IT IS FINALLY BBQ SEASON

Winter is finally gone...I think.  The spring season is heavily celebrated on Memorial Day Weekend with people going outdoors and cooking up a BBQ.  I looked in my Fairway Market weekly flyer for sales and went off to Douglaston to prepare.

I caught the attention of Stephen Fosdick, the General Manager to ask what they had to help me prepare.



First thing was to search for some of the important items such as what I needed for the grill.  It looks like Fairway Market has their own set of BBQ tools.

Next thing is the paper plate, plastic cups, non-stick aluminum foil (on sale), recycle garbage bags for the plastic cups, cans, etc. and freezer bags for the leftovers as well as portioning out the meats to freeze.

I figured that I'll most likely sweat doing all the work as well as needing a bottle of Aleve for the pain that I experience going up and down the stairs to my back yard.

Since Fairway has a bakery, why not grab a bag of the pretzel buns for sliders.   They have a pretty delicious ground sirloin on sale for $3.99 a pound.

Of course there are the condiments.  Fairway doesn't have their own brand of ketchup but I like an organic brand called Woodstock.  Fairway does have their own brand of Dijon mustard....really good...and potent!   Then there are several varieties of marinades.  I thought I'd try the Thai Chili mango

Being that it is the weekend, samples lurk about the store. Guacamole near the deli, tilapia at the seafood area, and both Korean style chicken thighs and kettle chips near the butcher area.

 

I also stopped by the cheeses to check out a  Jersey Cooperstown that I saw in the flyer...that was the sale feature.  I thought it would make a great topping for a cheeseburger.  That and a Manchango.

I personally don't care for their guacamole only because it's a bit too spicy for me.  I got the fixings.  Haas avocados, Vidalia onions, vine tomatoes, lime and cilantro.

While I'm over in the produce area, I see the ready made trays of fruit.

I certainly took advantage of the lobsters that were on sale.  I bought two that were already steamed and two that were alive. I could break the cooked ones into parts and freeze.

Trying out a few kabobs and doing my own marinading.   Got one of chicken and another of pork.  I did get one marinaded beef.  A package of  Murray's chicken wings, too.  Gotta have chicken wings and ribs, too.  Got a rack of babyback. You never know if the day you plan to have friends over for the BBQ turns to rain, so I'm prepared for indoors as well.   My NuWave oven and NuWave Precision Induction Cooktop should handle it all.

You gotta have refreshments.  Sodastream may be the source for drinks.  The machine carbonates water using a reusable CO2 cartridge that makes lots of bottles of carbonated water.   Bottles are made of plastic and one comes with the Sodastream "Source", which contains that machine, cartridge, bottle and samples of flavors to add.  They have a variety of "syrups" made with sugar that tastes exactly as they label it such as Cola.  You can also add some fresh lemon or lime if you don't want anything that is artificial.   One of the syrups is called Cosmopolitan.   Add to the carbonated water or vodka.  Once you have a bottle of carbonated water (using tap water, if you want), you can make separate drinks with that one bottle and then carbonate another bottle for other drinks.  Certainly saves on buying soda and dealing with the cost of each bottle that adds on the deposit money.  www.sodastream.com

A FAIR DAY FOR FAIRWAY

Got wind of an event going on at Fairway Market.  Funny Food Art.  Bill Wurtzel, author of the book, took over half the Douglaston store’s café area and brought in various items of food to give us the opportunity to express art using food.  My goal was to choose food that I thought would work well on my own. Manager Chris Lobenhofer was on and to assist me. with where I could get all the items.

Sunday is a demo and tasting day.  Annie was just setting up the tasting areas that featured Fairway products.  I began with the produce area buying strawberries, bananas, avocados, cilantro, a blood orange and some combination of fresh greens.  What else would do?  Eyes. What to use for eyes.  Dried cranberries and cherries.  Slithered almonds for teeth or even eyebrows.  Saw a few fruit and vegetables washes.  Trying one for the first time. 

Over at the deli area, there is a tasting for Fairway’s guacamole and salsa.  Oh yeah…Cinco de Mayo.  Lox pieces are colorful and can easily be carved.  Might as well get Ben’s Creamcheese to go with it.  Hmmm…make a spread.  Mother’s Day is this weekend.   Thoughts also go to a fancy brunch.  Serve your mom “artistically”.   

I’m now at the cheese area to try a few.  Decided to stick with P’tit Basque and Manchego.  I see a bag of Fairway green pasta that looks like rabbit ears.   That will do.  Fairway’s whipped cream, hazelnut spread and Dijon mustard. Have to get mayo too.

Here at the bakery I view a display ad for tres leches cake.  Cinco de Mayo.  It certainly looks good turning out to be quite light and fluffy.   Serve a piece with food art around it.  Create a stick figure of yourself with an arm stretched out.     

Another tasting.  This time is was Fairway’s pistachio crusted salmon.   A nearby display had not only this salmon but a few salmon burgers.  Great brunch option.  Got a package of tomato and basil, one of teriyaki and a package of spinach and feta. 

Moving to the sushi counter I find that the company who makes the sushi came up with their own Ramen Noodle bowl.  He tells me to simply add boiling hot water, stir and eat.  Follow up: tasted okay…better than the instant but heavens knows what additives and preservatives are in it.  Not worth the price of $8.99.  

