At Siripon's little produce market, I've been terribly lucky to find super-sized starfruit very cheap. Last weekend I picked up 5 or 6 ready to eat for a whopping $0.75. The greener ones run me about $0.99 per pound which when compared to the grocery store is just crazy. These things are massive, seriously.
I went through a big fruit salsa phase a few months back where I'd put fruit on every piece of meat I could think of from pork, to all types of fish, chicken, anything with peaches, mangoes, pineapple, plums, etc. It was endless, and I grew very tired of fruit atop meat. With these starfruit though, I was itching to chop them up and load them on top of something.
The starfruit salsa (if you can call it a salsa), was simple so not to overpower the light, crisp freshness of the starfruit. I added one single roasted chili some lemon juice, sugar, cilantro, and a touch of salt. For the Mahi, I sauteed it until flaky just with a light dusting of salt, pepper, and ground coriander. I also found some strange globe zucchini's at Siripon's that I'd never tried so I sliced those quite thin to act as a bed for the fish. Finally, some sticky coconut rice finished it off. This was a perfect end of summer type dish but does summer ever end in FL?!
Alexander Valley predominately produces Sonoma-style reds, so yesterday we tried two whites and seven reds. The best thing about the whites and the zins we tried was the artwork. We took home a poster of the Sin Zin that I'll frame and hang somewhere as it compliments some of our other artwork. So here's what we tasted and my two cents as best as I can remember. It should also be noted that the servers pour entirely too much at these tastings, and I wind up not tasting much toward the end despite all the tidbits of finger food I eat.
The New Gewurz
Considering gewurztraminers are normally pretty expensive, this one was definitely the best value of all the things we tasted. For $8 you really can't beat it. And the taste? Wonderfully light and crisp as a good gewurz should be.
Estate Chardonnay
Normally chards aren't my favorites because I find them rather 'boring.' This one was pretty nice -- more complex than others I've tried. Its oaky from being fermented in French oak barrels.
Temptation Zinfandel
(92% Zin and 8% Sangiovese) This one was full bodied with black fruits and currants. Spicy, but nicely balanced.
Sin Zin
Another great black fruit zin - black cherry, plum, blackberry and very black peppery. Super fragrant and delicious.
Redemption Zin
The last of the deadly and sinful zins, this was the most complex and the most expensive. It was described as the 'antidote' to the sin zin with a wonderful fruitiness and smooth finish. I meant to try this one again but didn't.
Estate Syrah
Ridiculously light. Slight touches of vanilla and blackberry but this one really lacked any umph. Tasted like...water?
Estate Cabernet Sauvignon
Wine Enthusiast gave this one 90 pts and this was my favorite of the Estate reds. It had a lot more body and balance than the others. Silky smooth finish and still under $20.
Estate Merlot
I've yet to taste a merlot that is different from all the rest. Merlot is just merlot so far, although I've tried so few. This, like the syrah, really lacked the umph I was looking for from the fruit.
Cyrus
This one checked in at $45 but boy, was it tempting to splurge on. This was a blend of 80% Cabernet, 13% merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc, 1% Malbec, and finally 1% Petit Verdot each from their finest Bordeaux from each vintage. Wine Enthusiast rated it a 93 pts and its won some other awards. Its good. Really good. This was the one that they really poured too much in my glass...twice. It had a nice long finish with tones of chocolate, plum, black cherry, and cassis. If I stored wine, I would definitely buy this one to save for a few years.
Last night I made my first hollandaise. I was rather excited about it myself and it actually turned out quite lovely. So I don't really know what all the fuss is about when it comes to making hollandaise, its not that hard to screw up. Plus, if you do screw up you can pretty easily remedy it. All you need is some elbow grease.
I have been reading The New Kitchen Science: A Guide to Know the Hows and Whys for Fun and Success in the Kitchen which isn't the best book in the world, but its mildly interesting. Last night I was reading the chapter on sauces so I used some ideas from that chapter in my dinner. Sort of. The book is pretty elementary stuff that you'd learn from 
watching a couple of episodes of Good Eats. It is rather unsophisticated, basic knowledge and there is virtually no mention of technique or advanced skills.
