Vegetable: Greens

Don't know much about these yet. Saw them at the stand next to Hamada Farms and thought they might be ramps - wrong season, wrong shape, but a guy can always hope. The guy at the booth told us the 3-word name twice, but none of the variations I am remembering turn anything up in google. He also pointed out that the flowers were edible.

We nibbled the small yellow blossoms as soon as we got home, a delicate flavor akin to nasturtiums (Tropaeolum majus). The leaves of this mystery green are very smooth, and relatively tender. None of the spines of rapini or nettle, and not rigidly wrinkled like kale or some pe-tsai varietals of chinese cabbage.

I'll have more to say after I prepare these, in the mean time here's the soft-focus background goodness. You'll notice the roots in the foreground, most things sold at the stand where we picked these up have roots attached.

Fruit: Apples: Pink Lady

My sources say that the Pink Lady is a natural hybrid of Golden Delicious and Lady Williams apples, originally developed as part of a breeding program in western Australia and introduced to consumers in 1985. Write ups on Pink Lady apples tend to describe them as crisp, tart, and sweet. For my money, a good Fuji will be more crisp and any number of apples could be described as more tart (Granny Smith, Pippen, maybe even Braeburn).

That said, the flesh of this apple is atypically dense and it has an aromatic quality that borders on floral. I negatively associate this with the Delicious varietals. If you're into that kind of thing, then this may be a more interesting way to get your fix. The Pink blush and pale spots seen here are typical of the variety, and are generally attributed to cool evenings. Harvest dates are mid to late October.

Fruit: Apples: Fuji

According to Produce Pete,"This variety is a cross of Red Delicious and Ralls Janet bred at a Japanese research station." It was introduced to the American market in the early 1980's.

I will permit myself a brief digression on the level of discourse you can expect when reading up on Apples. Almost all of the online resources I found for apples, were thinly veiled opportunities to plug the growing conditions unique to Washington state or the grit and pluck of Washington Apple farmers. Phrases like,"Washington State is the birthplace of the world's best apples" are thrown around without the slightest qualification.

I had my first Fuji apple relatively recently. I picked one up at Berkeley Bowl a few years ago and fell hard for the consistency. I've heard people describe Fujis as "super sweet", though I think what they are noticing is actually the lack of a prominent tart or tangy element. I've also not been able to find a good description of the taste that I think of as unique to these apples; definitely clean, but almost savory as well.

While the Fuji is a late-season apple, in the Bay Area you can find them pretty much year round. I picked these up at the Grand Lake Farmers' Market, from the stand where I got my Pink Lady and Crimson Gold apples.

Wine: Rose: Les Paillieres "Au Petit Bonheur" 2004

Earlier this year I dropped by Kermit Lynch and picked up one bottle of each of their rose wines. It was an odd time to do so. I took home a magnum of the previous years Domaine Tempier Bandol, and some things they had just gotten in - about a dozen bottles in all.

A week later we had friends over, and they brought along a bottle of the Les Paillieres "Au Petit Bonheur". This is the first year that the wine had been made, and it hadn't been in stock when I stopped by. Kermit's notes on the wine are in his July Newsletter. Vinography has a good account of the relationship between Kermit Lynch and Les Pallieres (as i understand it, Kermit has a 50% stake).

The wine is tart, the slightest bit cranky, and about as tasty and dry as one could hope - fruit leans to strawberry for me. This photo doesn't do the label justice, but does capture the color of the wine.