Tasting of an Italian pork sausage.  Okay, but not my thing.

There is another company also doing a sausage tasting of various chicken sausages.  There was one with mango in it.  That’s more my food fancy.  I did go over to the butcher.   Since I got salmon burgers I thought that “mom” should have the option of having beef or chicken.  Chicken with veggies, beef with bacon and cheese…nothing to add.   Fairway bakery has pretzel buns.  Small enough to make sliders…beef, chicken, salmon….

Another display to push Fairway’s fresh mozzarella that included small yellow Campari tomatoes, pesto sauce and an already made mozzarella, tomato and basil package.   A Fairway tapenade was another perfect companion for the fresh mozzarella.   I then see another display of Vinny’s fresh herbs.  Great for art!  

Now I have to think about a few other things like paper towels to clean up my mess-o-art.  Ice cream nearby. Hmmmm…..new ice cream called High Road.  One is branded as Fairway to Heaven…coffee with crumbs and a hint of cinnamon.   Another one just labeled with High Road is a gelato with ricotta and something.  Heck, I’ll try them both.   Follow up.  Tastes fine and great for those who are into having “stuff” in their ice cream.   

Another tasting going on the pharmacy area of a powdered green good-for-you thing.  Mixed with apple juice it tasted fine.  Mixed with water it tasted like green tea.  I’ll play guinea pig on this one.

Now, if you’re going to do a tasting geared to me, it might well be bars of chocolate.   I’ve been meaning to taste Fairway’s brand.   Got various bars and will follow up on this.  This one I tasted was certainly good.  I have a feeling that the dark mint brownie will tweak my taste buds. 

Got Milk?  Must get. Eggs too are another great thing to make use of with slices of hard boiled egg.  

Conclusion for a Mother’s Day meal.  Go a little bit fancy and a lot on art.  

Now I'm hooked on the art....here are some more creations.

THOUGHT FOR FOOD

This past Sunday was the perfect day to shop at Fairway due to it being Palm Sunday and the day before the first Passover seder. I got there at about 10:30 a.m. and headed for the deli counter, thinking that there would be rows of people. Aside from the regular ready-made products, they had a line of ones that were Kosher for Passover. 

I had decided not to do all of the cooking.   There was the gefilte fish, matzo balls, matzo ball soup, and roasted vegetables.   I never know what people like to eat.   I bought a piece of poached salmon, and a pre-cooked kosher Cornish hen.

There was a KFP aisle that had chopped liver as well as a chicken broth.   I wanted to try Fairway’s soup as well as making sure I had enough broth for the matzo balls. 

Demo’s were going on all over the store.   Most of them were not Fairway samples, but from companies introducing their products.   Fairway was sampling their chocolate covered coconut macaroons (not kosher for Passover) and picked up a package.   They do not make their own almond macaroons but did have a KFP boxed ilk.  I personally prefer almond to coconut.  Stephen Fosdick, the GM of the Douglaston store, checked all of the demos to make sure that everything was good.  Annie creates these samplings. 

The bakery was advertising for Easter.   My idea of Easter and food is candy.  I had recently received a sampling of Ghirardelli’s Spring line…Easter looking.  Fairway carries a variety of Ghirardelli chocolates.  I will have to compare them with their own brand as well as Neuhaus.  One food holiday is enough in a week.  I will wait a bit.  

Having returned from a trip to the Brandywine Valley area, I wanted to check on some cheeses that I had.  Not that they were necessarily “local”.  One was called P’tit Basque and the other was a mango, ginger stilton.  They had both!

Seafood.  They weren’t quite ready to demo their marinated shrimp, so I just bought a pound to try it out.  Can’t freeze it, though…unless I cook it first.   One surprise was their having skate fillets.   In case you’ve never had skate, it is a cross between crab meat and scallops.  Most places sell it skate wings on the “bone”, which is actually cartilage. 

Over at the sushi area, a sampling of their tempura shrimp was being indulged in.   I tried that as well as getting something called a sushi sandwich.   

Another sampling nearby of cooked Korean marinated chicken as the butcher counter had the raw marinated thighs for sale.   Rack of lamb was another item being featured in their flier.   A mint jelly was available nearby.   

One main course that I’m preparing myself is Fairway’s anti-bio free chicken, with Red Mill’s country mix rice, and Portobello mushrooms.
I marinated the chicken in white wine, pieces of mango and ground up a star anise, piece of fresh ginger, Bird of Paradise (a pepper) and thyme.  In fact the Afikoman (middle matzo that you hide) was found under this dish, soaking up the sauce.

Over to the dairy aisle for eggs (traditional hardboiled egg in salt water) and milk.  I see a new product near the yogurt.  Quark with pineapples.   I’m game for trying one…Didn’t like it at all.  Not sure whether it was the quark or if the pineapples clashed with it. 

Fairway branded whipped cream in a can.   They advertised it with boxes of fresh strawberries.  I think I’ll use it with a Fairytale Brownie instead. 

There was a display over at the front area regarding another Fairway brand.  This was of liquid Castile Soaps (not soups).  Varieties included a baby soft, a black soap with shea butter for acne, and a peppermint.  

Need I say that I bought a box of matzo…egg matzo.