Wither Blog Day? (+Newest Inventory)

(Updates below)

Last we met, I promised hours of blog fun as I assuaged my grief over being left out of the CTrib's locavore article. Yet, I could not bare to be in the Bungalow any more Sunday for fear that I might accidentally see the paper (and find out yet again that when Kerry Woods walks the first batter, no lead is safe). I did the only thing a good eat local guy could do to feel better, I went to a farmer's market. Of course as an avid eater, I also went for a local flavored brunch.

You think I'm bitter, what about Mindy Segal and her nice little place, Hot Chocolate. The Trib sidebars restaurants serving local and skips her place entirely, noting instead such arrivistes as Osteria Via Stato [ed. perhaps you just have a"thing" against OvS?]. Ms. Segal's had local on her menu before it became word of the year. My brunch the other day was awash in local: Gunthrop Farm bacon, local strawberries, Nueske ham, and although not really thought of as such, the smoked whitefish on my wife's plate is pretty local to us. Besides the use of local on the brunch menu, Hot Chocolate serves one of the best selections of Wisconsin cheeses around town. I was decidedly less bitter after brunch. More so because Mindy also offers little bites of some of her sweets, for the taking by the cash register.

Still, only one thing could be-still my stirred up heart. We moved on from Hot Chocolate to the Wicker Park Farmer's Market. We could not possibly need more food (could we?). Our holiday weekend local:

Genesis Grower's CSA - 7/3/08

• 2 bags arugula
• 2 heads leaf lettuce
• The biggest head of Napa cabbage
• The K word a/k/a kohlrabi
• Kale
• Bekana - I love Vicki to death but I wish she'd not foster the bekana, an odd Asian green on us

Eli's Cheesecake Farmer's Market - 7/3/08

• Fava beans, strawberries, young onions (tropea/cipollini), sweet onions, baby shallots - Nichol's Farm
• Interesting talk - Lloyd Nichol's, Nichol's Farm
• Cheesecakes, both purchased and comped - Eli's Cheesecake

Fox & Obel - 7/5/08

• Farmer's All Natural Creamery, cream, sour cream, cottage cheese
• Trader's Point Creamery yogurt
• Grunthrop Farms ham

Oak Park Farmer's Market - 7/5/08

• 300 lbs or so of organically raised, local hog - Wettstein Organic Farm
• Sour cherries, apricots - Hardin Farm
• Basil, mint, eggs - Genesis Growers
• Asparagus, peas - Stover's U Pick
• Curly parsley - Nice woman farming a plot in Forest Park whose name I keep on forgetting!

Wicker Park Farmer's Market - 7/6/08

• Green garlic, with scapes (which is mostly not green anymore) - Nichol's Farm
• Black raspberries - Seedlings
• Carrots - Two nice people with a farm in ILLINOIS but whose name I also forgot

Green Grocer Chicago - 7/8/08

• Beets, carrots - City Farm
• Raspberries - Unknown Michigan farm

Genesis Growers CSA - 7/10/08

• Yellow summer squash
• Thyme
• New potatoes
• Sweet cherries
• Carrots, including some white carrots
• Scallions
• 4 chickens

Eli's Cheesecake Farmer's Market - 7/10/08

• Tropea onions, fava beans - Nichol's Farm

Northside Farmer's Market, Madison, WI

• Veg: organic cucumbers, seedless cucumber, garlic scapes, sugar snaps, snow peas, carrots, green beans, blue, tomatoes, collard greens, beets, cauliflower, summer squash, squash blossoms
• Fruit: blueberries
• Herbs: papalo, cilantro, epazote, parsley
• Fish: farm raised perch
• Dairy: Sugar River yogurt, Sugar River sour cream
• Pantry: Pamplemousse Preserves (elderflower caramel, rhubarb vanilla preserves)

Pierces Northside Market, Madison, WI - 7/13/08

• New Glarus Brewery - Edel Pils, Fat Squirrel
• Capital Brewery - Island Wheat, Rustic Ale
• Botham Vineyards - Upland Reserve
• Uncle Phil's Mustard

Willy St. Co-op - 7/13/08

• Wisconsin grown veg: pea shoots, chard, romaine, radicchio
• Wisconsin cheese: Widmer 2 year cheddar, Roth Kase Gruyere, Hidden Springs Creamery "Driftless" sheep's milk cheese, Antigo StarVechio
• Sugar River yogurt

2 Girls on a corner at State Street, Madison - 7/13/08

• Raspberries from their back yard

Liquor store on Washington St. on the way to I-90 - 7/13/08

• New Glarus Brewery - Spotted Cow
• Death's Door Spirits - Death Door Vodka

Whole Foods, River Forest, IL - 7/14/08

• Farmer's All Natural Creamery Milk
• Cucumber - some Indiana farm
• Blueberries - some Michigan outfit

Previous list of acquisitions here.