Eastern Market Washington DC

A few years ago when we visited Washington DC we wanted to go someplace fun so we decided to drop by the Eastern Market.  We took the Metro over, walked from the stop towards the market, and discovered that it was closed.  It was a Monday and the market is only open six days a week.  Still, that visit put the spot on the map for us and was something we wanted to go back and experience.  We finally got the chance while we were staying in the city last May.

From Tuesday through Sunday, visitors flow through the South Hall Market, where merchants serve the finest meats, poultry, seafood, produce, pasta, baked goods and cheeses from around the world. On weekends, Eastern Market buzzes with excitement, live music, and local flair! Outside of the market, local farmers empty their trucks with recently harvested produce…direct from farms in Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. Beyond fruits, veggies, and fresh flowers, over 100 exhibitors of handmade arts, crafts, jewelry, and antiques offer something for everyone!
--from Eastern Market website

My wife had bought me the book Grand Avenues, about architect L'enfant's design of the city of Washington DC before our trip and it was fun to see different elements of his plan visible as we toured the city, from the sight-lines from the Capitol to Eastern Market.

Pierre L’Enfant’s 1791 plans for the city of Washington designated space for local markets. Eastern Market, completed in 1873, emerged from this original plan. It was designed by a German-born immigrant named Adolf Cluss. A renowned local architect of his time, Cluss also designed the Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building, which to this day is a prominent building on The Mall.
--from Eastern Market website

Inside you'll find a large, well market-style building.  It is very similar to Cincinnati's Findlay Market or Charleston West Virginia's Capitol Market if you've been to either of those venues (as we have).  We browsed for a while looking at the different venues to see what was available.  This seafood booth had plenty of different options if we'd been wanting to cook.

This venue had already closed up for the day unfortunately.

Finding fun different produce items are a definite benefit of shopping at a market versus a grocery store.  I've found some items that were locally grown or unique and not what you'd find at a mainstream store.

Do you like meat?  If so then you have many different options to choose from!

And don't forget cheese.  I was tempted to buy a fun variety of cheese for lunch, but ultimately we went another direction.

Finally I stopped by the Fine Sweet Shoppe where I picked up a hot dog for myself and a milkshake for my wife (she really likes milkshakes).

How do these desserts look?  I found it very hard to pick the one that I wanted to go with my meal.

Ultimately I settled on one of the huge lemon bars and let me tell you it was incredibly delicious!

Amy was in the mood for something a little different so we browsed through Paik Produce and discovered that they had fried dumplings, so we bought her an order which she really enjoyed.

After eating, we headed back to the Metro and went to the Mall so that we could tour some memorials.

If you're touring Washington DC and want to find a place to eat that is off the beaten path then you could do much worse than stopping by Eastern Market.  If you want to see all the photos from our visit check out this album.

~Matt

Book Review: 1493 by Charles C. Mann

1493
Uncovering the New World Columbus Created
by Charles C. Mann

Last year I read (and reviewed) Charles C. Mann's 1491.  When I found out that he'd published a sequel of sorts I rushed to buy it.  I enjoyed it and tried to not rush through the reading of it so that it would last longer.  I just finished it up recently and decided that it deserved a review of its own.

Presenting the latest research by biologists, anthropologists, archaeologists, and historians, Mann shows how the post-Columbian network of ecological and economic exchange fostered the rise of Europe, devastated imperial China, convulsed Africa, and for two centuries made Mexico City—where Asia, Europe, and the new frontier of the Americas dynamically interacted—the center of the world. In this history, Mann uncovers the germ of today’s fiercest political disputes, from immigration to trade policy to culture wars. In 1493, Mann has again given readers an eye-opening scientific interpretation of our past, unequaled in its authority and fascination.
--from Charles C. Mann author website

We all know the world changed after Columbus voyaged in 1492, but I don't think we always realized exactly what happened.  In this book Charles Mann sets out to explore the world that was created as a result of the Colombian Exchange.  Both hemispheres were inexorably altered in many different ways.  One of the most fascinating things I learned was the extent to which Africans outnumbered Europeans in many areas of the New World.  I knew that many hundreds of thousands of slaves had been brought over the Atlantic, and knew that in some areas like the American South or Brazil they outnumbered Europeans, but I didn't realize how this was true in many other areas.  It was fascinating to learn about all of the independent colonies founded by escaped slaves throughout both continents.

I also knew that tomatoes and potatoes were New World crops that made huge inroads elsewhere via the Irish Potato Famine or can you imagine Italian cooking without tomato sauce?  However, I didn't realize the extent to which crops and trade impacted places like China and may have impacted the rise and fall of several dynasties.

Overall Mann does a great job explaining the many, many changes the world has seen in the past slightly over five centuries and the great mixing that has occurred.  He also brings out many things you may not have thought about--like the impact of the potato on Chinese imperial history.  Or in discussions of invasive species why are food crops never mentioned?  If you garden in North America the chances are that virtually none of the crops you plant were domesticated within thousands of miles of where you are located.  Throughout the book the text flows very well and is quite engaging.  I had to stop myself from finishing it too quickly several times as I wanted to savor the read.  If you enjoy history I encourage you to check out the book.  You may not agree with all conclusions, but it is well worth your time to read through and you'll likely end up learning something new.

