Images from Hollywood Farmers Market and PSU Portland Farmers Markets

I have a confession. I am a farmers market addict.

Even when I travel and am staying in a hotel and have no kitchen, maybe not even a fridge, I check to see if there is a farmers market to visit. I’ve been to Farmers Markets in upstate New York and in Manhattan, in Vermont, in Arizona, Boston, Chicago, California, in Washington the state and Washington DC the district.

On Saturdays, I have been going to TWO farmers markets- both the Hollywood Farmers Market to wander before my workout class, and then right after the workout class to the PSU Portland Farmers Market. I just love browsing, looking at all the beautiful goods from the farmers, and then maybe also looking at all the people there too.

Here are a few of the photos I couldn’t help but take just to capture the wonderful bounty of things I was seeing. You’ll probably see these posts once in a while where I just am showing off how wonderful these farmers markets are!

Hollywood Farmers Market

Open all year round on Saturdays.
Some of the offerings at the Hollywood Farmers market on Saturdays - salads Some of the offerings at the Hollywood Farmers market on Saturdays - Sea Scape Strawberries Some of the offerings at the Hollywood Farmers market on Saturdays - zucchini Some of the offerings at the Hollywood Farmers market on Saturdays - green garlic Some of the offerings at the Hollywood Farmers market on Saturdays - mushroom mixes Some of the offerings at the Hollywood Farmers market on Saturdays - onions, lots of onions Some of the offerings at the Hollywood Farmers market on Saturdays - flowers Some of the offerings at the Hollywood Farmers market on Saturdays - music

Portland Farmers Market

One of 8 locations of the Portland Farmers Markets.
Some of the offerings at the Portland Farmers market on Saturdays at PSU - berries Some of the offerings at the Portland Farmers market on Saturdays at PSU - mushrooms Some of the offerings at the Portland Farmers market on Saturdays at PSU - salads Some of the offerings at the PSU Portland Farmers market on Saturdays - garlic scapes Some of the offerings at the PSU Portland Farmers market on Saturdays - giant Walla Walla sweet onions Some of the offerings at the PSU Portland Farmers market on Saturdays - music Some of the offerings at the PSU Portland Farmers market on Saturdays - squash blossoms Some of the offerings at the Portland Farmers market on Saturdays at PSU - fresh flowers Some of the offerings at the Portland Farmers market on Saturdays at PSU - fresh flowers

Available at both markets: Gabriel’s Bakery and that freaking addictive cheese croissant they have (you can see it in the left back), among other baked goods. I don’t even have to say anything at the PSU Farmers Market, she just starts reaching for them and it’s only a matter of how many I want to buy this time…
Some of the offerings at the Farmers market on Saturdays - Gabriel's Bakery, at both the Hollywood and PSU Portland Farmers Market

I hope I am encouraging you to visit the Farmers Market this weekend! Which one do you go to, and what do you like to buy?

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Scenes from Chelsea Market and Todd English Food Hall

I couldn’t visit New York without stopping by both of these food court meccas, could I? So as I mentioned in my last New York recap post where I basically draw little hearts all over Russ & Daughters, I had one day off from the conference. After eating the best bagel and lox sandwich in my entire life, I needed a little walk… so I walked to Chelsea Market. Chelsea Market became my progressive lunch stop. Later that evening, I would visit Todd English Food Hall for dinner. Here is my photo recap of the scenes from Chelsea Market and Todd English Food Hall. Warning, this is a very photo heavy post!

Chelsea Market

I browsed the Chelsea Market looking at all the shops, even bringing back some snacks from The Nut Box and learning about spices at Spices and Tease. If you haven’t heard of Chelsea Market before, it’s a giant building- a whole city block long- which hosts an indoor food hall that includes shop vendors like I just mentioned as well as cheese vendors, bakeries, and imported Italian specialty food.
Chelsea Market, New York

It also is the home to many small booths just like you might expect in any food court mall, but here the vendors include big names like Buddakan, Morimoto, Sarabeth’s or an outpost of the highly ranked sandwich New York chain Num Pang. You can get fine Maine lobsters (Lobster Place) and escargot, Australian meat pies (Tuck Shop), made fresh daily pastas (Rana), conversation cookies (Eleni’s) or crepes (Bar Suzette) and more.
Chelsea Market, New York Chelsea Market, New York

