Scenes from Findlay Market

After walking the Queen City Underground Tour, I was going to head to Soho Sushi, but I decided to put that off until Carol could join me.  Instead, I headed to the Findlay Market nearby.

Findlay Market has been around since1852 and is the longest running public market in Ohio. Local farmers come and sell their produce, crafters sell their goods, and all kinds of other trinkets and goodies abound

Fresh produce of all varieties make this a vegetarian's heaven.

 

Or other offerings appeal to the carnivores

Trotters?  No thanks.

You can grab a quite bite at several places there, like the World Food Bar

Taste of Belgium (Get a waffle, you must.)

Dojo Gelato - Dogfish Pumpkin Ale Gelato, you can thank me later

Or something a little sweeter

When I lived in University Heights, I used to shop at Findlay Market all the time, I could take the bus right down the hill and get all my groceries for the week.  Carol and I are going to start shopping there more, we're planning weekly menus that will concentrate on fresh ingredients and minimal waste. What better place than Findlay Market?

Simple Pasta Sauce

Ok, first off this isn't going to be one of those fancy cooking blogs where more time is spend composing and setting up pictures than is actually spent making the food. Unless someone wants to gift me with a Canon EOS 7D.  Then we'll talk f-stops and apertures.  Or go see my friend Leigh for a gifted camera-slinger. 

This is a simple pasta sauce, suitable for vegetarians, vegans, or anyone who likes pasta.  Seriously, as long as you have some basic knife skills and can work a can opener, you're good to go.

First step - gather the ingredients.  You will need:

1 - 28oz can whole tomatoes.  I like Muir Glen Fire Roasted
1 - 6 oz can tomato paste.  Again Muir Glen
3 cloves of chopped garlic - more or less to taste.  I used two since Carol doesn't like a whole lot of garlicky goodness
1 small onion, chopped
1 tbs. chopped fresh oregano or 1 tsp dried.
3 tbs. chopped fresh basil
Olive oil
Sugar (vegan sugar is available or use Stevia)
Salt

Got all that?  Good.  Now, heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a good-sized saucepan over medium heat and add the onion, garlic and salt to taste.  Saute until the onions are getting a little soft, but be careful to not burn the garlic or else you'll have to start over, because that will taste nasty.  Trust me.

Open the can of tomatoes and start grabbing them out.  You can use your (hopefully recently washed) hands since you're going to crush those suckers into the saucepan anyway.  Or you can be a wimp and fish them out with tongs.  Either way, hold it in your hand over the saucepan and squeeeeeeeeeze them all into the pan.   The idea is to make little pieces from big chunks.  Do this with all of them, then dump the juice from the can into the pan, Stan.

Starting to look like a sauce now, right?  A bit runny, but it's getting there.  Now, add in the oregano, maybe 2 tsp of sugar to knock back the acid a bit, and the tomato paste.  Stir that up good until the paste is all incorporated and the sauce is nice and thick.  Make sure it's all heated through and toss in the basil. 

You're done.  This stuff will taste better than anything you can get out of a jar, and you can tweak it how you want.  Throw in some roasted red peppers, more garlic, olives, mushrooms, whatever strikes your taste buds.  I tossed in a 1/2 bag of Morningstar Farms Grillers Crumbles that we had in the freezer and served it over whole-wheat penne.

Yum.

Myra's

This past Friday, Carol and I went to dinner with our friends Shawn and Katy, of Foodluv.net fame and more.  Our destination:  Myra’s Dionysus.  It's been quite a few years since I've been to Myra's, and this would be Carol's first visit.  It was pretty much as I remembered, small, quaint, cozy, and filled with incredible smells and a display case of goodies right inside the door.

After negotiating the parking lot tundra and the Sidewalk of Doom, we were lucky to score a table right away, right - if you've never been to Myra's, the seating is at a premium.  But the food is well worth it.  Seriously - vegetarians/vegans and carnivores alike will find something there.

The menu is full of choices to suit anyone's palate, and the four of us all found, after some hemming and hawing, tasty comestibles on which to sup.  Carol went with the baked tofu with kecap manis and lime over sesame noodles with vegetables.  I couldn't decide on any one thing and went with a sampler plate of pulao - Indian spices with coconut and raisins in brown rice served with a hot parsley chutney, the same baked tofu as Carol, and warm sesame noodles in a spicy peanut sauce.  Oh yeah.. it was tasty. 

Shawn went with Hoppin' Juan - Brown rice and black beans with a picante tomato salsa and onions - it usually has cheese, but since he and Katy are vegan, he opted not to get it.  Katy chose one of the dishes I had been considering, Claudia's Creation - Chinese black bean sauce with sherry & garlic, garnished with mandarin oranges & broccoli and served over brown rice.  She wasn't overly pleased with that, so I'm glad I didn't order it.  Shawn was happy with his however.

Myra's is a great stop if you're looking for an inexpensive vegetarian meal, just be aware that the service can be a bit slow sometimes, but everyone who works there very friendly. They feature artwork from local artists which changes on a semi-regular basis, and they have a free(!) parking lot, which is a rarity in that neighborhood.  We will definitely be repeat customers, especially in the warmer months when the patio is open.