiations are complete for Jonathan Best, which will operate a high-end grocery in the space formerly occupied by Margerum's and, later, the Natural Foods Connection. All that's left is signing on the dotted line, after which the space will be spruced up and altered before the store opens. RTM General Manager is anxious to place a "tenant obtained" sign over the long-vacant space. Another problematic space at the market is the stall behind L. Halteman, currently used as exhibit space. Halteman's expansion into that space will be part of their lease renegotiations.

If you get there early enough, you're likely to find fresh-picked morels at Earl Livengood's stand in center court today. Sam Consylman, Earl's friend, said he's been picking them the last couple of days. I'm planning on a creamy pasta sauce with them tonight, or maybe simply served atop some toast points.

Talula's Table will among the vendors at the Sunday Headhouse Square market this season. They brought their sausages to the West Chester farmers' market last year and decided to further expand for 2008. The Kennett Square characuterie and market does merguez (lamb sausage), game sausage, parma, salamis and other cured meats, along with dips and mustards. The Food Trust's Nicky Uy reports these other vendor updates: Birchrun Hills Dairy and Farm will bring fresh milk from grass fed cows starting in June and veal from humanely raised bull calves. Tom Sereduk plans to sell five times the volume of last year with 30 different varieties of flowers. Busy Bee Farm will sell raw and low temperature infused honeys, various types of fresh and dried lavender and a plethora of herb. It's hard to think about maple syrup in warmer weather, but why not? Spring Hill Farm from Lackawanna will have it. Another new vendor will be Happy Cat Organics, Berks County, with heirloom vegetables and sells dozens of varieties of heirloom fruit and vegetable seeds. African greens grown from seeds that come directly from Sierra Leone will be featured by Yoder Heirlooms of Lancaster County, along with other pesticide-free heirloom produce. The Rodale Institute has its own CSA offering organic produce through its Quiet Creek Farm. They are branching out to farmers' markets this year, including Headhouse.