Rating: 5 out of 5
Summary: An examination of the global changes wrought by the mingling of the eastern and western hemispheres after 1492.
Technical: 535 pages, hardcover with dust jacket.  Includes black and white photographs, drawings, and map throughout the text.  Two appendices, end notes, works cited, and index included.

~Matt

Book Review: Eating Việt Nam by Graham Holliday

Eating Việt Nam
Dispatches from a Blue Plastic Table
by Graham Holliday

I picked up this book a couple of years ago while browsing a local dollar store.  I don't remember exactly what caught my eye, but I decided it would be worth reading after the first couple pages grabbed my interest.

The volume sat on my shelf for a while, but I started reading at some point and then put it down.  A few weeks ago I decided to continue on to the end.  I mention this not to insinuate that the book is boring, but this is how I read--I'm usually in the middle of a decent number of books at a time and only the very best get devoured quickly with no interruptions.  Other volumes are ones that I go back and forth between.

This book tells a very compelling story.  The author spent time in Vietnam in the employ of the British government and then as a journalist.  He also met his wife their and their son was born in the country, so it is very much a part of his life.  While in the country he decided to try many different foods and even ended up starting the very first street food blog.  Each chapter tells the story of a different dish, including the interesting ingredients in some of them as well as the unusual places where he encountered the food.

I really enjoyed the writing, but personally I don't think I would enjoy many of the foods he described.  While some do sound quite strange to the standard American palate others are just not quite my cup of tea, being defined by a large number of herbs and vegetables.  However, even if you don't think you'll find yourself eating the dishes I think you'll find the stories he tells interesting to experience.

The book starts out describing Graham's time in the northern city of Hanoi (or Hà Nội) and then moves to his time in the south in the city known as Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon (or Sài Gòn).  While Graham says he was never conversant in Vietnamese he peppers his book with as many local words and spellings as he can, so I'll admit I had to guess at many pronunciations.  Though I grew up with many Vietnamese classmates and friends I sadly didn't pick up very much of the language.

You'll also find a few pieces of artwork sprinkled throughout the book that were drawn by the author.

Note: there are several passages that include curse words, so take note if you want to utterly avoid those.  Also many different parts of animals not commonly eaten are described (eating various offal, a uterus, drinking blood, etc...) so if you have a weak stomach this may not be something you'll enjoy.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Summary: A travelogue/food exploration through many street vendors and back alleys of Vietnam in pursuit of new and unusual culinary dishes.

Technical: 337 pages, less than a dozen illustrations.  Hardcover with dust jacket.

~Matt

Turkey cooking

Today, as we do every Thanksgiving my family is cooking a turkey.  However, we don't cook the turkey in the oven or use a deep fryer.

We have a different way of cooking turkeys that my parents have been doing for decades now.  In fact I have my own turkey cooker that they had made for me, though we haven't had a chance to use it yet as we always end up spending Thanksgiving at either my parent's house or the house of one of my siblings.

I think my parents originally learned this cooking method from my uncle (my Dad's late brother) who learned it in the Boy Scouts.  Whatever it came from I know it was many years ago.

First we start with the charcoal.  Place a good number of briquettes in a fireproof container and set them alight.

In the meantime the turkey is being prepared.  All of the items packaged inside are removed, heavy-gauge wire is strung through the turkey, and it is double-bagged.

My Dad reserves all of the guts and such packed inside the turkey because he likes making giblet gravy.  Not many in the family enjoy it as much as he does--most of the rest of us just like regular gravy.

Once the turkey is ready it is hung inside the frame.  The frame consists of four legs joined together at the top by an eyebolt from which the turkey wire is suspended so that the turkey hangs in the middle.  At the bottom of the legs are baskets made of chicken-wire.  Once the flames on the briquettes have died down then you're ready to go.  Divide the burning briquettes evenly between the four baskets.  Then fill up the rest of the basket with unlit briquettes.  As the briquettes burn they'll light the others on top of them.

Next starting near the top of the frame wrap it with aluminum foil.  It will take several long pieces to cover up the entire frame.

Make sure that your strips of aluminum foil are long enough so that you'll be able to crimp the two edges together.

Put the bottom piece of foil on last as you'll be removing it several times during the cooking process to add more charcoal briquettes.

At the end of the wrapping process after you add foil to the top you'll want to add some old towels for weight to make sure that the foil doesn't come off and let all of your cooking heat escape.

Here you can see the burning charcoal briquettes with the unburned ones that were added on top not yet burning.

When you're ready to add more charcoal open the bottom wrap of aluminum foil.

You can see that a number of the burning briquettes have crumbled to ash and there is room to load more fresh ones at the top that will catch fire and keep the cooking process going.

The inside of the frame is a hot oven cooking the turkey by this point.  It will continue until the meat is fully cooked and usually falling off the bone tender.

