Pike Place Market Cookbook: Recipes, Anecdotes, and Personalities from Seattle's Renowned Public Market
by Braiden Rex-Johnson
Overview
From the publisher:
The spirit of Seattle's popular landmark, visited annually by more than nine million people, has been captured in a cookbook featuring more than 150 recipes from the Market vendors--people who grow, prepare, serve, and sell the foods of the Pacific Northwest. Foreword by Jeff Smith, author of The Frugal Gourmet. 50 illustrations. 2-color throughout.
My Thoughts
Be still my heart! This book is fabulous! If you have any kind of warm feeling about Seattle's farmer's market, you must read this book!! To be honest I haven't looked at many of the recipes, but I absolutely love the stories about the people who make up the market! There is so much rich history and culture to be discovered, and so many shops to be introduced to!
I just returned from Seattle and got to spend several hours in the market over two days. I thought I'd seen a lot of it, but after reading this book I realize I didn't see the half of it!! I'm firmly convinced that I should have taken the market tour where guides will point out all there is on offer; in lieu of that, I should have gone with book in hand to find the vendors the author writes so lovingly about!
The Public Market in Seattle is truly a world class market. I hope they never allow it to become anything but what it is today.
Favorite Passage
Tucked back in the Sanitary Market Building (built in 1910 and so named because it was the only building in the Market where animals were not allowed inside), the Creamery is a place where regular customers can count on a smile, a kind word, and a hug from proprietress and head milkmaid Nancy "Nipples" Douty, who started the Creamery in 1977 and purchased the business in 1978 with the help of a customer who cosigned her loan.
Nancy is one of the healthiest-looking and fittest people in the Market, with her thin yet muscular body, long brown hair, and clear brown eyes, and she can lift a dolly full of milk crates with ease. She's living testament to her philosophy that "eating good food helps you feel good. At the Creamery we also believe in eating food that tastes good."
Nancy specializes in fresh dairy and soy products that you'd never find at your neighborhood grocery store. Among the more unusual offerings are milk in glass bottles, raw goat's milk, rice milk, and soy milk; logs of Jersey butter, similar to rich French butter; and six sizes of eggs from free-running hens, plus quail, duck, goose and aracuana eggs, in season. Devonshire cream, three types of creme fraiche, numerous varieties of yogurts, a cornucopia of soy and tofu products, and ice cream and fozen desserts are other tempting options.
Besides buying your milk and other dairy needs here, you can also browse through Nancy's kitschy collection of "Dairy Moo-morabilia" donated by customers and friends, which includes cows and chickens of all makes and models (check out the metal cow in the pearls, straw hat, purple sneakers and lace socks!), as well as Gary Larson "Far Side" cartoons.
