Though I lived in Emmaus for almost four years, I never bothered to check out the Allentown Farmer’s Market. For one thing, Emmaus has a killer farmer’s market itself. The other reason being someone once told me the Allentown Farmer’s Market is just a bunch of grocery store produce shipped in from Giant and Weiss. Nothing is locally grown, in other words. I finally paid this questionable market a visit last weekend, and I must say I was pleasantly surprised!
Whether or not all of the produce is locally grown I’m not sure, but the market itself was a lot more diverse than I expected. Imported gourmet and specialty foods, Amish pies and pastries (baked, apparently on premise), spices, flowers, Mediterranean food, and the reason I was there: organic, exotic vegan food!
I was helping out my friend Wendy in her stand for the day. Not to be biased, but the smells wafting out of her stand put all the other vendors to shame.
She had some side dishes ready to go, including Teriyaki Tofu, Masala Potatoes, Coconut Cashew Rice, Indian Samosas, Curried Cabbage, and Garlic & Sage Carrots with Balsamic Vinegar. As usual, Wendy was also selling Vegan Treats, from the shop in Bethlehem.
Yeah, if you’ve never tried a Vegan Treats Pumpkin Whoopie pie, you need to go ahead and do that. Their Peanut Butter Brownies are pretty amazing too.
The Cowboy Cookie. EVERYONE LOVES THIS COOKIE. I never knew what all the hoopla was about until I tried one.
Entrees are also made to order. Above, the “Taste of India” platter: karachi dahl, crisp indian crackers, samosa and organic brown basmati rice served over organic greens, finished with red curry dressing, mango chutney and coconut flakes. Wendy was also offering up Chipotle Chili, West African Peanut soup and my all-time-favorite, the Bombay Burrito. The priciest item on her menu ($14.95) but so worth it. Plus, I was eating mine for like three days afterwards, it’s simply huge!
One of our hottie patrons enjoying some vegan chili.
And many other happenings at the market:
In closing, the goofy rickshaw slightly weird clown ferris wheel.
video art!
What’s lacking in this post will be any details whatsoever on the galleries or artists. I have all of the press releases upstairs somewhere, but seriously this trip was like 3 months ago so they’re not particularly handy right now. These exhibitions are all over by now anyway. Next time I’ll be more on top of things.
Oh, just a random collage glued onto the wall of a building, picturing a T-Rex moments from devouring a little girl who happens to be dreaming of cats. Who even knows what’s under that black smudge.
We also stopped by the 
Perhaps the most fulfilling part of the day, we stopped by the famous Tom’s Restaurant, or better known as 
yum.
Cabbage, shallots, shiitake mushrooms, grated carrots, garlic and lots of ginger, frying away in the saute pan. I added the garlic near the end of the cooking process, after the veggies had cooked down for 10-15 minutes, then I added the grated ginger all the way at the end, after I turned the heat off. I wanted the ginger to retain most of it’s flavor and kick, since not a whole lot of other spice went into this filling.
The sauteed veggies and a little bowl of dal. I won’t lie, dal is not the prettiest food in the world, so I’ll spare you the close up. I mean I think it looks delicious, but I think all brown goopey Indian food looks delicious.
Some of the pictures were taken on an iphone, with the 
I didn’t time anything, or follow any precise steps. I just tossed the dumplings into a pan with a little oil, let them cook for a couple minutes on medium high heat until the bottoms began to turn brown, then I dumped a glassful of water into the pan, covered it and let them steam until they felt right. This haphazard method worked beautifully.
I guess these are technically pot-stickers, but I like the word dumpling so much better. It’s an adorable word.
Old fashioned polaroid dumplings.
Veggie/shrimp dumplings on the left, dal dumplings on the right. Deliciousness all over the place. And please, use a high quality Tamari, not some crappy American soy sauce.
Though honestly I was so bummed that they didn’t have any pumpkin whoopie pies that day; that was the true reason behind my visit. If you’ve never experienced the glory that is the Vegan Treats Pumpkin Whoopie Pie, well then you just don’t know what you’re missing.
I wanted big fat huge high-rise muffins, so I filled the tins up dangerously full. I just figured on a few extra minutes of baking time.
WELL THEY WEREN’T. These were horrible. What you can’t see in the above picture is the completely raw bottom half of the muffins. The top developed a nice little crust to it (though borderline overdone) while the bottom developed into an unpleasant pumpkin flan. There was just no getting these things cooked all the way through. I’m not sure if it was the obscene amount of pumpkin puree I used, or the brown rice flour or what, but I do know these muffins were NOT good eats. Normally I have plenty of obstacles to overcome when baking since I don’t use eggs, milk, butter, or any dairy product for that matter, but this was just ridiculous. It’s pretty ironic that every time I make delicious muffins I think to myself “Oh shoot, I should post this recipe, it’s delicious” and the one time I actually remember to whip out the camera is the one time I have an epic muffin failure.
This Curried Split Pea soup is spicy, flavorful and extremely hearty. Now when I hear the words “spilt pea soup” I don’t exactly pair them with adjectives like “delicious,” “exciting,” or “bursting with flavor.” However, I can assure you the following split pea soup recipe is indeed delicious, exciting, and positively bursting with flavor. I made this for a boyfriend for our anniversary (we decided to cook for each other instead of buying each other stuff). So I took a risky shot in the dark and attempted to make a pear and cheese ravioli from scratch, reminiscent of something we ate in Italy over the summer. The dessert was a no brainer – crazy ice cream. I scoured the internet for some recipes and decided on corn ice cream, and Parmigiano Regianno ice cream with a balsamic strawberry glaze. Those were a hit. The ravioli was quite good though my method could have used a little work; it was my first time rolling pasta so I had no clue what I was doing. But the split pea soup was the highlight of the evening! Who would have known. Now as with most recipes, here I tripled (sometimes quadrupled) the amount of spices called for. I just wasn’t going to get the kind of flavor I was looking for using 1/4 teaspoon of cardamon powder, so I threw in several teaspoons (ok that’s a lot more than quadrupled… svettupled perhaps?). Red pepper flakes and a good amount of salt (at the end of the cooking process, mind you) gave this soup an extra kick. The grated carrot garnish added a wonderful little burst of freshness. The cilantro was nonexistent since there’s nothing that grosses me out more than raw cilantro. I followed 
Doesn’t this look like a good time?! It was fun, the food was awesome (in our stand anyway, I didn’t try anyone else’s food) and the biodegradable utensils were made out of corn. Which I thought was pretty cool.
James Cohan Gallery
Jaume Plensa’s “In the Midst of Dreams” at Galerie Lelong
Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery
this isn’t art, it’s a cool iphone application that makes pictures look like polaroids. But I guess some would call this graffiti art. I’d call it an interesting backdrop.
We stopped in Chelsea Market on our way to dinner
and I attempted to spoil my appetite with a caramel 
After a loooong walk and one short cab ride, we finally made it to the restaurant. Meskerem is located at 124 MacDougal St in Greenwich Village; it’s a cute little hole in the wall (or I guess in this case, ground) tucked down below eye-level. It seats maybe 30 people, and if you’re going as a party of two, be prepared to get intimately aquatinted with the people sitting next to you, as the tables literally sit mere inches from each other.
We both ordered the Vegetarian Combo. The food was fantastic; I found the portions a bit small, but at the same time, our entrees came out to only about $14 each. The vegetables were cooked to a tender perfection (still with a bit of bite though), and the bean purees were spicy and comforting. The yellow split peas remain my favorite dish, with the sauteed cabbage coming in at a close second. It all tasted very traditional, but I have yet to see a freaking 