At the end of the cooking process the turkey looks amazing.

Five years ago I filmed the entire process and edited it together into one video, so if you prefer that style then watch it below.




I hope that you enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving however you decide to cook your turkey.

~Matt

Icelandic Dairy

First a disclaimer, I didn't get paid anything for writing this post--I just really enjoyed skyr and wanted to write about it.

I've been reading Jared Diamond's book Collapse for a while now.  With kids I don't get to read as much as I used to and thus books take me longer to get through.  It is a very interesting read.

I read Diamond's book Guns, Germs, and Steel a number of years ago and really enjoyed it.  Instead of dealing with the rise and spread of societies, Collapse concerns itself with the collapse of societies.  One of the groups covered in the book are the Viking societies of the Northern Atlantic.

It is fascinating to read how the Viking societies from Scandinavia adapted to the different islands they voyaged to and settled, including the Orkney Islands, Shetland Islands, Faeroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, and Vineland.  As I was reading I came across a mention of a unique product called skyr.

I grabbed my phone and opened up Wikipedia to discover exactly what skyr was.  Apparently it died out in Scandanavia, but has been made in Iceland for hundreds of years and may have been made in Greenland as well during the 450 years the Vikings colonized the island.

I've always enjoyed yogurt and a number of other dairy products so I figured it was worth checking out.  Once there I discovered that skyr was still being made today and was available commercially.  Apparently the American brand siggi's, made by Icelander Siggi Hilmarsson who immigrated to the United States.  According to siggi's website:

Skyr is the traditional yogurt of Iceland that has been made for over 1,000 years. It is a strained non-fat yogurt. It is made by incubating skim milk with live active cultures. Then the whey, the water naturally found in milk, is strained away to make for a much thicker, creamier and concentrated yogurt. It takes four times the milk to make one cup of siggi’s compared to regular yogurt.

The next time I went to our local Kroger store I decided to see if I could find any siggi's skyr.

 It wasn't hard to find at all and even had a prominent sign.

I picked up a single container just to see if I would like it.  I've always enjoyed fruit and dairy so I decided on raspberry.

Skyr is definitely thicker than typical American yogurt.  I could pick up a spoonful, turn the spoon upside down, and not have any fall off the spoon even when I held it like that for over half a minute.

There are a minimum of ingredients and sugar is rather low on the list if you're concerned about that.  The taste is definitely different than other yogurts, but I rather enjoyed it.

The labeling was also quite interesting.  In order to make it more easily recyclable each cup has a removable paper liner--but this also provides more space for text, so you can see a short history of the company on the inside of each liner.

As I said above I didn't get paid anything for this post, I just happened to really enjoy this product and wanted to write about it.

As I was researching this post I also happened to find a TED talk by Jared Diamond that covers the topic of his book Collapse, so if you're interested but don't want to read the book you can check out this video.

~Matt

PS And if you want to try your own siggi's I found a coupon on their website.

Museum of the Bible - Part VI - Manna

For lunch during our Museum of the Bible visit we headed back upstairs towards Manna, the museum's main restaurant.  Ticket holders aren't allowed re-admittance to the Museum, and you're not supposed to bring food inside, so we decided to splurge for food on-site.

We found a couple of different articles online about the restaurant before we visited that told us what to expect.

DC Eater - Look Inside the Israeli Street Food Restaurant at the Museum of the Bible
Washington Post - The Museum of the Bible opens Friday. Here’s what to expect at its restaurants.

 The restaurant looks fantastic and is open as you walk up, which does make it slightly confusing.   Eventually we figured out that you grab a menu, look it over, and then head up to the register to order.

The food is definitely not cheap, the prices are fairly similar to what you'll find at amusement parks, but it is much higher quality than park fare.

The typo was annoying--everywhere else but the menu the restaurant is referenced as Manna.

The tables are beautiful wood.

 You order food by the meal, but all of it is on view for you to see before you order.

I believe that you can even taste test something if you want a small sample before you order.

 Drinks are not your normal selection--cans, bottles, and boxes of water.

 There are no fountain drinks, so no option of a free glass of water (but we could have pulled out our water bottles).  The different drinks were quite tasty.  I mixed the cider with the pineapple-mango.

 Amy and my sister-in-law ordered the Taste of Israel platter which looked quite colorful.  Amy said it was delicious and she polished off everything.

I got the one boring item on the menu, The Basket, which consisted of tasty breaded chicken and spiral fries.  A variety of sauces were available--so I stocked up on ketchup for my meal.

Seeing as how the museum is technically free (just a suggested donation) the high prices at the restaurant weren't too terrible.  I certainly wouldn't bring young children here as there wasn't a great kids menu (though you could get them just a side of mac and cheese or fries), but it was a good place to eat.  Oh, and if you're curious, the registers accepted contactless payments, so I was happy to be able to use ApplePay to pay for our food.

After lunch we headed down to the second floor to walk through The Impact of the Bible, so that is what tomorrow's post will cover.

~Matt