My Malt Candy Bar is part of Bon Appétit’s “Haute Halloween” feature on page 44 in the October issue, and it can also be found online here. It’s one of the updated Halloween favorites “that’ll satisfy the most sophisticated sweet tooth.”

The Blueberry Ice Cream was phenomenal, so full of flavor, at Mora. I lasered in on blackberry dishes while in WA, but the blackberry ice cream I sampled was a little subdued. The blueberry was intense while still being creamy. I finished the whole thing, which is rare.

The 30-minute ferry to Bainbridge island was only about $6.75 roundtrip — a small price to pay for access to ice cream excellence.

I’d been dying to get out of town for quite some time, so in classic Nina-style, Chad and I took an extremely last minute flight to Seattle earlier this week. I’ve never done less planning for a trip to a place that I’d never been before, which was fine because I wanted to be in a new environment and was certain that we could find entertainment one way or another. I just brainstormed potential places to visit while on the plane there and then looked around a little online and in Seattle magazine once at our hotel.

Salumi popped up second on my list, and I was instantly relieved that I thought of it. What if I’d missed my chance to try their meats??? Salumi is owned by Armandino Batali (also Chief Salumist), who has a chef son named Mario.

Salumi is in the Pioneer Sqaure district, and upon approaching its narrow storefront, you may confuse it for an LA cupcake shop — the line out the door is that long. But of course, this is a line for meat, glorious meat. Once you get inside the shop, you get to look at hanging cured meats until it’s your turn to order. Chad and I both got the Porchetta, their “tribute to the Pig.”

This photo doesn’t do justice to what is perhaps the best (and biggest) sandwich that I’ve ever had. Perfect pork shoulder perfectly braised, and garnished with onions and peppers. The bread was spread with a kind of garlic-studded oil. In fact, the whole sandwich was bathed in a kind of oily sheen, and while I’d normally try to get rid of that sort of thing, it was so full of flavor that I ate all of it that I could. I’d also normally want to know everything that was in the sandwich — there were SO many flavors — but I just wanted to eat and enjoy.

Despite the long line, there was no problem getting seats at the communal table (where there were open bottles of wine for $4.50 a glass!). Chad not only finished his sandwich, but also finished the last quarter of mine. Oddly, for all of the lovely pork, bread, and oil that I consumed, I didn’t really feel uncomfortably full afterwards… I felt just right….

Except that I regretted that I hadn’t actually tried cured meats or salami. Since their lunch is so busy, they recommend calling in sliced meat orders in advance, and it’s not like I could have bought a lot anyway..

Luckily, on our last day in Seattle, we happened into DeLaurenti Specialty Food & Wine in Pike Place Market. On top of a cured meats case, I noticed a basket full of 4 kinds of Salumi salami. I went on to make one of the best purchases I’ve made in my life. I asked the counterperson if he could just cut a few slices of each kind as a sort of sampler. I realized that it was a slightly fussy (and um, cheap) order, but the counterperson — I believe that his name was John — was SO nice and more than happy to fulfill the request. He carefully wrapped up about 4 slices of each one separately, and even labeled each one. He also gave me a (fantastic) taste of the Rosemary salami that is only available to buy in whole logs.

We walked out the wooden tables overlooking the water, and I opened my $3.29, .15# love letter of Salumi salami….

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Clockwise from top left, Mole, Finocchiona, Hot Sopressata, and Dario. Texture-wise, they seemed a little looser to me than other salami — like all of the bits of meat were comfortably kicking back together, not painfully shoved next to each other. The mole was “uniquely spiced with chocolate, cinnamon, ancho and chipotle peppers;” the finocchiona with cracked fennel, black pepper, and a touch of curry; the sopressata spicy and garlicky; the dario with nutmeg and mace. They were all delicious, though my absolute favorites were the mole and hot sopressata… but all that means is that I like their flavors the most, not that the others were in any way lacking…

Want. More. Now.

