Tucon's Favorite Farmer's Market

St. Phillip's Square is the Rodeo Drive of Tucson. On Sunday mornings the square is illumined with local farmer's and their organic produce. Bustling with families, young, old and in-between, "people mingling" is quintessential, and food vendors, furnishing a medley of good eats, are the icing on the cake. Oh goodness, more cake!

One of our favorite breakfast treats is from the one and only food truck, Planet of The Crepes. Our favorite, Pesto Crepes. A delicate crepe wrapped around pesto, spinach, avocado, mushrooms and tomato. Oh and goat cheese, if you like it. E.A.T.'s Crepe Recipe
 

"I hear you, crepe and all your goodness."

But the real highlight of the crepe experience is our new-found mastery, Crepe Whispering. I mean really, have you ever heard of such an art? Well it does exist. These unique individuals have no formal training, but have discovered within themselves the ability to sense a notable crepe. 

"What's that little crepe? You are so beautiful."

 

Another high point of the Farmer's Market is Jack at Superior Organics. With Jack's gentle grace, buying his produce is like walking on a cloud in heaven.  It's a celestial experience. The picture speaks for itself.

As we mozy on down the street, we always come upon the music. This week, our dear friends Sarah Evans and Laurie Velgar were playing their music.

 A good day at the Farmer's Market isn't complete without a trip to Arizona's Sprouthouse. The variety of sprouts are astonishing. And the flavors match perfectly to the seed or bean it was sprouted from. And as Dolly Parton might say, "Kinda like us humans when our mama's give birth."

We highly recommend setting aside an hour or two on Sunday mornings to replenish and renew yourself by coming to the St. Philip's Square Farmers Market. Buy nutritious local food, support the local economy, and contribute to you and your family's health and well being.

About that cake...the philosophical version

There are many opportunities in life that allow us to see beyond what is immediately presented to our outer sight. One of those for me was 'the cake.' The 'recipe' for seeing beyond was pink, gold and white. More specifically soft raspberry pink, glistening apricot gold, and almond white. Color, form and texture can be masterfully orchestrated to reveal to our taste buds the beauties of creation. When fully experienced, these fruits of nature nourish our bodies as well as the spirit. One might think about almonds for instance.  Almond trees grow from a seemingly simple seed, referred to as an 'almond,' which is thought of as a nut in culinary terms, but apparently is not a true nut in the world of biology.  You know, if this nut was not so delicious and nutritious we might not even care about such distinctions. What is so beautiful to me is that a seed has the intelligence to reproduce itself, to multiply and multiply, on and on. One tree, many fruits, many seeds.  And speaking of multiplicity and the abundance we have the *velutinous goodness of almond butter, almond creme, frangipane, almond milk, and oh yes, almond cake. You see, a seemingly simple sublime cake might reveal to one's consciousness the greater mysteries of nature. Did you ever wonder why it is, that all around us is exhibited the amazing abundance and beauty of nature?

*velutinous

a synonym for velvety

Cooking is Like Fashion

Trends come and go in the kitchen, just like dresses and shoes on the runway. The current trend, which seems to be one of the longest cooking trends of the 21st Century, is "healthy cooking."  Although we both agree, healthy cooking should never be considered a trend, but rather a way of life. One cannot argue the amount of products that have manifested in the name of healthy foods over this last decade alone. Simple salads and bowls of fruit are sometimes acknowledged as too plain.

But all this eating of chia and acai, which sounds more like an infomercial then a food product, seems to be forgotten when walking by a window graced with an exquisite French pastry shouting, "eat me, eat me!" Ah ha, thought you'd agree too.

Case in point. We traveled to La Jolla, California with our girlfriends, Donna and Susan, for a little resale-retail therapy. By the way, La Jolla has some impressive resale shops. We were *absotively bedazzled. As we made our way down the avenue, feeling like we needed to charge our shopping batteries, we noticed a little bakery called, Michele Coulon Dessertier. Without pause, we entered and much to our delight were conveniently drawn to the front case, which was filled with magnificent and enchanting cakes.

Our target, Almond Cake with Apricot Filling and Golden Pink Raspberry Cream Frosting. $9.00 for a slice big enough to indulge all four of us. Cough! Cough!, um, well, it was worth it, and was as enticing as it sounds. The combination of almond cake with the apricot and raspberry were purrrrrrfectly balanced.  So with full submission to our appetites, we politely devoured the cake. Our forks, left resting on the plate as if they had just fought a food battle boisterous enough for any dessert infantry, were an indication of our happiness.

So even though the "healthy eating" trend is most certainly here to stay, go ahead and eat your cake too!
E.A.T.'s  own Almond Apricot Raspberry Cake 

*absotively; 
 another way to say,  absolutely.

Tucson's New Cooking Goddesses'

E.A.T. is about the absolute joy in simple and healthful eating. We offer vegetarian seasonal delights, which will awaken your palette to the distinction of our culinary talents.

"Yeah, we found our sea vegetables and rock candy."  Let's go E.A.T

Welcome to E.A.T., Eileen and Tina’s food avocation; that's avocation, not to be confused with avocado.  After all, we are talking food.

We’ve been getting in shape taking salt-water aerobics, pilate's and stretch classes from our own, local Fitness Goddess, Susan Hamilton. She gives these stupendous classes in the community of Civano, a green, sustainable, East-side neighborhood, where desert colored houses; purple, green, yellow and orange, line the streets. Sa-weeeeeeeeeet!
                          

Civano, Arizona

To get our cook on, we’ve been feeding our two Non-Stop Goddesses, Donna Wood and Susan Bacis, with some ambrosial delights from our taste kitchen. They’ve given us a green thumbs up, so here we are, blasting off into a culinary spin, which is buoying us up to unmitigated, colossal heights.

Poised and ready, well-seasoned from our homesteads, our *gustatory cells indicate that we are moving onward into scrumptious and luscious adventures. Life is good!

So sit back, or stand up and grab your cooking spoons, and tune in to The E.A.T Chronicles.

Sampling Torrey Pine's own rock candy and sea vegetables.

*gustatory cell
A darkly staining neuroepithelial cell in a taste bud that makes synaptic contact with sensory nerve fibers thus serving as receptors for taste. Also called taste cell.