Friday, July 10, 2009

LUDLOW, VERMONT FARMER'S MARKET


     Walking around Ludlow, Vermont, I noticed a prevalent message, "NO MICKY Ds!" As a kid, McDonald's was one of the best treats and a birthday party haven. Some of the most memorable photographs in our family album are of us sitting with party hats  wearing early 80s shades of brown and orange terry cloth outfits underneath this weird fairy forest tree getting ready to blow out the yellow cake with chocolate frosting birthday cake candles. Its a good thing that these Ludlow tots won't grow up with double hamburger meal nostalgia. 
     It was our first day in Vermont and I was in search of a Farmer's Market and after seeing those signs I had a good feeling one would be lurking nearby. Lucky enough, that afternoon white tents went up on the front lawn of the elementary school. We had just come back from Buttermilk Falls and I was starving. I sampled one of the most delicious broccoli quiches I've ever had. The quiche lady was also selling whoopie pies and chocolate chip cookies. So many food bloggers have been tempting me with photos of their homemade whoopie pies, so I was craving one. I got a banana and a chocolate whoopie pie and a box of cookies for Mike. The banana whoppie pie was the winner. The chocolate was too dense. Whole Foods actually has their whoopie pie skills down. The chocolate chip cookies were delicious and were good at disappearing.
    We bought some Garlic Parmesan Pork Sausages and Grass Fed Hamburger Meat. There was a slight misunderstanding with me and the meat man who I thought instructed me to make the burgers thick, since they are lean, and not cook them for too long so they don't shrink, but he meant thick in diameter not in height, and that night we basically ate steak tartar. It was actually amazing. The sausages were out of this world, too. The raw leftover hamburgers and one odd sausage went into making a delicious hash for breakfast.
    A cool stand was selling clever jewelry made from kitchen utensils. Spoon earrings are all the rage in Vermont apparently.
    There was not a lot of produce up for grabs except some lettuce, but we had CSA veggies to get through. We did get some amazing bread. The whole wheat baguette was something very special. A crisp crust and chewy inside. Perfect. I also got a Kale, Cheddar and Garlic Foccaccia. It was superb.
    We picked up some farm fresh local organic eggs, those light blue ones which I have been dying to try, but in NY they are $8/dozen. These were only $4/dozen. They had the most beautiful yokes I have ever seen and such a distinct egg flavor, not like the poor excuse for eggs you get in the supermarket. I love it when eggs still have dirt and chicken feathers stuck to them because you know how fresh they are.  
   A visit to lemonade stand yielded an unbelievably perfectly sweet and sour glass of cold lemonade and some brioche to make French Toast in the morning. The lemonade man instructed us to slice the bread and let it stale overnight. I would need Maple Syrup and I wanted Grade B. I had seen a Bobby Flay Pancake Throw Down recently versus the owner's of the Clinton Street Bakery, and they preferred Grade B with which they made a Maple Butter. But the maple syrup ladies at the Farmer's Market didn't have their act together, so the next morning I walked to a house a few miles up the road where I had noticed a sign that read, "Maple Syrup For Sale Here." Sweet Rita and her rambunctious grandsons hooked me up with a jug of Grade B and it delivered. Along with all the other local goodies, our stay in Vermont was a delicious one.

9 comments:

adozeneggs said...

I have my own suspicions as to why the restaurants in Ludlow don't want McDonalds. Not that I want one, but did you eat in any of these establishments? Micky D's would give most of them some stiff competition.

the table 10 supper club said...

this is just a lovely story. thanks for sharing it!

Jennifer Galatioto said...

I literally am laughing out loud. We did eat at the Pot Belly and we just should have known better considering the name! I had literally a cup of soup because I could just tell it was not going to be great. Mike had some crazy cheesey melted sandwich which I know sat in his stomach the rest of the day. Good thing we prepared all our meals at home. And came to you for dessert!

adozeneggs said...

oooh, The Pot Belly??!! I've heard some not so good things about that one.
Everyone LOVES that place DJ's, we tried it. Once.
I can't help but get the sense that most of the food comes from #10 cans off the Sysco truck.
There are very few good places to eat and we cook at home more often than we ever did when we lived in Boston.
Next time you guys are in VT I'll give you a list of places that are worth your while.

Jennifer Galatioto said...

And likewise, please contact me when you are in NY. Would love to meet up! I know ALOT of good places all over, for lunch, snack, etc. A few: Shake Shack, Pastis, Porchetta, Schiller's; Ipuddo (Ramen Noodles) Roebling Tea Room, La Superior (tacos)...the list goes on!!!

Rocco Galatioto said...

Dear Morta di Fame, I cannot take anything from Vermont seriously as it is made up mostly of aging hyppies lrft over from the sixties and some wannabies. Next on my list of pathetic places are Oregon and Washington State. Full of lefties and NPR listeners plus all sorts of global warming freaks. Gee. Give me a real state like New Jersey, Georgia, Texas, New York.
Nice article, though and the photo of the egg dozen was really nice. I say this although I do not eat eggs. I guess that's big of me.
Keep up the great work
YD

adozeneggs said...

We love Shake Shack, the new one in UWS is just a couple of blocks from the apt!!
And Pastis and Schllers are the same owners as Balthazar!
Good to know we have similar tastes!
We're always looking for great Mexican in NYC. Last time we had Harry's Burritos. Not good.

Unknown said...

We have a family house in Belmont. Every time we're up the must visit is Harry's Cafe about three miles north of Ludow on Rt 103. We've never had a bad meal in the 25 years we've been going. When Trip, the owner/chef opened a restaurant in Rutland we were concerned that the Cafe would suffer. No So! There was a rough patch about 10 years ago when they got a rave review from NYT and for a period we were forced to make reservation a week in advance to getting up there.

Unknown said...

We ate at Pot Belly the other night...we stuck to the hamburger, which was decent. The waiter on the other hand was a bit of an oddball. I was there with my family and they all had decided what they wanted and gave our waiter the order. I decided on what I wanted a few minutes later and the waiter was not around so my husband went up to another employee and gave him my order. A few minutes later, our waiter comes to our table and "scolds" me for giving my order to the other guy. Apparently the other guy was the owner and made a comment to our waiter that he wasn't capable of taking an order. I didn't think it was very appropriate for our waiter to "scold" me...