Saturday, August 18, 2007

A Morning at the Markets

This morning I was slowly coming out of my slumber when I realized that today is Saturday. The Last Full Day with Porkchop for Nearly 50 Days.

My eyes flew open.

Market Going
We left the house before 9:00 this morning. Our first stop was a small farmer's market where we purchased local honey (delicious flower honey!!), tomatoes, and plums. So many plums! The plums were grown in Los Lunas and sold to us by a couple of cowboys.

Here's a picture of our goods:



The honey was $3.75 per bear, the tomatoes were $1 a pound, and all of those plums were only $2. What great prices! I hope the growers are actually making a bit of a profit!

The plums are SO GOOD! The best I've ever had. Ever. Look at them:



The farmer's market was right by Talin Market, so we went inside to look around.

Oh my gosh, Talin puts Jay International Foods to shame! I am so envious that Porkchop is just a short bus ride away from such a great market. Talin is like 10 times bigger than JIF, quite a bit cleaner, and they have a super fantastic deli area. *SIGH* Talin also sells a crazy variety of fruit, including things like durian, which I've only read about. Maybe I can purchase one next time.

Anyway, this is my favorite purchase from Talin:



These rice cakes are one of my favorites things ever.

After Talin, we drove down the street to go to the weekly flea market. Besides the plants that we bought for Porkchop's place, the only thing that caught my eye was the aguas frescas stand. It's obviously popular...see:



I wanted to try all of the flavors, but I stuck with cantaloupe. SO FREAKING GOOD. The drink was thick with macerated cantaloupe, so it became even better as the ice melted. Yum, yum, yum.

Also, at the farmer's market and the flea market, people were roasting green chiles. Mmmmm! The smell was wonderful. I wish I had had reason to buy a bag of roasted chiles.

Yesterday
Since we had an exciting trip to Santa Fe and Taos the day before, we slept in a bit and then did things like go to Target, play rummy, draw each other, and cry (okay, I was the only one crying. I cried enough for both of us). OH, we also went to see Superbad, which was amusing. Since it was opening day, the theatre was giving away Superbad hats and t-shirts.

The highlight of my day yesterday was picking up a chicken-rice-bean-green chile-cheese burrito from The Burrito Lady. Fantastic! And spicy! Oh my gosh, the spiciest green chiles I've had here. If you're ever in ABQ, you should definitely put The Burrito Lady on your list.

The little shop proves that looks are deceiving - it's tucked in a shabby strip mall between an auto parts store and a pet store. But the food is amazing. Also, the owner is totally awesome. She's great. Read this review for pictures and more info on Consuelo (the owner, who again, is so great).

Tonight
I need to do some research on where we should eat tonight. I want more sopaipillas before I leave!

Random Picture
This is my favorite motel on Central (part of Route 66):



The photo doesn't capture the craziness of the Aztec Motel. Scroll down this website for more info - turns out the motel is on the National Register of Historic Places!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Global Market in Kirkwood usually has frozen durian, and, quite often, durian ice cream. I used to take it to my cooking classes for kids.

Those plums look amazing!

Carrie said...

Thanks for the tip!

I've been meaning to check out Global Market.

Anonymous said...

I love Global even more than I love Jay's. They've got a huge selection of European stuff, especially real British Cadbury and lots of great German chocolate brands. Huge selection of cheap, fresh herbs, too. And cheese! Lots of cheese. Their prices are so good and quality so high that I bought a great deal of my supplies from them when I was catering and teaching. You'll love it, I promise.

Unfortunately, the yarn shop that was down the block from Global no longer has knitting supplies and such. I used to love stopping there before making my Global run.