Some Things to Look Forward to, and January at the Market.

One thing I really miss from Glens Falls, NY is the foodie book group I ran at my old job Red Fox Books.  I had the pleasure of being a part of this book group for over two years and I had a wonderful time reading, eating and chatting with some great people.  To take something so solitary as reading and make it a group undertaking is a great pleasure and one that I miss.  Not to mention the relationship you forge with people over good books and food.

As far as I have looked there is not a foodie book group in Sacramento, though there is a group for “regular” fiction that I hope to start attending in February.   I have found two different online foodie book groups for bloggers that I have decided to take part in.  Obviously being a part of three book groups is a bit extreme and not something I plan on doing every month, but I hope to always take part in at least one and maybe more depending on the books we are reading. 

The first, This Book Makes Me Cook, and the second, Cook the Books Club, have the same concept where groups of bloggers read the same book, blog about it and link to each others blogs.  Cook the Books club is a little different because each month there is a judge (sometimes the author of the book) that will pick a winner for that month.  If you are interested in joining or just want to know more about the groups please click on their names to go the sites.

So you now get to look forward to reading my book group interactions, including thoughts on the books I read and experiments with food from the books.  Feel free to read along if the fancy strikes you, I will try to keep you updated on the future titles. 

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On a completely separate note, Rob and I made it to the Sunday farmers market in Sacramento and were yet again blown away.  It has been a while since we were able to make it to the market, so we did not have the highest of expectations for a market visit in mid January.  Ha, were we wrong!!  If you have been to a market in New York this time of year you know that the selection is pretty slim and often markets don’t even go through the whole winter. 

As we walked up to the market the smell of citrus hit us full on before we even saw the piles of oranges, mandarins, lemons and grapefruits.  Some other great surprises were bags of kiwis, baskets of intense smelling strawberries, and of course lots of greens and root vegetables.  I also say a vendor selling raw milk, which kind of freaked out my New York brain (where raw milk is illegal to sell).  I will have to look into the many things I can do with raw milk, the first thing that jumped into my head was to make cheese.  Any ideas or tips? 

This market definitely makes me so excited that I live here, and I always leave in a great mood with plans of meals and treats dancing in my head.  Farmers markets are one of my favorite things to visit and wherever I go I always try to seek one out.  I think it tells you so much about the place that you are visiting, and you get to see a view of real life that many tourists tend to miss.  In my travels the market in Montreal has stayed one of my favorites.  Where is your favorite farmers market? 

My favorite find this week which we did not buy but did get to try was Blood Orange juice, which blew my mind on a few different levels.  The Blood Oranges we got in New York are nothing like the ones that we have here and I am a bit resentful that I have been missing this flavor from my life all this time.  Oh, January in California you are my friend.