Pearl Alley Farmer's Market

Tucked between Broad, High, Gay, and Third Streets in downtown Columbus is the tiny Pearl Alley. On Tuesdays and Fridays the alley fills with tents, food, and downtown workers during the Pearl Farmer's Market. Pearl Alley has a different feel than other Farmer's Markets in Columbus. It is a lunch hour market, so the vendors tend on the side of homemade food and produce essentials. There are few crowds and none of the 'get there first before the fruit runs out' mentality.

On the day Lil and I went in mid June 2011, we saw three or four fresh produce stands selling strawberries, peas, lettuces, and the season's first zucchini. There were several vendors of homemade sweets, two lovely bread stands, and places to buy meat, cheese, and lunch foods like sandwiches, samosas, and drinks. Several vendors were selling household goods including homemade soap, clothing, and flowers.

Lest you think that Pearl Alley is only for office workers, let me reassure that kids and families are very welcome. There is often a musical act performing, vendors are very friendly with kids, and samples draw in foodies of all ages.

The market is situated within easy walking distance of the new Columbus Commons, the Ohio Statehouse and the Santa Maria. It is fun to make a day of exploring our state capital on foot.

Parking is fairly easy to find at meters on Third, in the garage under the Statehouse, or in the Columbus Commons garage. COTA buses run frequently downtown too.

Lil and I enjoy touring farmer's markets around town. We attended the opening day of the Easton Farmer's Market, regularly visit Clintonville and Worthington, and look forward to hitting up New Albany or OSU this week. The Columbus Farmers' Market Blog just posted a great list of markets by day - there's something for everyone!

If you go:

• Bring change for meters or cash for the bus/parking garage.
• Carry cash for purchases or go to the red Pearl Alley market tent to purchase tokens with your credit or debit card.
• Bring an insulated bag if you plan to buy meats or dairy. Downtown is hot with all the pavement and you don't want your food to spoil.
• Come hungry. There are so many great choices for lunch!
• Be ready to picnic. There aren't a lot of seating options at the market, but just across Broad Street is the Ohio Statehouse with lots of benches, stairs and grass perfect for picnics.
• The Pearl Market is open 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 17 through October 28.

Visiting The Wilds {Wordless Wednesday}

We checked The Wilds off our summer fun list on Monday June 13. Visit Lil's blog to read her story and pictures about our visit.

New Experiences in the Old Hometown

Ale, Lil and I have lived in Columbus, Ohio for a combined total of over fifty years. This city is surprising in its depth and there are hundreds of places and experiences we have never had in and around our hometown. Taking inspiration from Kate's list of things she wants to do in Columbus, here are new things (or things we haven't done in a LONG time) we want to do this summer:

• Check out the Columbus Commons (Done on 5/27 before I even got this post out of the cue; can you spot me in Cbus Mom's review?)
• Explore the Columbus Museum of Art Center for Creativity
• Trek to The Wilds
• Spend a day at Aha!, the Boonshoft Museum, or another children's museum nearby
• Walk around Serpent Mound
• Take an OEFFA Farm Tour or two
• Read with the Columbus Metro Library Summer Reading Club I'm participating as an adult for the first time!
• Visit the Franklin County Fair
• View the COSI Dinosaur Exhibit (Done 5/31 on a fantastically not crowded day.)
• Shop the Athens Farmer's Market
• Camp at a new-to-us Ohio State Park (I'm thinking Kelly's Island)
• Go bowling, ice skating, and/or roller skating Lil has never done any of these!
• Watch a performance in a park

I will update this post as we check things off the list.

Do you have any must-see Ohio places to recommend? What are you up to this summer?

PS. I realize that it isn't officially summer until June 21, but with the stinking hot weather I think we can start planning, don't you?

Foodie Tidbits from Atlanta {Friday Five}

It seems like forever since I returned from BlogHer Food '11 in Atlanta, but in reality it was only a few days ago. Here are five things I want to remember:

1) Homemade popsicles are the best. Amongst my wanderings in downtown Atlanta, I visited King of Pops, a handmade popsicle stand. The salty chocolate was a perfect midday chiller to the humid Atlanta heat.

2) Sugar-coated Radical is doing amazing work, through candy. I walked by this micro-company's stand twice at Sweet Auburn market before stopping at their bicycle transported stall. The handmade caramels and lollipops included wild flavors (even tobacco plant!) infused into the cream. The company philosophy is as imaginative and hopeful as the candy tastes.

