EATS

Jeani Wilkinson, aka Bistro Mama, is taking bread orders for delivery Saturday morning at Eden's Organic Garden Center Market Day. Loaves range from $7 to $10 and include Irish wheat bread, buttermilk white, Italian herb wheat, dilled wheat, artisanal wheat, four-grain wheat, sweet cranberry pecan, sweet cinnamon bread and aritsanal Italian baguettes that can be laced with roasted spring onion, sun-dried tomato and roasted garlic, or cheddar and dill. Last day to order for Saturday delivery is Wednesday (unless baking shedule is booked up before that): Send an e-mail here to order or get more information. The Market Day is from 9 a.m. to noon at the garden center, 4710 Pioneer Road, Balch Springs.

Metro columnist Jacquielynn Floyd may feel like a pioneer in the wilderness, but those cloth bags she insists on using instead of paper or plastic are the wave of the future. Here are two more, designed with foodies in mind.

The Dallas Farmers Market has a colorful, shallow-and-wide tote with the farmers market name on it and mesh panels. Neat, for $20. I saw it at Koster-Pastabilities next to El Mercado.

Whole Foods Market is selling a dual-purpose tote. First, it's a tote for a cause: The purchase price of each Feed 100 bag provides 100 school lunches to needy children in Rwanda. What's also nifty is the way it looks like a small burlap clutch, which unzips to reveal the all-cotton tote. The outside of the clutch becomes, a la Transformer, the bottom of the tote. Way cool for $29.99. (Then again, getting it back inside is kind of like repacking a parachute.)

TCBY stores will give away a free frozen yogurt (small cone or cup) to moms who come in this Sunday, on Mother's Day.

And don't fret, Dad: If you come in next month on Father's Day (Sunday, June 15th), you too will get a freebie cone or cup.

To locate a TCBY store in Dallas or elsewhere, go here.

Just a quick update to let you know that the Dallas Farmers Market staff was trying out signs that local farmers could post stating, "I grew these onions," or "I raised these chickens." Plus, there was a sandwich sign clearly marking the direction to the farmers. Yea!

Also spotted: the first few local peaches (at the Lemleys, hard, must be ripened), green plums, squash (including the quirky-looking eight-ball), and blackberries. Also, a lot coming in from South Texas, like peas.

I'm still working spring onions, which are so abundant right now. Yesterday, I got some herbed-whole-wheat pasta from Pastabilities, then sauced it with one of Gnismer's microwaved onions (method detailed here), mooshed up and cooked a bit longer with some olive oil to further caramelize, salt and Parmesan. The onion turned sweet and gooey, contasting nicely with the saltiness, and al dente bite of the pasta. I suppose you could throw in some balsalmic vinegar, but you don't need it. Sided the whole afair with a sweet cantaloupe from one of the dealers under Shed No. 1. Hey, his lemons were four for a dollar. Can't beat that.

Slow Foodies and Food Roots combined forces for a "Cheese, Burgers & Viognier" tour recently, visiting three local producers southwest of here. You might not want to make a day of it like they did, but all three are day-trip-friendly. Here's a little taste of the tour, courtesy of Mary Kimbrough, who's got her feet in both camps (Slow Food and Food Roots):

First stop: The Burgundy Boucherie in Grandview, the area's only grass-fed butcher shop, where Jon and Wendy Taggert dry-age, cut, and sell their pasture-raised meats. They also serve burgers made with their beef. Yum.

The KLTY-FM (94.9) and Market Street "Two-Minute Family Grocery Dash" will be held at 7 a.m. this Saturday (May 10) at the Market Street in Allen (985 W. Bethany Drive).

Traci Griseta of Terrell; her husband, Tony; son, Colton, 16; and daughter, Emerald, 14 will have two minutes to run through Market Street and grab as many groceries as they can.

If the Dallas Farmers Market is on your agenda Saturday or Sunday, check out the slightly off-market shop of Pastabilities and Koster Cattle Co. These guys share a space just north of Shed No. 1 (where the farmers are) and next to El Mercado restaurant.

I got a chance to try Mike Koster's ground beef, black Angus that he raises on pasture locally. He's not an organic guy, but he's into his cattle and doing right by them (no feedlots). I made burgers with the beef, whose fat content was high enough to produce outrageously juicy and flavorful patties. Sometimes, you just gotta have it.

But here's the kicker: I've got an elderly cat who's never much interested in food. When I add a little of the leftover drippings to his bowl, he goes crazy on them. So I scraped the skillet clean, and we both enjoyed this local product. Koster also has steaks and such, all USDA choice - another reason to check out the market.

The new Whole Foods Market house-baked banana bread uses "green" bananas from EARTH University in Guacimo, Limon, Costa Rica. the private university dedicated to teaching sustainable agriculture to young people in Latin America's tropical regions. To find out more about the school, click here. The bread itself is tasty and moist with walnut pieces scattered on top; 'sells for $3.99 (15 ounces). Very coffee-friendly. WFM is also sells pineapples and mangos from EARTH University.

