I really wanted to just drink a bottle of wine for dinner tonight, but I reasoned past that...knowing far too well how painful the next morning would be...and made myself a delicious fig-centric meal. I chopped up some onions, tossed them into a saute pan with melting butter, then threw in a handful of sugar...and let them carmelize over medium heat for about ten minutes. Meanwhile, I sliced a few rounds of baguette and some fresh figs. When the onions were ready, I placed a pile of them on each slice of bread, topped each with a fig slice and sprinkled on some gorgonzola cheese. Then I baked 'em for about ten minutes. Mmmwah! I also made a salad to accompany: mixed greens, chevre, and toasted walnuts tossed with a fig vinaigrette and garnished with fresh sauteed figs (that had been sauteed in the juices of the onions). AND. Plenty of white merlot. It was dee-licious!

Saturday, September 16th
I woke up today earlier than I do on any normal day...and I'll be honest. I don't get out of bed for just anything anymore. I'm not sure what has happened to my sheets and comforter and pillows in the last few months, but they've acquired some sort of magnetism that makes it really hard to crawl from their grips in the morning. And that's pretty amazing considering it's a bed I bought off craigslist for $50, box spring and all...and sheets I got on mega-sale for like $10.

Anyhow. I headed east across the Bay Bridge to the Ferry Building Farmer's Market, where I was set to volunteer with the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture at 8:00 am for our Tomato Festival.

Since I've been working there for almost a year now, I pretty much know what needs to be done and when and how it needs to be done to set up...so I usually start off by writing the day's events on our four chalkboards that I then wheel around to different parts of the market (they're really heavy!). then I usually help set up chairs and the sound system...and then I start prepping the food. This time, along with three other volunteers, I helped to chop about 20 different varities of tomatoes, all sourced from farmers at the market. They ranged in color from deep purple to light green and had varietal names like Black Prince, Early Girl, Mortgage Lifter, Green Zebra, Ivory Pear, and Cherokee Purple.

We were chopping the tomatoes to get ready for the free tasting that we were sponsoring from 9-11am at the market. As an aside, I really recommend that whenever your local farmer's market has an organized tasting, that you go! It's an amazing opportunity to compare, side by side, different varieties grown by different farmers. It also really allows you to appreciate the diversity that's out there. So often, when we think of tomatoes, for instance, we think of the unnaturally-shiny, lipstick-red, hard torpedos called 'Roma' at our local grocery warehouses. That's hardly a fair representation of a tomato!

Along with the tasting, we were preparing for CUESA's first ever 'Iron Chef' competition. We invited two chefs, Rick Hackett from Market Bar and Kevin Koebel from Rogue Chefs, to compete, in front of a large audience in a Tomato Cooking Contest. Until about fifteen minutes before the competition started, the chefs had no idea what they'd have to cook with (in terms of spices and pantry items); they were allowed to bring a protein of their choice; and they knew that they would have lots of tomatoes to cook with...and that tomatoes were supposed to be the focus of their dishes.

I put all the spices into little dishes with labels and I thought this simple setup was so beautiful! Click on the pixx to see better images.

After a brief introduction, the competition was on. The chefs had 45 minutes to prepare their food. Rick had brought his own Sous Chef and Kevin worked with one of our volunteers. There was a lot of sauteeing, chopping, peeling, kneading, and grilling. Rick grabbed some figs; we were all wondering what he planned to do with those; Kevin grabbed some grapes and threw them into a saute pan with tomatoes and sugar. It was frenzied...and the audience was fully engaged, their eyes darting from chef to chef, gasping when the chefs threw something unexpected into a pot.

After 45 minutes, each chef had come up with THREE courses. I was amazed. It takes me that long to decide on one dish to make, let alone completing three! These men are definitely well-practiced.

Rick made some sort of grilled eggplant and tomato dish for an appetizer; a delicious trout-with-capers-and-tomatillos-and-tomatoes as a main course; and for dessert, a fresh fig salad.

Kevin..who won, by the way, made a sort of quiche topped with a tomato-cream sauce and garnished with greens for an appetizer;

a stuffed pork loin for the main course...

and for dessert, my *favorite* dish of the competition, a sweet tomato scone topped with a tomato-grape jam and garnished with a tomato peel brittle. Shazaaaaaaaaaaam! It was SO good.

The judges, of course, couldn't eat all of each plate that they were given, so the extras were shuttled back to the volunteers and I've never seen a group of people acting so much like vultures. But there we were, spearing food with forks and grabbing it with our hands; it was totally unsanitary, but completely satisfying.

I was sent home with leftovers from the competition, which I've since shared with friends: fresh parsley, cilantro, basil enough to make pesto for twenty, and rosemary; a jicama; tomatillos and brussels sprouts and onions; two huge melons (tee hee); and about 7# of tomatoes...ranging from large, deep violet heirlooms to small, nectarine-sized red and green-striped tomatoes.

Tonight on the list of things to do: make a spicy tomato chutney so that I can eat these delicious fruits for weeks!!