3) Roasting peaches is a magnificent idea. The coffee shop serving roasted peach lemonade was a hit among food bloggers for good reason - the drink was comprised of real fresh peaches, roasted and blended with fresh lemon juice and a slight bit of sugar. It was refreshing and healthy among a conference otherwise filled with carbo-fatso-goodness.

4) Cakes and Ale serves a fantastic, local-intensive meal, the best of my trip. I fell in love with chef's palate because it is so similar to mine: vegetables in every dish, err on the salty side of things, and playful with temperature and texture.

5) Pork is 'done' at 145 degrees F with three minutes resting time!! The USDA just announced this update. Many of us have been disregarding the old temp and cooking to 145 for years because stopping there leaves a more tender and  juicy meat.

Of course, the food news and restaurants pale in comparison to the connection and conversations I had with fellow food writers. My blog reader list grew by hundreds, including these new friends:

Nicole (Arctic Garden), Amy  (Idiot Mom), Melissa (Taste Sip Travel), Janet (A Cook at Heart), and Kate (Blue Chair Fruit), my Cakes And Ale dinner companions.

Fellow Ohio dwellers I had to fly to Atlanta to meet, Faith (Apartment Therapy and cookbook author) and Tricia (Once a Month Mom).

Kim (The Yummy Mummy), Cathy (Mrs. Wheelbarrow) and Sean (Punk Domestics) served up a rousing Charcutepalooza workshop, with contributions from Winnie (Healthy Green Kitchen) and Hank Shaw (Hunter Angler Gardener Cook) in the audience. This is the kind of hands-on demonstration I would like to see more of at conferences.

Are you a blogger writing Friday Five posts? Link up here!

Friday Five: Firsts and a Last

I intended to post this for Friday Five but didn't hit the publish button. Oh well, pretend it's yesterday again. This week was full of milestones at Hound Central. 1) First time the three of us have slept under different roofs. On Wednesday night, Alex was in Fort Lauderdale for work, Lil was at my parents', and I was sleeping at home before waking up early for a flight to BlogHer Food '11.

2) First lamb tartar. On Tuesday I had the pleasure of visiting Jorgensen Farm for an Ohio Lamb media event. It was inspiring to tour the farm, sample six dishes created with lamb, and see an amazingly detailed butchering demonstration. I will share more about the farm and lamb recipes soon.

3) Rachel's first ipod. The smart and generous people at Moe's Southwest Grill emailed me a few weeks ago to offer a ride from the airport to the conference hotel. The convenience and company were gifts enough, I thought. I was shocked to find that the swag bag included an ipod shuffle. Wow!

4) Lil's last day of preschool. After four years at the School for Young Children, Lil will be an alumna after Friday's class. We love this play based pre-school; Alex and I are presidents of the advisory committee. There are still a few spots available for children who are 3-5 years old. See their enrollment page to give your child and family a strong emotional foundation.

5) First moments of our homeschooling. After weighing options for Lil's education, we settled on homeschooling. We look forward to continuing our flexible, adventurous lifestyle while learning as a family.

Are You 21?

Today's guest post comes from the man of the homestead, Alex. This isn't a sexist classification, it's the truth: Alex lives with two female humans, two female dogs, and four female hens. He's the only guy around to take on demanding issues like horse racing and distillery websites.

Apparently there is a race-inside-the-race held prior to the running of the Kentucky Derby. It is called the “Turf Classic” and is on grass inside the main dirt race course at Churchill Downs. I was excited to see this event sponsored by Woodford Reserve, one of my favorite bourbon distilleries. In fact, Rachel and I visited there last year on our trip to Bourbon country.

So, I decided to hop over to their website to see if they had any interesting Derby information. Upon arriving at their front page, I was confronted by the ubiquitous “must enter age” to view this website. The rationale they give is that alcohol should be responsibly enjoyed by those of a legal age.

Now I can understand wanting people to drink responsibly, I can even understand the desire to see age limits enforced (although I could write for hours on the stupidity of liquor laws in our country). However, what is the point of restricting access to a website?

I mean, I can’t get drunk from accessing a website, can I? Believe me, I would be exceeding AT&T’s bandwidth caps if this were the case. I can’t order liquor for delivery from their website. I don’t think there is anything I can do on their website that is legally restricted for those under the age of 21.

