Making Cookie Dough!
Well... I've gotten about six different doughs in the fridge right now... I started off with a Hazelnut Thumbprint yesterday. It was a bit of an experiment... I used the Walnut Butter Cookie Recipe, but changed the nut to hazelnut and used a Madeira Creme flavoring I bought at Fante's in South Philly a while back. If you've never been to Fante's, think FUN kitchen store with everything you've ever wanted in your life - at affordable prices! It's a South Philly institution and we head down there whenever we can. I love it!
So... back to cookies... I filled them with raspberry jam... YUMMERS!! The great thing about all of our nut-and-butter cookies is that they'll work with any nuts, any flavorings... There's really just two basic recipes, but we can make a dozen different cookies with them!
THEN... because I had made a Cream of Broccoli Soup for dinner, but hadn't made dessert (man does not live by dinner alone - dessert is a MUST!!) I made a batch of the Lemon Coconut Cookies... These I did a bit different, too... (The early cookies are always about experimentation, to see if it's even possible to improve on perfection...) Tee-hee. I made them as thumbprints and filled them with Lemon Curd and then a few ribbons of toasted coconut. Way good!! We'll make them both ways this year! (I seem to be on a thumbprint kick this year.....)
I also made the Rolled Cut-Out Cookies, but made them as Chocolate Peppermint. Not sure how I'll finish these off. Maybe make a Chocolate Creme filling and sandwich them, or just do a chocolate dip... Hmm... maybe both!! And the Pecan Balls... and the Vanilla Almond, and my Mom's Christmas Spice Cookies...
Victor has the apricots soaking in apricot brandy for Aunt Emma's Apricot Cookies... I'm bummed, because out local grocery no longer carries lard. Damn!!! It's healthier than Crisco, fercrissakes!
It's a bit after 8pm, we're waiting to see if the storm of the century actually arrives at midnight as forecasted, and if it does, whether I make it to work tomorrow. If I do, then we have cookies to bake on Saturday - along with a few dozen more batches of dough. If I get to stay home, we'll bake tomorrow!
In any event, we have plenty to eat in the house, and the oil man filled up the tank today. We're set.
Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market
It's a great place to spend the day - and a lot of money - but the quality... oh...my...goodness... The quality is unbelievable. Fresh. Organic. Wonderful.
The Ferry Building opened in 1898 as the main departure/arrival point for the billions of ferries that plied the bay before the Bay and Golden Gate Bridges were built. In 1957, the Embarcadero Freeway went up in front of it, and sealed its fate for the next 42 years - until the 1989 earthquake. The freeway was supposed to circle the city and connect the bay and Golden Gate bridges, but when the folks saw what it had done to the waterfront, they said NFW! and it became a long offramp to Broadway Street. I have vague recollections of it being built. the plan was also to make 19th Avenue a freeway from the peninsula to the GG Bridge. (We lived on 19th Avenue at the time!) Anyway... The freeway came down, the Ferry Building went through a multi-million dollar renovation, and the Ferry Plaza Marketplace was born!
The shops are all high-end inside, with an organic farmer's market outside 4 days a week. Everything from Stonehouse Olive Oil (I LOVE their Blood Orange Olive Oil!!) to Caviar, and Cowgirl Creamery to Peets Coffe and other great foods. A fun side note.. I used to work for Tsar Nicholai! Well - I worked for California Sunshile Fine Foods - which is the umbrella company for all the different ventures. I was the shipping manager, shipping gourmet foods all over the world, as well as purchasing all of the specialty produce at the produce terminals in SF and at thr airport every morning at 4:00am. I also ate a LOT of really, really, really good caviar!!! It was a fun job!
But I digress - again...
The Farmer's Market itself is just plain awesome. There are scores of booths set up selling everything from Watermelon Radishes to Brussell's Sprouts still on their stalk. Every imaginable (and a few unimaginable!) fruit and vegetable all lovingly grown in Northern California.
It's a must-stop and must-see if you're ever in San Francisco!