If you're a SuperTarget shopper, you know that the store often groups grocery close-outs on an end cap somewhere among the grocery aisles. If you're an eagle eye, you also know that these are often feeble mark-downs - 20 cents off a dollar, 30 cents off a couple dollars.

But this morning, I caught one that was 50 percent off all items, and there were items worth picking up. They fell largely into the gourmet or budget categories, and many were ethnic foods, i.e. a bag of small dried red beans next to Ming Tsai lemongrass vinaigrette, canned green chiles and Iron Chef sesame-garlic sauce and glaze, Nestle canned crema and designer salsas. But also six-packs of 12-ounce bottles strawberry Gatorade and individual packets of mild taco meat seasoning and Pioneer biscuit mix.

I made off with the aforementioned Ming Tsai dressing, Casa Fiesta no-fat refried black beans, reduced-sodium tamari soy sauce and toasted sesame seed oil. My junk-food Jones was sore tempted by the Old El Paso zesty ranch Taco Topper. But the grown-up inside my head said, "No." My SuperT is at Skillman and Abrams.

This is one of the wierdest products I've ever seen at Whole Foods Market. I found it at the Lomo Alto store next to the packaged to-go foods case. The Okra Snack was one of several similarly dried and seasoned veggies, which also included Japanese pumpkin squash and carrots. I suspect they're fried and dehydrated a la ramen noodles because they're crackling crisp and the second ingredient after okra is non-hydrogenated palm oil.

I find myself caught in approach-avoidance with them. On the one hand, if you think of crisp okra that has the feel of potato chips, it's a kind of icky proposition. But then when you eat them - yes, I did this, just for you - they're actually kind of good. If I had a kid who didn't like veggies but would eat these, I'd buy 'em. Oh, and about that slime. It never really, really dehydrates completely away.

Writer Tina Danze gives a big thumbs-up to Dunkluv Biscotti, made by Sara and Matthew McLain of Grapevine. Read more about Dunkluv here, and order online.

If you live on the funky-but-fab south side of downtown Dallas -- or if you work there -- you'll be happy to know that you're about to get your very own Urban Market store. (The original store is also downtown, at 1500 Jackson St.)

A PR-ista of our acquaintance sends this scoop:

We just got confirmation that Urban Market will be opening a new location here at the South Side on Lamar Lofts. It will be located on the lower level with an entrance off Belleview. It will be a small replica of the [original] location, offering all the same services including delivering groceries right to your door. ...I don't have the exact date it will be opening, but it could be mid-May.

Schweet! And what safer location could you ask for? Dallas Police HQ is right across the street...

You already knew dairy products are costing you more at the store. But if you like your dairy to be organic, get ready for a price hike.

From Karen Robinson-Jacobs' story in the DMN's BizNews section:

"Prices are going to have to move up," Gregg Engles, chairman and chief executive of Dallas-based Dean Foods Co. told analysts. "It's under way, and it's industrywide."

Bacon. Shrimp. Grits. Yum.
This month the wine panel paired wines with a doozy of a shrimp and grits dish. Even if you don't drink wine, you will like the food.
The best pairing of the lot was the 2006 Kendall-Jackson Vintner's Reserve Pinot Noir, easy to find and priced at about $20.
Get the recipes and other wine suggestions here.

Photo by Evans Caglage

Maria Halkias reports that Colorado-based Sunflower Farmers Market is coming to Plano later in the year. The new store will be at Preston and West Parker roads, in part of the old Albertsons space.
Sunflower sells organic and natural foods and touts its low prices.
Read more about Sunflower Farmers Market.

Three new and/or exclusive items caught my eye in the new Williams-Sonoma catalog:

• A kids' bright red plastic chef's-style knife and matching polypropylene cutting board. What a terrific way to get younger kids involved in cooking. $27.95 (catalog and internet only)
.
• New from Microplane, a box grater (left) that looks kinda like SpongeBob Square Pants' techno alter-ego, complete with little runners to grip the work surface. It has three options: extra coarse, medium and fine. $34.95.
• And just in time for grill season and Father's Day next month, mesh grill pans modeled after those used by chefs in Spain's Basque country. 'Let's you grill and sear small items like cut vegetables without losing them through the grate. Pan with lid is $49.95; skillet is $29.95.

Robert Hutchins of Rehoboth Ranch reminds me that the same organic supplier who's sending the fabulous locally grown organic lettuces I wrote about here also is sending his fresh fruits and vegetables to the McKinney Farmers Market on Saturdays now, too. So this Saturday, Oak Ridge Valley Farms Organics in Grand Saline will have lettuces, spring onions, radishes and whatever else is ripe at the Dallas Farmers Market, Coppell Farmers Market, McKinney Farmers Market and Eden's Organic Garden Center.