I walked around a long time, wanting to eat everything but settling for just feasting with my eyes. There was a lot to look at just in terms of the building itself with its stripped down architecture including safe deposit boxes that surround one elevator shaft, glistening starry strings of lights that sparkle as curtains in a hallway with a large clock, a fountain gushing water echoing the richness of the food bounty surrounding its location, and various art, old and new, adoring its halls.
Chelsea Market, New York Chelsea Market, New York Chelsea Market, New York Chelsea Market, New York Chelsea Market, New York Chelsea Market, New York Chelsea Market, New York Chelsea Market, New York

I ogled all the food in the shops and food booths and on people’s tables also like it was another form of art all around me.

Chelsea Market, New York Chelsea Market, New York Chelsea Market, New York
Lobster Place in Chelsea Market, New York Lobster Place in Chelsea Market, New York Lobster Place in Chelsea Market, New York Lobster Place in Chelsea Market, New York Lobster Place in Chelsea Market, New York

For lunch, I followed a recommendation to Dickson’s Farmstand, where I had the rotisserie chicken with brussels sprouts and potatoes. The poultry at Dickson’s is brought into the city every morning from Amish farms in Lancaster Pennsylvania or live poultry market in Queens. Dickson’s calls in their order for their chickens fresh each day. The chickens are cage-free barn raised without hormones or antibiotics and have a vegetarian diet. I couldn’t help but want to support this old fashioned way of sourcing.
Dickson's Farmstand Meats, Chelsea Market, New York Dickson's Farmstand Meats, Chelsea Market, New York Dickson's Farmstand Meats, Chelsea Market, New York Dickson's Farmstand Meats, Chelsea Market, New York Dickson's Farmstand Meats, Chelsea Market, New York

Oh, did I also mention that this building is also the office of Food Network, and they film Iron Chef America and used to film Emeril Live here? During my visit I was still in the midst of reading From Scratch: Inside the Food Network, which I already reviewed in another blog post so I was also letting my imagination fill in the blanks of the tales from the book on how Food Network was formed and grew up as I also people watched during my visit.

Todd English Food Hall

Later that same day, I browsed the Todd English Food Hall, located in the basement of the Plaza Hotel. I walked there from my hotel, which gave me a little time to walk around Central Park at dusk by Columbus Circle as I walked there along W 59th and watch the moon rise.
Some shots from Central Park at dusk by Columbus Circle Some shots from Central Park at dusk

Keep in mind that the Todd English Food Hall is in the Plaza basement floor. So, rather then going up the steps past the doorman to enter the hotel, look for the sign and doorway, which will then lead you to escalators down.
Todd English Food Hall entrance Todd English Food Hall entrance Todd English Food Hall entrance

While Chelsea Market had been an upscale take on a food court, the Todd English Food Hall is a modern take on European specialty markets. There were lots of rows of beautiful goods, and in a few places there were some stools so you can sit at a bar and enjoy a bite to eat at some of the booths that offered food service rather than just food goods. There are nine such food booths, representing nine kinds of food stations (Burger Grill, a Seafood/Oyster Bar, Asian Noodles and Dumplings, Pasta Bar, Flatbread Pizza Bar, Sushi Bar, Taqueria, Cheese & Charcuterie, and a Wine Bar and Patisserie).
Todd English Food Hall, New York listing of occupants

As I was waiting for my friend and her friends to arrive, I browsed with my eyes and camera… Yes, that is S’more made to order. Why is this not a food cart here in Portland.
Todd English Food Hall, New York Todd English Food Hall, New York Todd English Food Hall, New York Todd English Food Hall, New York Todd English Food Hall, New York Todd English Food Hall, New York Todd English Food Hall, New York  Todd English Food Hall, New York Todd English Food Hall, New York

For our dinner we ate at the restaurant within this underground food hall. Here, the menu includes some selections from each of those food stations, but it is brought to you at the table instead of sitting at one of the individual food stations. You don’t get access to the whole menu of each station though – for instance you can’t order the lobster roll, but you can a whole grilled lobster, or you can only have 3 choices of tacos.

