Downtown Sacramento's Weekly Farmer's Market

It's just so hard to cut down my really long shopping list knowing that this Wednesday is the last day of the farmer's market for 2013. I'm not one to pickle and jar the summer and fall produce, which is what I see most people doing. They're making tomato sauces to freeze and use all winter through while I'm sauntering buying produce for the next week, knowing I'll replenish the stock one way or another either from the Co-op or Trader Joe's, or even the Grocery Outlet that's a few streets away. I'm still operating on the Indian mindset of a perennial market and settling for refrigerated, out-of-season tomatoes and strawberries. Doesn't stop me from stewing inside at the sight of blog posts reporting on home-made sauces and end-of-season bottling and pickling, just imagining the true fall harvest ensconced in those delectable sauces and preserves.

Returning to the shopping list, I keep reminding myself that there's always next year and the perennially fresh produce at the Co-op, to which the same farmers supply. I was telling one stall owner how much I'll miss her weekly selection of fresh picked cremini and button mushrooms and she did say that I can continue to get her farm's produce at the Co-op and Grocery Outlet which was a comforting thought. At the same time, I couldn't help thinking how much I will miss the festive atmosphere of the market itself.

I will miss my friends, the mostly reserved but also friendly farming folk and their great produce stalls. The food carts arrayed like gypsy caravans in a circle sit in the very middle of the park, their bright colors adding to the market attractions and festivities. Open barbeques are set up at the time the market opens: meats start to sizzle over hot red coals, attracting the smaller, mid-morning crowds of seniors and coffee shop patrons. In just an hour or two, the lunch crowds assemble in great numbers, standing in long snake queues in front of the food carts. From the lunch hour until 2 pm, business is brisk, discounts are given and gratefully accepted and slowly but surely most of the produce, especially the strawberries disappear from the stalls.

Throughout summer, I either made it to the market during the lunch hour or at the very end when stalls would start to fold up and food trucks would call it a day. During one cool fall morning, I was early. I had to attend a Capitol garden and trees tour scheduled at 12 pm and hence, walked to the market early just about at the time that stalls were setting up for the morning. I sat on a bench, sipping my decaf latte, slowly observing the proceedings from under the shade of a tree. A few ladies were walking around the market, making small talk and inspecting the fruit or vegetable they were hoping to buy. The farmers were chatting amongst themselves, exchanging news and gossip. Soft laughter rang out from jokes shared between friends. It was soothing to just sit and listen to these sounds, whether or not I followed the jokes or was even noticed did not matter. Once I had finished my coffee, I walked slowly trying to cover every stall in the market. I contemplated whether I wanted a gyro early this morning and regretfully decided against it. However, I bought pea greens, zucchini, pomegranates of a startling red color, red-green grapes, white button mushrooms. I wondered about all the possibilities of these vegetables. And I slowly made my way out of the park, not looking back but feeling happy to have had this day to really enjoy the market and appreciate its simple magic.
 

Ernesto's is my new favorite place...

The restaurant on 16th and S always looks very, very inviting. We're always excited to try out their wide range of margaritas and the great, great food that I remember from the time we'd taken my in-laws out there for lunch. The second time they tried Mexican food; the first was in a tiny restaurant in Princeton, NJ. The quality of food in both restaurants had been exceptional and I was pleased to visit a second time, this time I could sample the margaritas that my husband had enjoyed during our last visit.

Despite the crowds inside, we could get a table as soon as we entered. I took this as a good omen for the start of the evening and went through the list of cocktails. A friendly waiter brought us chips and two dips - a tangy and spicy salsa and a lovely mushy bean dip with melted cheese on top. We ordered drinks - a Green Iguana Margarita for me and a Blue Agave one for my husband. The drinks came in clear plastic glasses with salt rims, a slice of lemon and ice. I loved their simplicity; the drinks were green and blue respectively and both very, very good although I was partial towards my Iguana.

With our drinks, we shared quesadillas and a southwestern taco salad with creamy avocado dressing. The salad was good but the quesadillas came in a deconstructed format, the meat, guac and sour cream on the side with rings of jalapeno on top of enormous slices of cheesy quesadilla. We sandwiched meat and dips in the quesadilla and ate messily - or rather I did, choosing to eat by hand while my husband properly used the fork and knife to eat his. After a couple of those margaritas, I didn't care although it was pretty messy. It only spurred me on to try what I'd been waiting for all evening - a Pisco Sour.

I first heard of the Pisco Sour on TV, during an episode of four weddings where the father of a bride imported bottles of Pisco from a country in South America to make the cocktails at his daughter's reception. I remembered it from the show and looked up the ingredients, stopping and staring at the 'egg white' at the end of this list. I didn't know whether I was bold enough to try a cocktail with foamy egg white, it never looked appetizing enough before, but after two margaritas and a lot of food, I felt pretty adventurous. I asked my husband if he would have my drink if I didn't like it and he shook his head. I was on my own, here.

When it came to me, I smelled hints of a lovely rose-water aroma. That alone helped me sip at the eggy foam on top of the drink and wow! Fireworks! It was the best drink of the night and I made my husband sip it. He liked but did not love it - too sweet for him - but I did and actually had a couple that night. Best birthday drink, ever! And I was glad I'd been able to try it here, in Sacramento, at this wonderfully simple yet brilliant restaurant.

Ernesto's helps you relax; everyone taking orders to filling glasses is a thorough professional and they're courteous. Of course, the great drinks and food do help. But the restaurant's main feature (and my favorite reason to return) is the fiesta-like atmosphere they create there. The giant platters of food reinforce the idea that you're at your own big banquet. You eat and drink like a king (and queen). And you walk into the night, a little tipsy but happy, planning the very next celebration.
 

Hello from Sacramento!

I like to blog and have blogged about food before but never continued it for years and years, like most of the food blogs I've followed have. In the past two years and nine months, I've moved twice, once from Mumbai, India to Hartford, CT and from Hartford, CT to Sacramento, CA. This year, we moved in and set up things in a warmer city to immediately welcome two families, mine and my husband's who came and stayed with us this summer. With them, we explored Sacramento, San Francisco and even the cities we'd stayed in on the East Coast. Thanks to my husband, I could take my mom on a fun trip to three cities, Boston, Hartford and New York City.

It was a fun but hectic summer and I took them around this city, exploring the farmer's markets, a bit of history and culture in Old Sacramento, works of art in Crocker museum. On our journey, we sampled both local and international cuisines...large quantities of seafood, burgers, enchiladas, gyros, teriyaki at times accompanied by wines we'd procured from Napa and Sonoma. We rejoiced in the fact that even in Sacramento, there was something new to try at almost every corner: such a sea change from the near lack of options in downtown Hartford. The warm weather helped us explore the great outdoors, with friends we could escape to Lake Tahoe where the immense lake and dizzy mountain tops soothed our frazzled souls as the long summer wound down and fall commenced.

Why didn't I start my blog in the summer? I wasn't sure how long we'd end up staying, hence after I'd thought long and hard and knew finally that it didn't matter where I stayed as long as I had a record of some happy times out here, I wanted to jot them all down in this blog. So, I named it my downtown kitchen - whether I travel to other towns/cities or stay right here for a year or more, it wouldn't have to change and I can actually see myself continuing this one for longer than I have the others, so fingers crossed! There is a lot of stuff I'm exploring, whether food-related or work-related, and I want to write it all down whether anyone reads it or not. But I do love the prospect of people commenting on it and the reading list that always starts off my day better than any newspaper.

So, here goes...all the best to me and I hope I keep feeding this blog as much as I love feeding my family. Cheers!