Saturday, September 01, 2007

Paw Paws, Bronx Grapes, and the End of Summer

Axel and I bumped into friends at the Farmer's Market this morning, they were in the process of polishing off of a pound of Lagier Ranch Bronx Grapes. One offered up that he was sad to have decided he liked them during the last week that they would be available. So I seemed to have failed in my annual duty to alert friends and other browsers to the availability of the "Rolls Royce" of table grapes. There's a chance you'll be able to grab some next week, but it's no sure thing.

I should have know really, the Lagier Ranches stand also had Paw Paws today. A quick scroll through the archives suggests I haven't written about these before. The largest fruit native to North America, Paws Paws have a dense, creamy texture and taste something like a cross between a banana and a mango.

There are other indicators that summer is drawing to a close. Lakeshore Avenue was thick with people wearing Cal Bears gear. Big game against Tennessee tonight. In addition to the Gala apples we'd been eating for a few weeks, there were Fujis today. I was able to bring some home because Amy was out on a bike ride. If she'd been there, she would've insisted that she wasn't ready to have them in the house yet. Wild Boar Farms should have their Evan's Purple Plum tomatoes next week. And Andy Roddick just made quick work of an early round opponent at the U.S. Open, dispatching Thomas Johannson of Sweden in straight sets.

Housekeeping: Fall '07 Edition

A while ago, the not evil folks at Google changed their search mechanism. This seems to have broken the handful of "Filter" links I'd provided at right (pesky 500 errors). My blog roll suffers from my not really being much of a blog reader. The two blogs that I do link to couldn't be more different. A bunch of the wines that Alder writes about over at Vinography are press samples these days, while Jessica of Feed and Supply suspects that her handful of readers must surely be friends and family (we've never met, but mutual friends from Chez Panisse and a former colleague of mine all have very nice things to say about her).

This blog has accomplished a few things that I am proud of. It holds the top Google rank for searches on "sabelfish", if not "sabel fish". I've helped get the word out about Brad Gates and his tomatoes. I've also managed to capture a share of the online market for Watermelon Mojito recipes - far and away the most visited page of the site this past month despite a Page 2 Google rank.

There's more I'd like to do though and, despite the various pursuits that are consuming my time, I'm optimistic that as summer turns into fall and fall turns wet with rain I'll be able lavish attention on my fledgling food publishing empire.