Market News for This Saturday, September 12
B & B
Why just go bigger when you can go bigger
and better? The
Lansdowne
Arts Festival does just that this year, its seventh, expanding to a second
level of the Twentieth Century Club, adding new
artists,
and showcasing even more
musicians
and performers that would be worth paying to see but that are presented there entirely
for free. The Festival takes place from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm both days this weekend, with
the art show happening all day and the music and dance performances changing hourly.
(The schedule is
here.) If live
music isn't your bag, perhaps you'd be interested in the short play performances and
poetry readings at noon on Saturday and 1:00 on Sunday. The festival will also be welcoming
special guests who wanted to get in on the fun, like the Philadelphia Zoo, which will be
bringing a small animal petting zoo at 2:00 pm on Sunday. Food will be available from
local favorites like the Regency Cafe and Mission Burrito, as well as other purveyors, and
Bonnie's Wondergardens will be beautifying the front of the Club with arrangements and
wreaths for sale. In past years, the Festival has triumphed despite weather
challenges that have ranged from a hurricane the first year (truly) to silly-high
temperatures and humidity last year. For its seventh year, the Lansdowne Arts
Festival is looking at a forecast in the 70s and mostly clear both days. Now
that's lucky. See ya there, right?
Meanwhile, Back at the Market
Just as the Lansdowne Arts Festival is a local sign that summer is officially out
and fall is in (even when it's been 90 degrees), so is the arrival of mums at the
Farmers Market. Bonnie's will have a huge variety of mums
this Saturday, from small pots, to window box size, to hanging baskets, plus winter
pansies and some cold weather vegetable seedlings, like kale and cabbages. Shoppers
have also been snatching up her $5 bouquets, and there will be plenty of those, plus
some larger, specialer $15 ones in case you're feeling the need for something else a
bit bigger and better.
Speaking of special, two luxury food items are going to debut at the Market this
weekend, so bring a few extra dollars to take advantage of this gourmet opportunity.
First, John's Minicakes will be offering duxelles, which
John describes as a kind of mushroom foie gras. It's basically a highly reduced paste
made of mushrooms and seasonings that is rich and complexly flavored. It's used
primarily as a garnish in dishes like omelets or pilaf, as a topping for crostini or baked
potatoes, or wrapped along with beef in puff pastry to make Beef Wellington, but it can
be used to add an earthy goodness to many foods. If you're interested but are not quite
sure what to do with it, John will first give you a taste and then make some suggestions
for using it. Right next door, Mark of Natural Meadows Farm will be
bringing smoked capons this week, pushing the luxury meter way up
there. The capons are fully cooked, not frozen, and ready to eat. They surely make a
distinctive addition to a meal. Throw in a nice baguette from the Regency or Wildflour
and some of Flint Fill Farms' fresh goat or cow's milk cheese, and you'll be
feeling very sophisticated indeed.
Not so high-falootin' but nonetheless delicious, sweet potatoes will
be coming to Market this week at Fruitwood Farms' stand. That's the good news. The
howlingly bad news is that nectarines are completely over and peaches are in their
last throes. Good thing that there were about six different varieties of
apples available last week (with more coming all the time), plus
watermelons and cantaloupes; it's making the decline of the stone fruits a bit more
bearable. Now's also the time to buy a bunch of red peppers and
make yourself a big batch of
roasted
peppers at home, which is messy but not hard and has wonderful results. You
can make them as garlicky as you want, then throw them in salads, on pizzas, in
sandwiches, etc, etc. Once you've made your roasteds, take it to the next level with
homemade
roasted red pepper hummus.
Farm Fresh Express will be back this week (phew!), but this is the last Saturday
for several weeks that Greenwood Kitchen will be at the Market,
returning October 17, so stock up on their packaged crackers and macaroons to
get you through the hiatus. (Some of their products are also available at Cinema
16:9 or at the Swarthmore Coop.) Treat yourself this week to one of their wheatgrass
shots, which they handcrank on site when you order it and then deliver with an orange
slice chaser. The juice is grassy (no duh, huh) but also surprisingly sweet and
terrifically good for you. Have it before your coffee and feel the difference starting the
day with something gentler than a jolt of caffeine makes. Then you can have your coffee.
Meg Votta of Sycamore
showed us how to make gazpacho last week, and it was inspiring. She
did it right in front of the crowd and didn't measure a thing, and the result was frankly
awesome — fresh and flavorful and vaguely citrusy with a little kick. Here's her list
of ingredients so you can try it yourself at home: tomatoes, cucumber, red bell pepper,
poblano pepper, scallions, lemon basil, parsley, lime juice, Tabasco sauce, salt, and black
pepper. Throw it all in a blender, whirr, taste, adjust, serve. The winner of the $25 gift
certificate to Sycamore was Aaron Olson. Congratulations, Aaron!
Cats and Dogs
The Market will be host to special guest Animal Friends of
Lansdowne this week, who will have a couple of kitties available for adoption,
plus their AFL bandanas, mugs, and other merchandise for sale, the profits from which
go to buy pet food, pay vet bills, and meet other expenses incurred while helping critters.
It's a great cause and fits right in with the local focus of the Market.
And remember that Dog Day is only two weeks away, on September
26. We thought we'd have licensing on site, but it seems that won't happen because the
tags aren't available till January. The dog parade is scheduled for 11:30, and we'll be offering
prizes (gift certificates to Bone Appetite Barkery) for Best Costume (should your pup choose
to wear one), for Best Poser, and for one randomly drawn parade participant. Market
photographer John Green will be snapping shots of all the entrants also, so practice
getting your canine pal to smile for the camera, or at least to face it.
Three Reminders
Fox 29's Hot List contest closes September 11, meaning this is the
last week to vote for local entrants. Put it off no longer. Go now and cast your ballot (okay,
click your choice) for Farm Fresh Express for
Best
Gourmet Grocery, the Regency Cafe for
Best
Coffee Shop, Cinema 16:9 for
Best
Indie Theater, and Mission Burrito for
Best
Burrito. Got another email address or three? You can vote from those too — it's
completely legit. We'll let you know here next week how they did.
Brunch
at Sycamore starts this weekend, kicking off in conjunction with the
Lansdowne Arts Festival and therefore being offered both Saturday and Sunday
from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. The Saturday meal is a one-off though, and next week
brunch moves to Sunday only, to remain there until they decide otherwise. Remember
your own champagne for mimosas or Bellinis, your own vodka for bloody Marys, and
your own whiskey for Irish coffee, or you'll be gazing enviously at those who did.
Some of the best photographs taken during the Lansdowne Photo Walk a
few weeks back are now on display at the Regency Cafe, where they'll hang until the end
of September. Seeing our little borough through the eyes of others is a treat and might
even compel you to exclaim, "Hey, I can see my house from here!"
The
Lansdowne Farmers Market takes place every Saturday from 9:00 am to
1:00 pm in
the parking lot next to 28 North Lansdowne
Avenue, rain or shine.
Visit our sister market, the
Oakmont
Farmers
Market, Wednesday afternoons in Havertown for more local
produce, bread,
meat, and other products.