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One of the best parts of selling BonBonBars at farmers markets is getting to know my fellow vendors. At the Thursday Century City Farmers Market at 1800 Avenue of the Stars, I’m next to Jim — owner, maker, and purveyor of ThinKrisps.

ThinKrisps are baked discs of either parmesan or cheddar cheeses, in flavors ranging from Original to Lemon Pepper to Savory Sage to many others besides. There’s no flour, no sugar, no gluten. They’re 1 point in Weight Watchers, and have a 1/2g of carbs each… (And I know their sales pitch almost as well as mine. :)) Each disc is made from a 1/4c of cheese.

I have to admit that when I first considered ThinKrisps, I was a little ambivalent because I figured I could make them myself. I’ve made parmesan cheese crisps as part of Thomas Keller’s Goat Cheese Mousse and then for part of his Caesar Salad — and I’d simply baked grated cheese in the oven. They only took a few minutes, and were lacy, delicate, delicious, and in the case of the mousses, molded into egg carton indentations.

But ThinKrisps take the crisply baked cheese idea to a different — and dare I say it — more delectable level. In addition their great flavor, the key for me is that they’re thicker, and that textural change makes a world of difference. By being more substantial, they’re almost like crackers — except that they’re made completely of cheese (and on occasion, seasonings), and so have a zillion times more flavor. Sure, I sometimes like to dip them in hummus and Jim tells me that the Savory Sage ThinKrisps dipped into salsa tastes like pepperoni pizza, but they’re quite delicious all on their own. The potato chip freak in me thinks of them as the ultimate non-potato potato chip — the crunch… the burst of flavor… the saltiness… the way that they quickly disappear. I buy them nearly every week, and they’ve yet to see the end of the weekend. I think my favorite is the Red Pepper Parmesan because I like spicy food (with cheese!), but I eat them all… And fast.

Jim has been in business for 5 years, and he sells at 3 LA farmers markets (Century City on Thursdays, Larchmont Village on Sundays, and Downtown LA at the Bank of America Plaza on Fridays) and through 19 retail outlets in the LA area. He almost always arrives at Century City after I’m set up, and I’m always a little relieved when he shows up — because I know that for the next few hours, customers may come and go (and buy or not buy), but Jim will be there, with groovy music subtly playing on his iPod, to chat with and to commiserate with — and perhaps to discuss sales strategies (inc display, pitch, specials), or the adorable things that customers say, or Disney (of which he is an evangalist), or any interesting, slightly random, thing (which, I guess, is my evangelism — have I mentioned the time that I called Chad in a flurry from the kitchen a few moths ago because I realized that Axl Rose is in Guns & Roses? And Chad found out that the original guitarist was named Guns! Slash replaced him. Were we the last to know?).

Or perhaps we’ll chime in on customer reactions or overhear them — my favorite so far being when I overheard “THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKIN’ ABOUT!” followed by “YEAH!” and I later confirmed that that had indeed been two friends’ reactions to ThinKrisps samples. Well said.

ThinKrisps

spring_river_farm@hotmail.com

323-481-9859

I’ve been so busy recently, I’ll post more soon… but just to let everyone know that I’ll be selling all of my products every Thursday at the Century City Farmers Market btw 11am-2pm (the hours on the website are out of date). It’s my first farmers market, and I’m super excited to sell directly to people on a regular basis and get to know customers face-to-face. And it turns that I can (just) fit a canopy tent and two small tables into my l’il Beetle along with my products, and me.

So, stop by if you have a chance! This Thursday, July 3, might be a good time, because I suspect that most people who work in the area will be leaving early and it’s going to be a pretty sparse day… so I’ll have time to talk.

And I want to add a weekend market in a residential area once I can find one that has an opening for a confectioner and is the right fit. I’d like to stay within the central L.A. area. Santa Monica markets are all impossible for me to get into, as are some of the more popular ones, too, for now… I wouldn’t mind going to the Valley, except that it’s significantly hotter there… So I’ll see how it goes.

Oh, and I also look forward to blogging about what it’s like to be a vendor at a farmers market.