Summer weather of the unbearable sort finally arrived last weekend to the Twin Cities and left me craving light, fresh flavors. Hence, fish tacos! Here’s the recipe if you are so inclined.

Fish:

• Filet of a fish of your choice; our’s was cod
• Flour
• A few eggs
• 1 cup cornmeal
• A handful of parsley, minced
• Green onion, minced
• 2 T paprika
• 1 t cayenne
• Salt and black pepper
• Oil for frying

Cut the fish into pieces of approximately equal size. What size? That depends on your preference and your fish. I managed to get pretty even 4″x1″x½” pieces. Prepare a breading station: fill one wide, shallow vessel with flour and season with salt and pepper. Prepare another with beaten egg. In a third, place the combination of cornmeal, a 1/2 cup of flour, the parsley, the green onion, the paprika, the cayenne, and a little pepper.

Now you are ready to bread the fish. Observe a strict “wet hand, dry hand” regime: designate which hand is wet hand and which hand is dry hand and don’t deviate from them for a second so help you God. Take your wet hand and pick up a piece or two of fish and drop it in the seasoned flour. Use your dry hand to splash a little flour over the exposed pieces of fish flesh so as to avoid any “wet” contamination. Toss the fish around to make sure it is well-coated in flour, shake off the excess, and deposit it in the egg wash using your dry hand, avoiding getting any egg on said hand. Use your wet hand to coat the fish in egg, and after shaking off the excess drop it in the cornmeal mixture. Use your dry hand to move the fish around (being careful not to get it wet!) in the cornmeal and then put it on a tray. Repeat until all the fish is breaded.

Heat enough oil that the fish pieces can float freely in a high-sided frying pan or dutch oven to 350°F. Add a few pieces of fish at a time to the oil. The fish pieces will float when they are done, although it might be a good idea to allow a little extra time for browning. Remove the fish from the oil with tongs or a slotted spoon on to paper towels and proceed with frying the rest of the fish.

Sour Cream Sauce:

The idea here was kind of to make a Mexican-style tartar sauce but I pretty quickly started just throwing the things I had from the farmers’ market into some sour cream.

• Kernels from one ear of corn, uncooked
• Roma tomato, diced
• Jalapeño, minced
• 1 clove of garlic, minced or pressed through a garlic press
• 1/3 c sour cream
• Milk
• Salt

Mix together the first five ingredients, then use milk to thin the sauce to the consistency you like. For whatever reason, I like thin sour cream (perhaps it mixes better with the other taco ingredients instead of sitting aloof in a pile on top). Add salt until you can taste everything.

This is a perfect place to use any pickled cabbage you have sitting around.

Serve with warm corn tortillas.

Sometimes Most of the time I have a hard time describing what we, or maybe better said what I, do here at marthaandtom.com. Tom does a lot of food (beer, and wine, and all of food’s other friends), and sometimes I share in that, but I also like to include a variety of other things. I liked what I saw this morning on Jeana Sohn’s blog. Simple, but not at all limiting:

i’m an artist living in los angeles, CA. i like taking pictures of my daily life and writing about beautiful things.

I just got a new bike. I am enjoying riding all over Minneapolis. I’m enjoying it so much I even folded up the bike to take it home to Michigan for a ride or two. Related to that enthusiasm, I’ve thinking about purchasing one of the many bicycle related prints of Adam Turman, a Minneapolis illustrator, designer, and screenprinter.

When we first arrived in Minneapolis in February of 2008, one of our welcome presents from Marcela was a postcard of this print, of which Julia owns a screen printed poster. Like this one, much of his work highlights Minneapolis the city. Evidenced above, this is clearly a man who loves bikes and Minneapolis. While not a native, I love Minneapolis. I love my bike and enjoy prints. It all makes sense…. now which one?

Adam uses PayPal on his site and sells his work at shows around Minneapolis. These prints (though the last is sold out) range from $10 to $30. We discovered on a recent trip to the Four Firkins that he makes an exclusive print for them, too.

See more of Adam’s work at AdamTurman.com or check out Adam’s blog. Images, Adam Turman

This past Thursday I headed to Fenn Valley Winery with parents to sample a few Michigan wines on my last day there. While waiting for the Tasting Room at Fenn Valley to open (11 a.m. Eastern, sharp), we stopped for a slice of pie at Crane’s restaurant. They sell frozen pies at their counter and also offer table service in the dining room–word has it their bean soups are the perfect accompaniment to an autumn afternoon. I enjoyed half a mug of hot chocolate with apple crisp while my parents, Linda and Juan, had coffee and blueberry pie.

Crane’s main attraction is probably their U-Pick orchards of apples, peaches, and a lot of other fruits. I enjoyed wandering around the apple trees while Linda and Juan finished their coffees. It is important to know where one’s apple crisp comes from!

It’s safe to say we enjoyed the pie a bit more than the wine that followed. Just the same, hoping to support better years ahead I took home a bottle of Meritage, a wine Tom and I first had when we dined with his Aunt Ann and Uncle Don at Journeyman Café (again, formerly of Fennville). Meritage is Fenn Valley’s blend of their own Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot. Of all of the winery’s offerings, it is definitely the best.

Tastings at Fenn Valley are complimentary. Of their wines, each guest is invited to choose five. When tasting with friends, though, it’s easy to share glasses around so that everyone can experience the full spectrum of the Fenn Valley.

Tasting Room Hours
Open year round for Free tasting and retail sales.
Monday–Saturday 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Sunday 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

July and August
Monday–Saturday 11 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Sunday 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

September and October
Monday–Thursday 11 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Friday–Saturday 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Sunday 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Upon arriving at the Midtown Farmers’ Market this morning, I was confused: there were cars where the market should be and a market where the cars usually park! This weekend, they were having a big resource fair for Latina families living in the area, and needed the extra space for extra tents. I eventually got over my disorientation (nobody was in their usual spot!) and was able to buy my produce without too much difficulty.

The market continues to make the transition from midsummer to late summer. Sweet corn is everywhere, and new varieties of tomatoes at new stalls are appearing. Carrots, potatoes and onions are all getting bigger and more mature. There are still plenty of green and yellow beans and a variety of summer squashes. And lot of cucumbers. One farmer I spoke to said melons would normally start this time of year but because of the cold weather were still not ripe. To me, it still seems a little early.

For the first time this week, I decided to buy garlic at the market. I usually avoid it since it is significantly more expensive than at the store, but these bulbs looked too beautiful to pass up. I have always been a little skeptical of garlic at the farmers’ market–are they really growing it locally?–but with the number of people selling it short of some kind of massive conspiracy it is probably legit.

As I was buying corn and squash the farmer interrupted our transaction to take a phone call from a friend closer to downtown monitoring the impending storm. “Storm?” I thought, looking for the first time at the sky. It looked ugly, and it was starting to get dark. And to rain. As farmers and resource fair participants desperately poked at their canopies to try to keep the rapidly accumulating pools of water from collapsing the whole operation, Martha and I donned our rain jackets and headed for our bikes. And that’s when the rain really started. But, with warm weather and no lightning, it was actually kind of nice to ride through the rain, rather than waiting under some bridge. Besides, I had vegetables to attend to.