Anyway. I made some hollandaise with a big handful of thyme mixed in to top my roasted asparagus (Note the glistening stalks). It looks a little runny here but it thickened up after I took the picture. In addition, I made some chicken breasts topped with a mushroom vermouth gravy that was wonderfully thick and creamy.
I don't normally eat red meat but I think I have been converted by these lamb burgers. I actually had to eat two because I was still salivating after the first one.
For the lamb:
1 lb ground lamb
1-2 tblsp grated onion
1-2 cloves minced garlic
salt/pepper
Mint Mayo:
5-6 tblsp mayo
handful mint
lemon juice
maybe a clove of garlic I don't remember
salt/pepper
blend in food processor until minty smooth
Finish with caramelized onions and toasted bread.
This is an absolute must repost I just read from Derrick Schneider's food blog An Obsession with Food.
Fizzy Fruit! will be hitting the shelves and changing the way we look at fruit.
Yesterday a bunch of us hit up the Daytona Flea and Farmer's Market. I definitely don't make a habit of going here regularly since its always filled with scary people selling overpriced junk that no one really wants. The produce is also less then stellar and only slightly cheaper than the grocery store. The only thing to note that we picked up were some wonderful ornamental white eggplant. They also had heirloom black tomatoes which I'll mention later.
So the flea market was so-so, but afterward I went to see Siripon. Although it was the end of the week and she was low on everything, I picked up about 5 perfectly ripe starfruit for $0.75. We decided to do a potluck type thing over at our apartment so I thought I'd whip up some simple things like a red Thai curry and a potato salad. The potato salad was not the typical run-of-the-mill 'tater salad but a recipe I've been addicted to in Fine Cooking magazine. It has roasted potatoes, roasted corn, red onion, cherry tomatoes, and really you could put anything in it then top it off with a red wine vinegar dressing. It beats those mayo based salads by far. For the curry I simply threw in whatever was left in the cabinets -- sweet potato, carrots, white eggplant, and some chicken breast. It turned out to be a giant amount of curry but I have to say its the best one I've ever made for some reason.
The potluck was a success and certinaly something we all will be reapeating soon. We had all the above in addition to fried plantains, homemade hummus, black heirloom unblended gazpacho, carrots with sundried tomoates and goat cheese and loads of wine. Naturally. 
You may notice from the picture that all the food barely fit on the table. The keen eye might also notice that we drank red wine out of white wine glasses and white wine out of red wine glasses. I'm still not sure how that faux pas happened...
After we digested, we threw together a nice cheese tray with some starfruit and drank port and peanut butter cup martinis. These are becoming my new favorite drink I think just because they look so pretty. They are made simply with milk, Bailey's, Kahlua, and Hazelnut liquer. I like to rim the glass in cocoa powder just to add that extra layer.
Yesterday marked the grand opening of World Market in Daytona Beach. Sure we have these back in Virginia but I had still never been so I was rather excited. I picked up some PEZ I needed, a ridiculously cute miniature kettle egg timer, P's favorite beer of the moment Spaten Optimator, and some Indian food in a can.
Now before you jump to any conclusions remember this, many good things come in cans. There is canned curry paste, Wolfgang Puck canned soups, and...Fancy Feast? Ok, maybe there aren't too many, but the idea of something as complex on the palate as Indian food in a can was too much of a novelty to pass up. I picked up Palak Paneer and Baingan Bharta. And...well...
The take home message is this: don't be fooled by the novel idea of delicious convenience in a can. Served over a basmati pilaf made it slightly less bad, but I kept telling myself that it only cost $2.99, don't kick yourself. This is almost as bad of an idea as snakes on a plane or those big testicles that hang from truck hitches.
I went through a big fruit salsa phase a few months back where I'd put fruit on every piece of meat I could think of from pork, to all types of fish, chicken, anything with peaches, mangoes, pineapple, plums, etc. It was endless, and I grew very tired of fruit atop meat. With these starfruit though, I was itching to chop them up and load them on top of something.
