I spent last weekend at West Side Market
- Michelle Wood: SWCD
- May 28, 2017
- 713
Here comes the three-day weekend we’ve had our sights on for months, and I hope your family is unscattering long enough to come sit around the fire pit and swat mosquitoes with all the relatives.
As far as family gatherings go, Memorial Day has the advantage of warm weather; it’s far easier to excuse yourself to go walking or swimming or something than in December when you’re pretty much stuck indoors with the cousins.
In advance of the holiday I spent last weekend in one of my favorite places in the United States: West Side Market in Cleveland. If you’ve never been there, it’s well worth the drive. Cleveland has the diverse population of a large city, and the market reflects the heritage of the people who buy and sell there with a lot of Italian, Slavic, Middle Eastern and Asian stalls.
The place has been open for more than 100 years in the same fantastic building. If you want to find pork chops with the long bone intact; big, whole fish; weird cheeses; or a saddle of lamb — unusual things you would likely only get via a special order and plenty of lead time in our area — you are surrounded by such things at West Side.
Vegetables, breads, pastries, weird ingredients, it all comes together to be an absolute Disneyland for foodies. It’s loud, crowded and you get lost as soon as you walk in, also Disney-esque. When you go, take the ice chest, grab some cannoli.
I doubt I spent more than $30 on a trunkload of goodies and ended up with some big beef knuckles and marrow bones for a stock, which will become my second foray into trying the Vietnamese pho I’ve been talking about. I did a chicken version recently and was sufficiently encouraged by the result to keep going.
The beef version takes a couple of days and a lot of simmering, straining and skimming, and that is probably how I’ll spend the first part of the long weekend.
If this all sounds scattered in several directions, it reflects life these days. For various reasons the last few years have been a pretty difficult climb for me, and I’m just finding my sea legs after the long season of storms. And food along with other much more dormant interests is truly exciting again.
After intentionally passing by the cookbook aisle at the bookstore, I find myself making a beeline for it. From my last bookstore visit, there are at least a dozen selections on my wish list, representing everything from traditional Jewish cookery to a thick tome on Indian cuisine. I really can’t wait to find it all, try it all, taste it all and share it with you along the way.
In truth I need more cookbooks like I need more cheap mixing bowls (my weakness), but is there such a thing as too many books about anything?
Getting back to markets, June will see the beginning of the summer run of the Tuscarawas Valley Farmers' Market (and plenty of other smaller ones in the area), a place right here at home to find good things to inspire you in the kitchen.
Be guided by what makes your eyes brighten and your mouth water, and you won’t go wrong in bringing it home to cook something fantastic. The closer to the source you can buy something, the better it is likely to be.
Welcome summer and a new season of interesting dishes.