We got up, made ham and
manchego sandwiches and peeled and filled a cooler with cut up a Japanese
cucumber and bag of Irish Cheddar cheese cubes and a bag of pretzels and beers
and left the house by 8:00 a.m. And arrived at the Taos Farmers' Market a little
after 10:30 a.m.
As we walked into the
Market the first booth we came to had baskets of wild mushrooms manned by a
bearded rastafarian looking fellow who was definitely a seasoned mushroom
picker. We stopped to talk and look and I bought his last ¾ pound of
chanterelles ($20.00/lb.) He had lots of porcini or as we were later told Grand
Boletus in America is porcini in Italy. He wanted $15.00 for his porcinis so we
decided to walk around a bit and see if we could find others cheaper. The
Market has lots of produce and baked goods from northern New Mexico and
southern Colorado. We bought ¾ of a pound of fingerling potatoes interesting We
then saw another mushroom table with porcinis and wandered over. The woman
attending the booth spoke English with a strongly Eastern European accent. When
we asked bout her porcinis, she said, $12.00 per pound so we bought a pound.
Suzette also wanted to take some chanterelles to the Bistro, so she bought a
pound of Chanterelles for $20.00.
We then want back south on Camino del Pueblo to a flea market in an empty lot where I made my big art purchase of the day, what appeared to be an original Japanese wood cut print stuck under a printed lithograph of Mount Fuji that was a printed copy of the original. The booth owner did not seem to know he had the print I wanted under the copy. I offered $20.00 and he finally took it.
We then want back south on Camino del Pueblo to a flea market in an empty lot where I made my big art purchase of the day, what appeared to be an original Japanese wood cut print stuck under a printed lithograph of Mount Fuji that was a printed copy of the original. The booth owner did not seem to know he had the print I wanted under the copy. I offered $20.00 and he finally took it.
Although the menu has an
complete selection of appetizers, pizzas, entrees and desserts, we decided upon
entrees. Suzette selected Eggplant Parmigiana ($15.00) and I selected Lasagna
($12.00).
Suzette's entree came with either spaghetti or Brocolini. She took broccolini. Mine did not come with a side, so I ordered the spinach that was steamed and then tossed in olive oil and garlic (the spinach is also prepared with Alfredo sauce, if you wish).
We both loved our dishes. Suzette's had fresh eggplant, coated with ricotta, then battered and sautéed and then covered in a lovely tomato sauce. My lasagna was made with layers of lasagna noodles interspersed with the usual Bolognese sauce and ricotta cheese and some fresh spinach and covered with the homemade lovely tomato sauce. There was also a fresh tomato coulis on the side that could be mixed with the heavier more pungently herbed tomato sauce. We selected a bottle of Sangiovese from Molise (a Lascato selection) for $25.00, which we did not like because it had a flat watered down taste that lacked the usual fruitiness of Tuscan Sangiovese. We asked for and were served bread and butter and after a few minutes my spinach was served. It was fresh and a bit watery as if it had been blanched and then tossed in garlic and olive oil. We ae ever speck of it and then soaked up the garlic and olive oil infused cooking liquids in the bottom of the bowl with pieces of bread for a delicious end of the meal. It started raining at about the time we finished our meal and we still had bout 1/3 of the bottle of wine so we decided to not go try to find music to listen to and stay and drink our wine. I then went over the pastry case to see what looked good and saw an interesting chocolate cake covered with hazelnuts. I ordered a piece of the hazelnut cake ($5.00). It had a thick creamy chocolate icing over chocolate cake and rows of toasted hazelnuts on top; delicious.
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