little bitty girl

I had such an amazing food day today! Everyone in blogland seemed to be talking about going to the local market lately so I decided it was time to visit my own. Briana wrote a really funny piece about surviving her local market and Mav posted a great picture of what was fresh at hers. Stefan and I usually (usually just me) go to Kensington Market on Sundays to do our grocery shopping. It's such a great mix of interesting stores where you can buy pretty much anything your tummy desires. On hot summer days, an impromptu street festival seems to take place with the local Jamaican music store providing the soulful Raggae beats. The best part about going to Kensington is also that it's right next to one of our Chinatowns where I can buy "random weeds" (as Stefan who is notoriously suspicious of any food likes to call it).

This Saturday however, we decided to go out of our neighbourhood and further to the St. Lawrence Market. St Lawrence Market is located at Front and Jarvis and it's a great bustling spot to visit on weekends. There are usually craft and vintage vendors on the sidewalk and the large complex holds huge stores specializing in seafood, meats, cheeses; pretty much anything you can think of. The building across the street usually hosts a Saturday only farmer's market. I simply love shopping for vegetables and fruits that are in season and are grown just hours away.

One of our very favourite rituals is getting there for lunch time and having a peameal bacon sandwich. If you've never had peameal bacon, you really must try it when you're in Ontario. I was going to say it's a very Canadian meal but I am not sure whether people in the West eat it as much as we do in the East. It's basically a cured pork and is so much tastier and less fatty than regular breakfast bacon.

I had come to the market specifically looking to buy oysters. I've been craving them lately and we live literally a block away from one of the most popular oyster restaurants in the city. I've had to walk by the sign announcing their annual oyster shucking competition almost every day. Stefan (who almost everyone knows is quite the pickiest eater, he only started eating red peppers 6-7 years ago) can't abide them and nothing I do or promise to do can entice him to go to the place. I must give him credit though as he did try it once but unfortunately was given a Malpeque oyster. These oysters are native to Prince Edward Island on the East Coast and tend to be one of the larger bivalves. He said it was 6 chews too many and as far as he's concerned, oysters looks like pigeon poop. I guess oysters, especially raw ones are quite the acquired taste.

Anyway, we found some great ones and I taught myself to shuck them today. It was so much fun! I felt so decadent eating them for a snack. I must admit I was a little scared of slicing my hand open at first, but once I got the hang of it, it was quite easy. I only wished I had bought more. After I opened them, it took me no less than 5 minutes to slurp them down and it left me wanting. I could have eaten them all day long. Although, I probably would have wanted a variety of them, not just the Malpeque. At least now I know how to do it and will not hesitate to buy them at the grocery store the next time.

The great thing about markets like the St. Lawrence is that you can get so inspired about food. Every time I saw some produce, it made me think of cooking. For instance there were some wild blueberries for sale, and I thought how lovely it would be to have a grilled duck breast with a wild blueberry sauce. Unfortunately, I didn't see any duck. I did get some really gorgeous veggies though as you can see - local Ontario curly cabbage, giant bulb onions, fingerling potatoes, zebra striped vine tomatoes etc. It took a lot of willpower not to start cooking everything. The only thing stopping me was the fact that our fridge is pretty full and I would not have been able to fit any cooked food. My dream home would have a very large kitchen, with lots of cupboards and two fridges. I don't really care about the other rooms.

Dinner tonight was a delicious oven steamed pacific snapper, topped with fresh coriander, julienned spring onions, chillies and crunchy shallots, ginger and garlic. I can't wait to experiment with the rest of my produce throughout this week.