Baker's Market

On a shopping run to Superstore on Saturday, Claire and I were intrigued by the hand-written sign for a baker's market at the side of the street. So we toddled on down, and found the tail-end of a yummy array of foodie delights. We bought a loaf of divine sourdough bread (which was gone within 24 hours) and tasted some salted rosemary caramels. Apparently our "faces lit up" when we asked if sponge toffee was hokey pokey... mostly because the answer was 'yes' and we didn't have to explain what we meant by hokey pokey!

We will be visiting again.

Here's the website: www.bakersmarket.com

Sopaipillas & Posole

Our visit to the US over Christmas had some pleasant foodie sidetracks. As well as savouring homemade hamburgers for dinner on Christmas Day at April's mom's place in Denver, we had the pleasure of staying with April's friends, Eric and Gentry, in Laramie, WY.

Here we are from left to right: Jada (3), Gentry... holding Eric... holding Macy (under 1), me, April, and Nathan.

They treated us to a special American meal, usually tasted in New Mexico (where Eric grew up). First on the menu was posole, a stew made with pork, green chillies, and hominy (corn kernels soaked in lye).

It was hot and delicious! (Sorry, the photo of Chef Eric was too blurry to keep.)

Gentry was trying to make sopaipillas (soap-a-pee-yas) for the first time and enlisted my help as a baker. We used this recipe, which is much like a scone dough. The dough is rolled out to a few millimetres thickness,

cut into pieces (squares and triangles are common too)

and then deep fried for a few seconds each side until golden brown.

The sopaipillas puff up in the hot oil and develop a crispy crust.

Next you split a side open and squeeze in some runny honey.

Gentry and I felt very decadent as we supped on sopaipillas and posole that night. The sopaipillas certainly help temper the heat of the posole, and they taste great when washed down with Eric's Belgian home-brewed beer!

I have since discovered recipes for both posole and sopaipillas (called Navajo Fry Bread) in a Christmas present I recieved from April's mom; "I Hear America Cooking: The cooks and recipes of American regional cuisine" by Betty Fussell. (Betty is a cousin of April's grandmother, and was featured in the August 2008 edition of Vogue.)