Food Tour of California: Farmers Markets and Sisterly Crepes

I realize I hadn't posted this yet: allow me to quote the Des Moines Cityview Newspaper:

Best New Food Photographer: Ben Gordon (www.foodtourofiowa.blogspot.com)
This Grinnell College student and Phoenix Café line chef created a well-researched, photographically splendid Iowa food journal.

However, to say that I merely felt remiss when my last post- in which I regal my dear readers with tempting prose-based glimpses into the life of culinary opulence I have been leading- contained no pictures! Therefore, this post is dedicated to the writer of the article quoted above.

Anyway, on this wonderful Sunday morning before I head off to Barcelona and my sister heads off to camp, we decided to stop by the wonderful local farmers market, grab some fruits and make ourselves some delicious crepes!


Above: My favorite salsa guy's selection. The one on the far right- the jalapeno and garlic- is particularly delicious.



Above: My dad grabbed a tamale on the way out. We haven't indulged yet due to the crepes, but I am sure it will be delicious. (EDIT: Have now indulged. Was excellent.)

Above: Gratuitous food porn to tease poor snow locked Iowans. And yes, all that food is as good as it looks.

Above: Close up shot of the pomegranates and avocados. It was from this same vendor that we bought the apples and pears which would be swaddled in a delectable crepe.

Above: Some more greenstuffs. I love swiss chard.



Above: Two shots from the sprouted salad stand. He has all sorts of seeds that have sprouted that are delicious mixed into salads. During the summer I buy ample quantities to mix into my lunch salads all week. However, during this break I have regressed into some of the WORST eating habits. No salads for me!

This is a shot that I couldn't get in Iowa. After my family and I got back from the market, my sister and I whipped up some crepes.

As you can see, I just sauteed some pears and apples with a little lemon juice, cinnamon and vanilla. They didn't need any sugar: they were absolutely delectable without it. For those that love varietal names, I only ever buy Fuji apples and asian pears. In the back left is a simple blueberry syrup I made. The ingredients were similarly simple: 1 tablespoon maple syrup, the juice of a lemon and a pouch of frozen blueberries. I threw in a tiny bit of water and cooked the entire thing down until it was reduced to about 60% of the original volume.

For my crepes, I just threw in some pears and blueberries. My sister and dad went for the apples. I apologize for the lack of pictures of the crepes: I was either too busy cooking or eating. Let me tell you right now, it took serious will power to whip out the camera to take the above shot rather than a fork.

Tomorrow I leave for Barcelona, so don't expect any updates for about 3 weeks. However, I want to take pictures of everything I eat. For those interested, here is my itinerary:

• Barcelona
• Zaragoza
• San Sebastian
• Bordeaux
• Berlin
• Copenhagen

-Ben