A separate post was in order for the abundance of amazing cooked foods that are at the Portland Farmer’s Market. I ran into a few friends there who specifically go to the farmer’s market to eat breakfast. I admit, that is a part of why I go each week. It’s really amazing eat a fresh breakfast made with the foods that you can then go buy! The chef’s who run their stalls are all genuinely happy to be there, chatting with customers between cooking and yelling out order names. Not only does market food taste better than most food because of the access to fresh ingredients, but I believe the market chef’s good nature and their happy energy honestly puts it over the top. It’s so true! Let’s do a little experiment–cook yourself something for dinner tonight that you really love and enjoy. Get into it–pour yourself a glass of wine, put on some of your favorite music, just let yourself be in your kitchen enjoying yourself. When you sit down to eat it, slow down. Notice how each flavor makes up the larger flavor of the dish. Notice them. Notice the textures and how they connect with the flavors. Then think about your experience cooking. Did you get upset? Did you get frustrated or irritated with something during the process? Or did you just let things be and went with the flow, allowing yourself into the flow? Now how does it taste? Still your favorite dish? Or are you thinking it could be better? I’d love to hear what happens if you try this!

I know that if my heart is not into making food, I don’t like it. It doesn’t taste good, it just makes me sad–my expectations are never met with how good a dish could be if I’m not present in the kitchen. Even if it’s something I really like to eat! If I’m not there, it can turn into crap really fast. But if I’m there and really present, and what’s even more fun is when Andrew is there too, we can cook up some pretty tasty meals together. One of his favorite questions to ask is “how much should I chop this?” and my usual response is “how do you want it to feel in your mouth?” And he always does it just right! Some things you want to have a little more bulk and be a bit bigger in your mouth, but some, you really want to finely chop, lending less texture but more flavor.

If you are in Portland, or ever happen to visit the Portland Farmer’s Market, my FAVORITE food vendor is the crepe-man. He lived in France for years learning how to cook. He and his wife (who is French) moved to Portland with their family but could not give up one of their favorite food from France: crepes. He’s in front twirling the batter on the hot griddles making the crepes and she’s in back directing and helping a few staff members making the copious orders of crepes for hungry market-goers. You’ll hear a smattering of French and English, both spoken fluently and fluidly at this booth, especially to their children and each other. But their crepes, you ask? How are they? Literally, to die for. They have two different batters they use: buckwheat (has a hint of lemongrass in it…but you only know that because I told you, it’s almost undetectable but does something incredible to the nuttiness of the buckwheat flavors) and a sweet-white crepe. I really enjoy either their seasonal fruit or their Deluxe. The Deluxe has a little bit of everything including bacon, sausage, tomato, onions, mushrooms, spinach, and mozzarella, topped with some greens a sprinkling of truffle oil. The truffle oil sends these things over the top! I’m making myself hungry now!

I’m out of town for the next few days, but I’ll be back next week with more. Have a great weekend, cheers!