It seems to me that the main purpose of this exercise is to promote an image of corporate responsibility on the part of liquor companies. This is all well and good, but what is to keep a minor from entering a false birth date? For myself, I usually claim to be a 108 year old male from Afghanistan when asked upon entry. And what will actually happen if the underage gain illicit entry to one of these websites? Not a damn thing.

The image of corporate responsibility cultivated costs a liquor company almost nothing and only serves to piss off their customers. If these companies really cared about alcohol abuse among the younger generation there are lots of concrete actions they could take. However, to actually do good in these areas of social concern costs money. By putting up an age restriction on a website, a company has spent nothing, but taken “real action.” It’s the best of both worlds for the corporation concerned.

Now I realize I may be coming off as some sort of a teetotaler. Nothing could be further from the truth as I enjoy my alcohol immensely. I would simply like to see companies think about what they are doing, and if they really want to support a cause, do so in a truly meaningful way.

Friday Five: Favorite Foods in Costal Massachusetts

I'm not sure if I'll ever get around to posting a full recap of our recent vacation. In the meantime, here are the five best things we ate in Marion and Ipswich areas of Massachusetts while visiting Alex's aunt and uncle and my cousin, respectively. 1) Crabster Roll at Seafood Sam's - Sandwich near Cape Cod

Seafood Sam's is an institution on Cape Cod. The menu is vast, the food is served cafeteria style, and most of it is simply good. Alex's crabster roll happened to be great, with fresh meat in a simple dressing was served atop a pretzel roll.

We go to the location in Sandwich at the Cape Cod Canal. The Army Corp of Engineers hosts a small but informative and interactive museum about the canal and cape life. It was sadly not open during our trip this year. Because it was Palm Sunday, ships weren't sailing either. Instead, we were fascinated by a huge flock of common eider and playful harbor seals.

2) Cabbage wrapped haddock

One evening in Marion, Alex's uncle John made a surprising and tasty preparation of haddock based on this Epicurus recipe. The cabbage wrapped fillets topped with (lots of) butter and capers fed the largest gathering of the Baillieul clan in five years, to much acclaim.

3) Homemade Clam Chowder - Ipswich MA or make it yourself

We collected clams near Marion and carried them in a cooler to visit my cousin Abigail in Ipswich. Wanting a warm meal after yet another cold beach visit, we cooked them into a tasty and quick clam chowder on the first night of our visit. I shared my chowder ratio recipe on the Lean Green Bean blog yesterday.

4) The Pasta House - Alden Rd. Fairhaven

The Pasta House was the site of dinner on our final night in Marion. After a busy day on the Cape, I was nervous about Lil's behavior and the quality of the corporate looking restaurant. I should have trusted Alex's aunt and uncle; the Pasta House turned out to be great. Everything was made fresh and executed very well. The Spanish mussels appetizer was especially enticing with perfectly cooked shellfish in a delectable sauce.

5) Oxford Creamery - Rt. 6 between Marion and Mattapoisett

Though the weather was frightfully chilly, Lil insisted on an afternoon ice cream cone one day. I remembered from our last trip that the Oxford Creamery also served hot food so we made the short drive down Rt. 6. Given the area's Portuguese heritage, I had to try the kale soup. Alex ordered their clam roll plate with fresh coleslaw and fries.

The kale soup, in it's lightly spiced broth with kidney beans, potatoes and sausage, warmed me right up. Pairing it with cranberry and chocolate ice cream wasn't the best choice I've ever made, but they were both very tasty.

Alex's clam roll was everything this New Englander-at-heart could wish for. The generous portion of piping hot and crispy clams were settled on a soft roll. The accompanying fries were also fresh and crunchy. With some cool creamy coleslaw to complete the meal, Alex was in food heaven.

How An Ohioan Forages for Clams in Massachusetts

Foraging for shellfish is one of Alex's great pleasures of vacationing oceanside. It's always happenstance when he comes across a bed of something tasty, so the method for digging is a bit untraditional. Here's how Alex, and later me, dug for clams yesterday on Planting Island causeway near Marion, Massachusetts.

1) Negotiate with the five year old for the use of her green plastic shovel.

click pictures for bigger images

2) Look for the telltale bubbles in sand that indicate something is breathing under the sand. Abandon the shovel and dig your fingers into the cold black muck.

3) Cheer when you pull up a quahog.

4) Be distracted when you find a whole conch, with dead animal inside. Try to remove animal because it reeks.

5) When your fingers are frozen, find a plastic sack in the car to hold your bounty. Make plans to cook chowder.