Tailgate Market / Weaverville

The Weaverville Tailgate market opens today. Hooray!! I have pre-ordered my fish, because otherwise at 5;30 they are almost all sold out. Hoping for some baked goods, and some spring lettuce for a salad. Starting in May I will be getting a half share from a local farm. Can't wait to see what all he brings this year, and his produce was by and far the best that I had from the vendors last year. If you'd like to see more information about the local market in Weaverville check out their web site: http://weavervilletailgate.org/ . What is nice, is that it gives me something to look forward to in mid-week. And I need some more "Rainbow Jam" as we just ran out of our last jar (I bought extra at the last fall tailgate to last me through the winter). The matzoh at passover finished it off.

Dreaming

I realized looking at my blog profile that dreaming has not been written about much by me. So, what do I dream of doing? Not working. Doesn't mean I won't work, but it would be part-time somewhere fun where I do not have management responsibilities. I love traveling and planning trips and making the arrangements and then going and doing (even when I end up cold or hot or wet). I love taking photos. I love working on large Lego sets (right now building a 3300 piece Lego carousel). I love theater and movies and live performances. As much as I love helping the customers at our company and knowing them as people, I want to not worry about how much in sales we have booked, or whether everyone is doing their job, or how we can cut costs. I want to greet people at a theme park, make sure they have a good time, and then go home at night with no worries, so that I can dream the dreams of a good nights sleep.I want to spend more time cooking really good meals, not necessarily fancy meals, but good food. Watching the food network both inspires me and frustrates me. I want time to try out their recipes and improve my cooking skills, and have time to bake.

I dream of having a life that does not involve getting up at 5:30 in the morning going to work and coming home at 5:30 at night exhausted. There is more to life than this. Yes, with our new financial planner, and with working on adding to our investments every month, I hope to fulfill this dream in about 5 years. Until then, it will be bits and pieces of the dream that I have time to live. Cooking, and traveling, and laughing with my family.

Do you have a dream? What is it? Feel free to share your dreams. I'd love to hear about them.

Inspired to Bake

I had a choice about a month ago. Either buy a new work bowl for my food processor or buy a new one. The new work bowl with shipping was more than I wanted to spend, and besides I had seen a much larger food processor at Williams Sonoma website, and it looked like it could turn out bread dough and it has multiple work bowls that nest inside each other. There was a month wait to get it (but I waited, and waited) and finally, I went to the store and picked it up.

It is amazing to me how a new appliance inspires me to bake. First I had to try out a Challah for Rosh Hashona. What was so great is that I have trouble kneading dough, it really hurts my fingers. This did all the kneading for me. The loaves were great! It has been a while since I did a bread other than one in the bread machine. And, for me that isn't quite the same as an oven baked bread, especially a Challah which I love to braid.

Sunday I was really tired, but wanted to bake again. I went to the store and saw a huge display of apples. So, instead of bread it was apple pie. Now, it has been years and years since I made my own crust. I have relied on the not so good Pillsbury unroll from the package crust. But, the food processor had a recipe, and just to be sure I went to www.foodnetwork.com and checked out Alton Brown's take on a pie crust. His version was almost identical, but what was great was that his video showed me exactly how to work the dough in the food processor, how to tell when ready to chill, and some good hints on rolling it out. I also like the fact he doesn't do anything fancy to the top of the crust. I will tell you that it was the best crust I have probably ever made in terms of texture, flakiness, and so forth. (I am eating a piece while writing this). He starts out by baking the pie on the floor of the oven (of course on a cookie sheet), and then movies it up into the lower part of the oven on a rack. This really browns the bottom crust. And the other tip was I have always used lemon juice in my apple pie. He used Lime Juice! And, it was so much better!

What fun to be inspired by something mechanical. My other inspiration this week was potato pancakes (with a small zucchini in them for flavor). They grate so nicely in the processor.

Oh why did I do this?

I have been enjoying AAA: Alex's Adventures in Asia and Nancy K Sews blogs for the past year. So, I thought today, I would set up my own blog. Now, I am wondering why? There are so many decisions to make -- style was the easiest, and then there are multiple choices to make that I have no idea how to answer. So, I did the best I could, I'll write a bit and then see how it all looks.

I was thinking that next summer I would start a blog about the Weaverville Tailgate Market. How, I go, find what looks appealing to me at that moment, and then create a meal around it. One of my favorite farmers, Paul, is always interested each week in hearing what I have made from the farmers bounty. But, that is for the summer of 2010. So why now?

I guess it will be a way to put down my comments as I travel. Lots of trips coming up, Orlando for a convention, then New York City to see Broadway Shows, then Chicago for a meeting, then Orlando for a family vacation, and next summer, Bryce and Zion Parks, and then Las Vegas for a family vacation. And who knows what else will go in between as my business and personal travel plans unfold.