I have lived in Tacoma for a total of six whole weeks and in that time I have explored every market in the entire area, enthusiastically and with vigor. I can say with assurance that Proctor Farmers’ Market is the best in Tacoma, if not the world!
Just kidding. All of Tacoma’s markets are wonderful.
However, with the announcement that the Proctor Market is going to be holding a winter market once a month after it ends the regular season the week before Thanksgiving, it is truest fact that the Proctor Market is now the only year-round market in town!
With that in mind, I set about visiting some vendors who have goods that will be available even in the harsh, rainy (or so I have heard!) winter. I stopped at Feisty Gals’ Coffee, where Francine and Mel were celebrating their second week at the market with some delicious hazelnut coffee. A far cry from the unnatural and indiscernible ingredients in the ubiquitous break-room staple claiming the same flavor inspiration—hazelnut Coffee Mate—the gals’ beans are roasted alongside whole hazelnuts, clearly visible in each packed-with-love clear plastic baggie of local coffee goodness.
Erica’s pasta will be available December through March. She makes each batch using an authentic pasta-making machine from Italy! I picked up some cumin-and-garlic flavored fettuccine, with the promise that all that would need to be added to this flavorful pasta was some olive oil, and perhaps some grated Parmesan and a vegetable.
Next door at Little Eorthe Farm, I found some red spinach to steam with my pasta. And two other vegetables I had never dreamed of before: purple kohlrabi, which I was told tastes much like jicama, and “yellow dragon tongue” beans, which feature purple splotches that disappear upon cooking! Magic!
Over the next week, I created a pasta meal using the (delicious!) cumin-and-garlic-flavored fettucine, which I tossed with steamed red-leaf spinach from the market, olive oil, and freshly grated Parmesan. Yum! The pasta is good for at least a week in the fridge, and up to a month in the freezer. Awesome!
The kohlrabi I packed in my lunch. I have to admit I felt a little smug, munching my crispy, vitamin-rich snack. The yellow dragon tongues mixed beautifully with a stir-fry vegetable meal that included broccoli, onion, carrots, and brown rice.
The Proctor Farmer Market is a great place for cooking inspiration, be it simply the inspiration one can garner from gazing upon the colorful and exotic (at least to me, an native of poor, dried out Arizona) or from the people who bring their own harvested-with-love goods to the market week after week. I encountered three generations of the Parker family and some buttercup squash. Though she admitted it wasn’t the healthiest of side dishes, Dorothy suggested I cook the half gourd filled with a mixture of butter, brown sugar, and bacon. Fantastic!
See you next week at the market! And as we approach winter, if you’re worried about cold, wet weather, take a fashion tip from the plethora of weather-proofed toddlers who can be found roaming the markets, clutching organic apples and splashing in puddles (and whose cuteness is rivaled only by the dozens of dogs who make the lucky trek to the market with their owners each weekend!).
*That’s French for “yum, yum!”
Photos and words by Lorraina Liss.
Filed under: Uncategorized
