Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Chiles, puppies and lunch

Catching up with weekend photos: Sunday was the farmers market as usual. The Belgian fry folks were not there, thus saving me from myself. The whole place smelled of roasting chiles, because of this:Every year about this time the chile stands start popping up around Denver, bringing trucks full of spicy goodness up from Hatch, New Mexico. I generally buy from the ones on the roadside in the Mexican neighborhoods, as they tend to be cheaper than the smaller upscale operations at the farmers markets. The gear is the same, though. The chiles go in the drum, which has a line of propane jets underneath. Last year I bought a bushel and froze in small batches of three or four per bag, so I'm set for a while yet. Nothing like a grilled cheese sandwich with strips of chile in the middle.
I also met these two 12-week-old poodle puppies, who were for sale. The woman bred her dog because she wanted her to have puppies "just once," which I have mixed feelings about. I'm very suspicious of backyard breeders, having seen some bad results. Though we bred the poodle I grew up with twice, my parents were very careful about working with a professional breeder, and all the puppies went to friends. This woman made me a little suspicious because she was surprised all the puppies were black, despite having brown and apricot parents. Black is the dominant gene for poodles, but when I tried to explain that, she just looked confused.

But those puppies sure were cute!
I didn't get a lot at the market; some more yu choi and some homemade soap from Olde Crone (on Manisha's recommendation; thanks, Manisha!). More about the soap later. I still had leftover grilled asparagus for lunch, and yes, a steak sandwich with arugula and grilled mushrooms and onions on no-knead bread. Stellar.

9 comments:

  1. That sandwich looks amazing.

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  2. Hatch chiles. I am sooooo jealous.

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  3. I've had those Hatch chiles... brought back an entire bag, frozen, from a trip to visit friends in Albuquerque. As I recall, we wrapped it in one of those big silver reflectors you put in the windshield of your car to keep the sun out, and even after an extra hour's delay in Dallas, they were still frozen by the time I got back to NYC. Mmmmm those were good.

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  4. Poodle puppies - hard to resist. But I share your concern with backyard breeders. Poodles can have a ton of problems even when the parents are screened - I hate to encourage people who don't know what they're doing. On the other hand, I've been thinking how fun if Tess & Kobie had a baby sister!(Not to worry - we can only have 2 dogs - and Mark says no, definitely not, forget about it.)

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  5. You met Amy! She touches my life everyday - literally so - with her fragrant soaps. Did she tell you that makes naan, too?

    I am having a big Duh! moment. I went stir crazy a couple of months ago and made lots of salsa verde, which I then froze. I could have just frozen the chiles themselves!

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  6. Kris, my rule is "no more pets than hands."

    Y'all are welcome to come down thisaway to stock up on chiles!

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  7. Manisha, we didn't really get to chat much, but I will talk to her more next weekend. She works at the school by me.

    Next time, yes, freeze the chiles! You can add them to all kinds of things.

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  8. Kitt,

    Thanks so much for the link to my website! Come on down this Sunday and visit, before the weather goes south.

    Amy

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