While Iris did the Puyallup today, Laurie and I hit the Ballard Farmers Market. One of the biggest of Seattle’s markets, Ballard’s has some special features. There’s the bruschettina lady, who has been profiled in Sunset as well as all the local media, whose wares are justifiably famous, and who is now moving to Italy. We got a bruschetta trio: octopus and chickpea (which is apparently the best seller), tomato-basil, and Italian sausage with greens. Everything gets a drizzle of Tuscan olive oil, and the sausage is from Skagit River Ranch, whose organic meat stand is right around the corner.

After a bite or two, I could see why the octopus is so popular–octopus takes to charring better than almost any other food, I think. They have both a grill and a stove with well-seasoned cast iron pans at the bruschetta stand, so I assume the octopus prep involves grilling, chopping, and reheating with the beans. I honestly thought that even in Seattle, even at a farmers market, most people didn’t eat things like octopus, but apparently I was just being a snob. In any case, catch her while you can (through October).

Bruschetta isn’t the only ready-to-eat food at the market. There’s also the Dante’s Inferno hot dog stand, which makes a really great dog. He uses Boar’s Head, the best hot dog brand, and keeps them warm in water but finishes them on the griddle. There’s a nice variety of toppings; I had mine with grilled onions and peppers and Rooster sriracha sauce, while Laurie chose pepper mayo and dill pickle relish. They also offer pickled jalapeños, which is what I put on my hot dogs at home, and I thought I’d invented this and was the only person to do so. So not only are my tastes less than elite, I’m not even a culinary innovator. Plus Laurie told me that I’m not enough of a celebrity to be on Celebrity Duets. And this was a *good* day.

But the most exciting thing in the market was coming across the Sea Breeze Farm stand. I’d read about Sea Breeze Farm on Cookbook 411, when Lara Ferroni visited their farm on Vashon. But here was their stand, where I picked up a dozen duck eggs (laid within the last two days, he assured me) and a pint of veal stock. They were also taking orders for fresh veal, and the only reason I didn’t plunk down for a veal shoulder is that I wasn’t sure I could make it back to Ballard next Sunday. Now I’m thinking, wait, if I can’t get to Ballard for an organic veal shoulder with my name on it, what is my problem?

When Iris got back from the fair I made us a scrambled duck egg. The taste was great, but the texture was mushy. Laurie figured out why: the yolks are so huge, there’s not enough white to give it structure. They’re going to make incredible fried eggs–and fresh pasta, which means lasagna bolognese might be coming up sooner than I’d anticipated.

What should I do with the veal stock? It’s rich, it’s gelatinous, it’s a saucier in a bottle.

We just made a major Trader Joe’s pilgrimage. Lately I’ve been eating lunch at home more often and wanting lunch to be cheap and fast. I have an addiction to eating lunch out, which combined with a delusion that lunch out is $5 gets expensive fast. So the Joe’s frozen section is delightful. I got some crispy orange chicken, various burritos, and so on.

But that’s not what I’m so excited about. I also got a bag of Thai spiced peanuts. Normally “Thai spiced” anything from a Western store is going to be disappointing, but these are awesome. They have crumbled dried kaffir lime leaves and dried red chiles, and they are really spicy, salty, and sour.

The other new product, TJ’s carne asada, is probably not new, but I’m trying to get over my aversion to prepared foods so I just noticed it. It’s a bag of marinated sliced beef. When I see a bag of marinated sliced beef, my gut reaction is, “Pshaw, if I want some marinated sliced beef, I will slice some beef and marinate it,” which never happens. So I bought the beef. I figured it would be at least okay, but I just seared some in a pan and it was way better than okay. I’m going to make some for dinner tonight with broccoli and crispy potatoes, and I think Iris is going to love it.

Anita of [Married with Dinner](http://www.marriedwithdinner.com/) fame has selected me to share my list of Five Things to Eat Before You Die. I urge you to take this list seriously. If you do not eat these five things, I can’t be responsible for the consequences.

1. Lasagna Bolognese. You have to make the pasta yourself. You have to make both sauces (ragu and bechamel) yourself. I’m not sure what threshing is, but I’m sure it would help if you threshed the wheat yourself. By the time it’s done, you may be too exhausted to eat, but whoever is still awake will be rewarded with the most savory of all foods.

2. Nueske’s bacon.

3. Deluxe Tan Tan Noodles, Szechuan Chongqing Restaurant, Vancouver BC. I’ve been going here regularly since I was 12, and these noodles, served hot with ground pork and a spicy, peanutty sauce, have never changed. Don’t wear your best shirt.

4. Fluffy catfish salad (*yam pla doog foo*), Thailand. This dish sums up everything I love about Thai food: sourness, spiciness, fresh fish, and mastery of the deep fryer. The catfish is basically unrecognizable as fish, because it’s been flaked into small pieces before frying.

5. Montgomery Cheddar. The other farmhouse cheddars of note (Keen’s and Isle of Mull) are more acidic than this one. Montgomery has the perfect crumbly balance. It’s expensive, but I could probably afford to eat it every day if I sold Iris on eBay.

The October issue of Parents has a great baby food feature. Not only does it have many great ideas for finger foods, but it’s artfully presented.

If I have one quibble, it’s that there aren’t enough high-fat items on the list. Not only do babies require a high-fat diet, they find fatty foods easier to chew and swallow. That’s why you should keep them away from the lard sculptures.

Laurie and I spent Christmas 2000 in Paris. Ever since then I’ve been doing something dumb: lamenting the things we didn’t do, even though almost everything we ate was fantastic. Now my friend Emily, who is currently in Paris, has given me another thing to pine over.

While in Paris, I noticed an unusual type of store, one specializing in frozen food. I never actually went into one, but the name, *surgelés* (as in “under ice”), stuck with me. So when Emily mentioned that she’d been buying frozen food, I said, “You mean at a surgelés store?” Yep, she said, one called [Picard](http://www.picard.fr/).

If you love French food, don’t click that link or you’re going to blow your whole day. Right now they’re having a 15 percent off sale on *cuisine evasion,* which means foreign food, not food you flee from. *2 soupes au raviolis à la chinoise.* *Boudins créoles.* *Paella au poulet et aux fruits de mer.* You can also buy frozen sauces like bordelaise.

Here in the States we’ve got Budget Gourmet!

So if you keep an apartment in Paris, (a) I hate you, and (b) look for the blue snowflake.