FRESH ARTICHOKES: PRETTY AND PRETTY DELICIOUS 

The last time I had fresh artichokes was the first time I visited Joyce in San Jose three years ago. Having the ones pickled in bottles at home is nice, but of course that is just the heart of the artichoke and one doesn't get to enjoy all of the globe.
    I thought these facts about the artichoke from whatscookingamerica are quite interesting. I didn't know that artichokes are the oldest foods known to humans, and that Marilyn Monroe was the first official California Artichoke Queen in 1949.
    I wouldn't know where to begin preparing an artichoke and documented the process when Joyce was doing it. It wasn't as intimidating as I had thought. 

Preparing and eating an artichoke

Top row: Trim the stalk; cut off a little of the top to expose the leaves; rub lemon juice on the cut side to prevent browning.
Second row: Trim the tip of the leaves; the trimmed leaves; cut the artichoke in half lengthwise.
Third row: The pretty cross-section; remove the choke (the "beard"); the prepared artichoke halves are ready to tbe cooked.
Bottom row: Arrange the halves in a steamer and cook for 10-20 minutes depending on size; to serve pour a little melted butter in the centre, pull off a leaf/petal and dip the bottom (the inside soft surface) in the butter; place leaf against bottom teeth, butter side down, and pull against teeth to remove the pulp.
Not shown: I was too busy eating the the heart of the artichoke after all the leaves are enjoyed to take a picture.
    Grilled artichokes are also delicious. They're steamed for about five minutes less and then put on the barbecue to get those pretty grill marks and smoky taste. But getting the outdoor grill going was too much work for just the small family (plus sister/sister-in-law/aunt!). We did have dinner outdoors that night because it was a little warmer than usual, but while everyone else was in shorts, I was in my jeans and had to put on a light jacket. What a wuss!

A MORNING AT A FARMERS' MARKET

After three days in San Jose, I finally slept through the night and did not wake up at 2am as I have been since arriving in America. Insufficient sleep wasn't going to get in the way of my having a good time, but I could enjoy the Californian sights more if I didn't keep falling asleep in the car.
    On Sunday, we all piled into the family minivan and headed off to the Campbell Farmers' Market about 15 minutes from home. The market isn't very large, spreading over just three blocks and it sells fresh and cooked food. There are also a few stalls selling hand-crafted items like earrings and soap.
   I'll be writing about the farmers' market for the newspaper when I go back to work (boo hoo), so I have to keep some pictures for that.

Fresh from the market

    We got a lot of wonderful fresh produce: strawberries, potatoes, nectarines and a hybrid plum-apricot called pluots, artichokes, crimini mushrooms and a bunch of basil whose aroma lingered on my fingers now! There were a couple of girls selling Indian food, and we bought a couple of their samosas, but I have to say, they were not very good. The pastry was soggy and the filling rather meagre.
    I had to get a bag of kettle corn, of course. The one in the picture is the smallest bag for US$3. It's the size of my head but I still wanted to get the medium-size one. Joyce said it was too much, even though she knows how much I like popcorn.

Something you don't necessarily need but is always welcomed

    As we walked back to the minivan, we passed a restaurant with a sign on the window that beckoned. If only it wasn't 10 o'clock in the morning.

LAYERED FLAVOURS IN A SABICH  

The sabich is a sandwich with a bunch of goodies layered into pita bread. I knew I had to make it as soon as I read this recipe. I've used it as a guide and changed the form slightly. On the bottom of a sliced baguette, I spread a thick layer of chickpea purée, topped that with fried eggplant slices, fried potato slices, sliced hard-boiled egg and cucumber slices, seasoning in between with salt and pepper. On the other half, I spread hot mango chutney and topped that with fresh coriander leaves. Put the two halves together and there's my version of sabich – which has become my favourite vegetarian sandwich.
    The slices that hold the sandwich together are from an egg-white bread. I made it to use up the last bits of flour in the pantry. I am going away and don't want to come back after three weeks to containers of flour hosting The War of the Weevils.
    And so for the past week or so, I have been making various breads using various types of flour.
    First, I made bagels using a recipe given by Adam Kuban at Serious Eats.
    Then, I made a loaf based on the recipe for honey-lemon whole-wheat rolls from The Wednesday Chef.
    And finally, because I had egg whites left over from when I made Coconut Crème Brûleé, I made French bread with egg whites, a recipe from food.com.
    By coincidence, these three recipes have two things in common: 1) the dough is made in a food processor, which is something I hardly do as I prefer to mix with my trusty powered-by-one's-own-energy dough whisk; and 2) Bernard Clayton Jr.
    I actually only realised the common elements after making the third bread. And funnily enough, Veggie Chick had asked me a few days ago whether I owned any books by Clayton Jr, the journalist-turned-baker and cookbook writer who passed away this April at the age of 94. The universe must be telling me something.

Cranberry bagels

    I think the bagel recipe is excellent (and Adam Kuban provides metric measurements, which I prefer). I made some plain bagels topped with poppy seeds, and to some of the dough, I added chopped cranberries.The ends of a couple of the bagels weren't stuck together properly, however, and the circles came apart during poaching so I ended up with bagel sticks instead. They were still nice and chewy.

Honey-lemon whole-wheat spelt batons

    For the honey-lemon bread, I substituted some whole-wheat flour for spelt and made batons instead of rolls. This is a very tasty bread even if mine turned out a little dry. I added a bit too much flour at one point and couldn't go back to remedy the imbalance.

Egg white baguettes

    For the egg white bread, I also substituted some of the white flour with whole-wheat. As usual, I did all the kneading by hand, but used Dan Lepard's exceptional method of the 10-second knead at 10-minute intervals. I don't know if it had anything to do with the egg whites, but my hands felt so soft and smooth after every knead! Unlike the recipe, I allowed the dough to proof in the fridge overnight. The bread rose beautifully in the oven. It was light with a closed crumb and soft crust. Now, since it touts itself as French bread, I was expecting a baguette-like texture with a crisp golden crust and open crumb. It is obviously not like that but makes good sandwich bread nonetheless and is another way to use up egg whites.