By Sara Ortega and Ana Marie Aguas
If there’s one event the SacFoodies look forward to this time of year, it’s the farmer’s market conveniently located right outside our office on Capitol Mall! We are always delighted every Thursday by the scent of grilling Indian cuisine, baking Italian pizza and some of the best food trucks in town, including, Krush Burger and Wicked ‘Wich.
It’s almost too good to be true! Some of the best fruit, vegetable, flower, herb and even artisan olive oil vendors offer their fine products for visitors to browse and purchase. Our personal favorite is the pistachio vendor that offers more than two dozen different pistachio flavors to fit any liking.
Market vendors are local and provide some truly unique and authentically grown products. Now through September 26, every Thursday, take a breath of fresh air and treat yourself to the ultimate Artisanal experience at the Capitol Mall Farmer’s Market.
Capitol Mall Farmers Market
6th and Capitol Mall
(Between 5th & 6th St.)
Open EVERY THURSDAY
10:00 AM – 1:30 PM
Open May – September
Davis Farmers Market, Among the Nation’s Best
When the weather warms up and summer is in full bloom, one of the most anticipated activities for many is visiting local farmers markets. There is no better place to pick up delicious fruits, veggies, flowers and often times a variety of other specialty products from local vendors.
I’d have to say the most robust farmers market I ever visited was a Saturday afternoon market in New York’s Greenwich Village. Luckily for us in the Sacramento region, there is no need to travel far and wide to find a fun farmers market. In fact, the immensely popular market held year-round in Davis was named one of the top 10 in the nation by USA Today. The highly anticipated “Picnic in the Park” begins annually at the end of March and runs through October. This weekly Wednesday evening event was hailed for its social and family friendly aspect, as well its abundance of fresh goods.
Congratulations to our neighbor on this awesome shout out! In addition to the market in Davis, the Sacramento region hosts a dozen fabulous farmers markets throughout the week. Chances are there is one close to you! Click here for a list of local certified farmers markets. Enjoy!
Photo courtesy of The Davis Farmers Market
More Chocolate-Covered Strawberries
Last week, we posted a chocolate-covered strawberries recipe from Pinterest, and this week, another SacFoodie shares her version of this classic, sweet treat!
Chocolate Covered Strawberries
I’ll be the first to admit it – I don’t spend as much time in the kitchen as I’d like to. But let’s be honest, with only 24 hours in a day and at least 36 hours worth of to do’s daily (whether they’re wants or needs), you have to cut corners occasionally. That’s why chocolate covered strawberries have become my go-to for a quick and easy crowd-pleaser. This Valentine’s Day, I wanted to do something nice for the lovely people I work with (get it?), but knew I couldn’t afford to spend time slaving over the stove.
Now talk to most dessert lovers, and they’ll say the one essential component to any good chocolate covered strawberry is a double-broiler for the chocolate. I say double-broiler, double-shmoiler! The truth is, it’s easy to make decadent strawberries using store-bought chocolate chips and your trusty old microwave. The key is not to over-cook the chips.
Chocolate Covered Strawberries
Ingredients
20 strawberries
1 bag chocolate chips (my preference is milk chocolate, but any will do)
Directions
Rinse strawberries and lay out to dry on paper towels. Pour chocolate chips into a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on medium heat for 45 – 60 seconds, depending on the power of your microwave. While the microwave is going, gently pat the strawberries with another paper towel, ensuring that they are dry. Remove bowl of chocolate chips from microwave and stir gently. Note: the chips will often appear un-melted at first, only to melt together upon stirring, as the warmer chocolate will be closer to the bottom of the bowl. If needed, microwave in additional increments of 15 second each, removing and stirring after each until completely melted. Dip strawberries one at a time, twirling each to ensure full coating. Lay dipped strawberries on waxed paper atop a cookie sheet and refrigerate overnight.
What do Strawberry, Mixed Berry and Vanilla Honey Have in Common?
They’re all delicious flavors in Starbucks’ new line of Vivanno™ Yogurt Smoothies – and they’re all available in Sacramento now!
(Photo courtesy of Starbucks)
On June 30, select local Starbucks locations added three new flavors reportedly made fresh with natural, high-quality ingredients, including non-fat probiotic yogurt, fruit juice and honey. Here at Sac Foodies we were lucky enough to give each smoothie a thorough taste test earlier this week and are pleased to report that the smoothies passed with flying colors! The jury is still out on whether Strawberry or Vanilla Honey is the favorite, but we unanimously concluded that if you’re a Starbucks regular looking to mix up the morning routine, they’re worth a shot.
Tempted? We’ll make it just a little easier for you to give Vivanno™ Yogurt Smoothies a try:
Leave a comment below telling us what your go-to Starbucks order consists of, and you’ll automatically be entered to win one of two $25 Starbucks gift cards that we’re giving away!
Two winners will be selected at random on Friday, July 10 at 12 PM PST.
And, don’t forget to enter a slogan in our Sac Foodies t-shirt contest – see the below post for details!
An Incredible Dining Experience? TRU.
A few weeks ago I was in Chicago working with our Sunsweet client on a few localized events. One of events in particular, I must admit, ended up being more pleasure than work: dinner at TRU. We had a group of eight that included several of Chicago’s top nutritionists and foodies, so where else could we take them but the very best: Gale Gand and Rick Tramonto’s restaurant, TRU on North St. Clair Street in downtown Chicago.
We worked with the restaurant’s chefs a few weeks ahead to create a special menu that would showcase Sunsweet’s diverse line of dried fruit and juice products. Working in the food industry, “official recipe taster” has magically made its way onto my list of job duties; I guess sometimes fate works in our favor. Our four-course dinner was a true culinary experience and I can now join the unofficial, yet extremely loyal, TRU fan club.
We started off with poached chicken, red raisins, baby lettuce and pine nuts..
Second course was steamed fluke, mango sheet and jalapeno, with lemon-grass liquid gel.
For our entrée, I must admit that I had my doubts of how much I would enjoy pork belly. It’s a menu item that probably wouldn’t make it into my personal selection, but I’m glad it was on the group menu because it was fantastic. The presentation was fun as well: a group of servers surrounded the table and simultaneously poured a bright green sauce over each of our pork belly plates as the executive chef explained to our table that the pork had been cooking for three days. The results were a firm and very tasty plate of pork belly, prunes and watercress consommé.
To “prep” us for our dessert, the pastry chef surprised us with a small custard and dried blueberry plate topped with plum juice sauce and garnished with Pop Rocks. Yes, Pop Rocks from 1987, and yes they are still just as exciting, even at an ultra sheek restaurant.
For dessert we had a fresh plum juice gelatin topped with a ginger chamomile custard and PlumSweets (dark chocolate covered prunes).
They must know that this is the type of restaurant where you just don’t want dinner to end. Insert Mignardises, from the old French word mignard, meaning pretty or delicate, and is essentially an after-dessert dessert. Yes, that’s right, dessert part two. And when you’re at a restaurant like this, you find room.
From the food to the incredible wine pairings and extremely knowledgeable and engaged staff, this place is first class. Some places are all hype. TRU is truly not one of them.