There was a lot of wine going on at this dinner, and also I wasn’t exactly starving for a lot of dishes given my visit to Russ & Daughters and Chelsea Market and Momofuku Milk Bar earlier in the day. So, my pictures here are a bit more limited. We started out with a side order of Brussels Sprouts with pancetta, roasted jalapeno, red wine vinegar, and butter. Although I won’t be adding pancetta to my regular roasted brussels sprouts standby recipe, I did like the addition of the roasted jalapenos for a little extra kick!

And we got two orders of those addictive and light Risotto Tater Tots with fontina and truffle aioli
Todd English Food Hall, New York - Brussels Sprouts with pancetta, roasted jalapeno, red wine vinegar, and butter Todd English Food Hall, New York - Risotto Tater Tots with fontina and truffle aioli

Also maybe some Fried Oysters with caviar creme fraiche, lemon, and micro cilantro
Todd English Food Hall, New York - Fried Oysters with caviar creme fraiche, lemon, and micro cilantro Todd English Food Hall, New York - Fried Oysters with caviar creme fraiche, lemon, and micro cilantro

When you dine here, do not miss out on the Rigatoni Bolognese. It uses Todd’s Old School bolognese, veal reduction, and pecorino – here we happened to switch out the rigatoni pasta with gluten free spaghettini for my gluten free friend (you can also substiute Whole wheat for any pasta dish of your choice). That sauce is incredible- I can just eat that sauce by itself with a spoon. 10/10. Would go there and order this pasta dish again, as well as more new things to try, but this is a dish worth repeating. The Veal Agnolotti with veal confit, truffle, and parmesan was good, but that bolognese was even better.
Todd English Food Hall, New York - Rigatoni Bolognese, It uses Todd’s old school bolognese, veal reduction, and pecorino - here we happened to switch out the rigatoni pasta with gluten free spaghettini for my gluten free friend Todd English Food Hall, New York - Veal Agnolotti with veal confit, truffle, parmesan

If you are meeting a group of friends in New York, definitely consider stopping by either Chelsea Market  or Todd English Food Hall for a meal together. By having a good group, you can try a lot of different things at these places, and the possibilities are just amazing that you will want to take advantage of numbers to try as much as you can! If you go to Todd English, make a reservation – otherwise if you are trying to eat at the food stations since it is a bar it is better to be a small party of 1-2. For Chelsea Market, there are some tables but if the weather is nice consider taking your food outside and walking to the High Line park.

I still have two more meals to cover from my time in New York (it sure seems like I ate a lot huh in the 6 days I was there…): Pearl Oyster Bar, and Ivan Ramen!

Other New York highlights from this trip that I have blogged about:

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Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm – Tulip Festival

Lest you think all I do is eat, last weekend beside also attending Cheers to Belgian Beers, I also visited Woodburn to fill my May Day with flowers at the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm’s Tulip Festival.

The bounty of natural beauty you can reach from the Portland area, from gorge with a roaring river to snow capped mountain to seaside, and then add these various farms with fields of flowers, is really fulfilling in a way I didn’t know was empty when I lived in the midwest. I can’t say enough about how beautiful Portland can be.

The Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm gets pretty crowded by late morning, but if you go in the early morning, you might find very few people (I guess families still bundling their kids into the car), so that’s when I suggest you go to get the endless fields photos like I did below.

Tulips

Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm- Tulip Festival
Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm- Tulip Festival Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm- Tulip Festival
Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm- Tulip Festival
Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm- Tulip Festival Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm- Tulip Festival
Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm- Tulip Festival
Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm- Tulip Festival

Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm- Tulip Festival Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm- Tulip Festival

Poffertjes?!

Although… speaking of eating. There was a little snackity food that I really liked. Poffertjes are small puff pancakes from Holland. We got two versions, poffertjes with butter and sugar, and with then poffertjes with berries/hold the whipped cream but can get it with whipped cream are shown below. As you can see, they are made fresh right in front of you and served warm from the special puff grill. YUM.

Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm- Tulip Festival Poffertjes at the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm- Tulip Festival Poffertjes at the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm- Tulip Festival Poffertjes at the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm- Tulip Festival Poffertjes at the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm- Tulip Festival

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