A trip to Star Provisions and the Local Farmstand was relatively normal. We purchased a Spanish melon, fresh shelled pink peas, a Black Krim, and some cherry tomatoes. You have seen me mention these heirloom tomatoes in error. I've referred to them as Purple Cherokees and Black Crimsons, but I learned this weekend that they are Black Krims, based on an old Russian strain. So there you go. We'll use the cherry tomatoes to make field pea salad and also a nice panzanella with some leftover bread we have. 
The Spanish melon, as Joe told us, is similar to a honeydew or cantelope. As you can see from the photo, it looks a lot like honeydew, and it tastes a lot like it too. J thinks it's not exactly identical to honeydew in taste, but I do.
I also made deviled eggs just for fun. Deviled eggs are always tasty. And while I was putting them on a plate for serving, I was reminded of something I read in James Villas' The Glory of Southern Cooking, "As one hostess uttered to me not long ago, 'Anybody who served deviled eggs on a plain old white plate is just ... tacky.'"While we were at Costco, I saw that they had The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook: Stories and Recipes for Southerners and Would-be Southerners, so I picked it up. This cookbook won James Beard Foundation Awards this year for both Food of the Americas and Cookbook of the Year. It's a great comprehensive collection of every recipe that is remotely Southern including things like burgoo and cajun goodies to standards like fried chicken and chow chow.
Today we headed off to Madras Chettinaad for lunch. (I really like their fish curry!) I was surprised to see a platter of dosai included in the buffet offerings. They basically look like very thinly filled crepes, light and fluffy. I bothered the guy who was standing next to me in line as he got some sambar to ask him how to eat them. Based on his info and also furtively staring at each plate as it went by, dosai are eaten with either sambar or what I think I coconut chutney based on the Wikipedia description. The nice guy in line told me that these dosai were filled with mashed potatoes and some vegetables. Close inspection revealed that they were actually very small diced potatoes which were sauteed so there were a bit crispy on one side, very similar to hash browns. They were pretty tasty. I would have gotten one of my own if I hadn't already stuffed myself with too much fish curry.
Our last stop today was to Sawiki's Meat, Seafood, and More (http://www.sawickismeatseafoodandmore.com/. I read about this relatively new store yesterday in Edible Atlanta. The owner has 24 years' experience in the food industry, 8 of which were with Star Provisions/Bacchanalia. Although I tried not to have overly high hopes because we have been discouraged by intown butcher time and time again, the owner's experience with Star Provisions made me hope that it would be a nice intown convenience when needed, and I think it is. The meat selection is a little sparse, but they have signs posted that they just need 24 hours' notice for special orders of squab, quail, t-bones, venison, etc. This is pretty similar to Star Provisions. Their pork is Kurobata and their ribeye is Painted Hills, so that was up to our lofty standards. Everything was a dollar or two more expensive than S.P. except the hangar steak which was about 75 cents cheaper. I found the cheese and local produce offerings to be too thin, but the fish all looked good, though pricey. We never buy fish at S.P. either even though it looks awesome. So all in all, it's a nice convenience to have Sawicki's in Decatur (just off West Ponce next to Viet Chateau), especially because they are open Sundays, which S.P. is not. It'll even be better if I can place special orders on Saturdays for pickup on Sunday. However, we'll probably stick to the trek out to S.P. because the offerings are more comprehensive. This weekend, I got some nice veal scallopini at S.P. More often than not, I forget to call so I really like a butcher that carries all the things I like on a regular basis.
No comments:
Post a Comment