One of the newest vendors in Shed No. 1 at the Dallas Farmers Market is Fred's Alaska Seafood. Fred Sturman is an Oklahoma ex-pat who loves fishing in Alaska so much he moved there and, with his family, runs a small fishing business. The salmon they catch is frozen, then air freighted to DFW, where it finds its way to Fred's stall, manned by local musician Hank Fore.

Over the weekend, I picked up part of a fillet to share with the Significant Other. One thing led to another, and Son of S.O. joined us for dinner. So S.O. rushed to Whole Foods to add more salmon, a fresh piece from the fishmonger there. This gave us a chance to taste Fred's defrosted vs. WFM's never-frozen side by side. Drum roll, please.

Tonight, I cooked up some Texas spinach from John Lucido in Shed No. 1 at the Dallas Farmers Market. It was big, meaty, robust spinach, which I sauteed in a little Texas olive oil. Then I sprinkled on a little Spiceburst Gourmet Spices "cracked Malabar saltburst" from Austin, which contain sea sal, Malabar pepper and sumac (which has a lemony quality). What a terrific combination. Tomorrow, I'll use the spinach leftovers in an omelet for breakfast. I know all this sounds really gourmet, but I'm the kind of person who takes home toast points from Charlie Palmer at The Joule. I mean, budget dining is relative.

Scott Farwell reports that rice prices are up because of export restrictions in India and Vietnam. Costco Wholesale and Sam's Club in Dallas have limited the amount of rice you can buy at one time, but customers are circumventing the rules by buying the limit, taking it to the car and going back inside for more.
Read more about the rising price of rice here.

Photo: Sadek Chowdhury, manager of the International Market in Plano sits on small pile of rice that is usually much higher. Photo by Rex C. Curry.

Now I know how Buttercrunch and red romaine lettuce taste. You may think you know what red romaine is - that wimpy romaine in stores with slightly purplish end leaves. Oh, no.

Organic red romaine, grown in Grand Saline, is nearly the color of purple basil. And the head isn't tight the way we think of for romaine. Organic Buttercrunch has sturdy outer leaves that give way to buttery-soft inner leaves like Boston or butter lettuce. I bought them both last Saturday morning at the Dallas Farmers Market in Shed No. 1 from the Farmer Rancher Network Co-op.

These and other early season crops should be available at the Dallas Farmers Market, Coppell Farmers Market and Eden's Organic Garden Center in Balch Springs from the same supplier next Saturday morning.

I tossed the two lettuces together with my signature vinaigrette.

The latest issue of Saveur includes an homage to the "Southern pea" by writer John Grossman. The magazine notes they're also called field peas or cowpeas. The category includes black-eyed peas, purple-hulls and creamers, and they're one of the best things about summer in East Texas.
In researching the article, Mr. Grossman visited the East Texas burg of Edom with Randy Evans, chef at Brennan's Houston. They shopped at Edom Marketplace, a combination produce stand and restaurant.
Edom's about an hour and a half east of Dallas, so it's a nice day trip. It's also in the blueberry belt, with several pick-your-owns operating nearby. It's still a bit early for blueberries; check the Texas Department of Agriculture Pick Texas site to find farms and check opening dates.
Edom has a handful of artist shops, including local favorites Potters Brown. And of course there's The Shed for lunch.
A few minutes past Edom is Blue Moon Gardens, a lovely, rambling garden center loaded with temptation and a friendly staff.
There you have it -- a day in the country. Don't forget the cooler.

If it seems your package of salty snack chips is smaller than it used to be, you're right. And if your super-sized bag of chips seems a little more expensive next time you shop, you're right about that, too.

Because of the rising cost of grains, Plano-based Frito-Lay is hiking prices on some larger-sized packages, says its parent company, PepsiCo. Read about it in Karen Robinson-Jacobs' story in Business News.

Scandinavian foodies alert: Abba herrings, Kalles caviar, Mills mayonnaise, Danbu cheese, Danish Kringle, Solo and Gjetost have arrived at the Wooden Spoon in Plano. I know it's bad of me to laugh but it does crack me up when my WS email also comes with such admonishments and reminders as "Don't forget to put up your flags, napkins and linens for your parties" and "Newly arrived are several new books on the Vikings. A new Viking chess set and other great Viking items."

This comes from Robert Hutchins, whose Rehoboth Ranch produces pastured meats, chicken and eggs in the Greenville area. He says that Gene Holmes, whose Grand Saline farm supplies organic produce to the Coppell and Dallas farmers markets on Saturdays, is also going to bring his organic vegetables to the McKinney Farmers Market this Saturday to see how it goes.

If McKinney is your market and you're into locally grown organics, stop by and check it out. The market opens at 8 a.m. It's at Chestnut Square, about three blocks south of the main square, at McDonald and Anthony.