Bloomington

I didn't realize how much I missed having access to a kitchen until I spent a week away from one. I was in Bloomington Indiana last week for a conference, which was amazing, but I found it hard to spend so much time at an amazing farmers market and not be able to come home and cook anything!

Sour cherries, strawberries, green tomatoes, shell peas, this was just one over over 40 stalls.

Chilies!

Even bonsai plants!

Cheese - mostly goat, some very very good.

Lots and lots and lots of plants for sale. These were wrapped in newspaper.

There were several groups singing, dancing and playing instruments.

I dined on one of the best tamales I have ever had. (no photo, sorry I was busing eating)

I fell in love with Soma cafe, a small coffee shop with amazing espresso and fantastic decor. They carried gluten free muffins - the orange poppy seed blew me away. As great as that was, the Thai food at Esan Thai really stole the show. Pressed bellow the glass on the table was a warning about ordering. It informed all diners if you order a dish, you will pay for it. There are no substitutions and many of the flavors are strong, and it warned against ordering new dishes or ordering hot items, and listed 6-8 menu items that we (the diners) should probably not order. I was grateful to be eating with a group of people who shared the same enthusiasm for ordering as many items off the "you shouldn't order these" list as possible. The Som Tum (cold, green papaya salad) was really good. The yellow curry was solid, tasty and not too hot. The Moo Num Tok was almost my favorite, it was thinly sliced pork, chilies, mint, cilantro, shallots, fish sauce and toasted rice. It was hot, sour salt and crunchy and perfect with the sticky rice. But then came the Pan Nang curry. The tofu arrived enrobed in a coconut milk curry filled with roasted cumin, but the smell of freshly sliced kefir lime leaves sprinkled across the top really set the dish apart. It was spicy, floral, slightly sweet and complicated. I wanted to have a second stomach just to eat more. We went back there two days latter and I ate the best Larb of my life. Who knew some of the best northern Thai cooking was in Indiana?

I came home and made a cobbler - the I have ever made. I didn't measure a damn thing and it turned out wonderfully.
It also made a mess, but I love the colors.