muffin memories

I went to the market the other day, armed with a full wallet of my doughy dollars. I hit some of my usual vendors and scored asparagus, carrots and some greens. Getting some eggs, the vendor reached in for a few and then gave me tangerines in exchange. Sweet! I thought about some carne, but Ted was nowhere to be found. Then, thinking of creamy items I decided to try my hand at trading for some yogurt. I made my pitch and was offered a most fair bargain. As I was stuffing my ceramic cups into my bag, making a mental note that I should trade for more yogurt in the future I heard something most delightful: "Would you like to try a sample of some of the milk we use for the yogurt?"
Hell yes!
Uh, I mean, sure, I'd love to try some. (Geez, I hope they like the muffins.)

After getting home, I took a closer look at the jar. It had a nice ring of fat around the top. A touch yellow and chunky, it spoke of no homogenization and light pasteurization. It was past the kid's bedtime, so unless I'm making hot cocoa, it is not likely I'll be getting into it tonight. One more look at the cream and I tore the top off, getting splashed as the hunks of cream cannonballed into my glass. I enjoyed a mighty glug. Suddenly, I'm five again. Racing my elder sister to the front door to get to the milk first so that I can eat the creamy plug with a spoon. All by myself. (And yes, I did used to get milk deliveries to my front door as a kid. Not that I'm that old, just that 30+ years ago, I lived in rural Sonoma County.)

This, is that milk. Or rather, represents what today's could be. Grass fed, local, served from glass. Only problem, this was a sample. Now, in theory, it could be, like, in the realm of possibility that this could maybe, like someday be an item at the market.............until then, I'll be baking up batch after batch of muffins, bringing them to market every week, hoping and praying for the possibility to trade for some more of this milk.

trade?

I don't know what I'm gonna do at today's market. I guess I'll have to spend some paper bills since I'm all out of money.

Last week I had the time and foresight to bake up some money and run the muffin money experiment again. With gas prices though the roof, and the economy hurting nearly everyone's pocketbook, I wanted to see if I could get by using just dough. This time I stuffed the wallet with two kinds: fluffy all white, and blue cornmeal bliss. About every other week, for over a year and a half now, I've showed up with some muffins, but more like 6-10 of them that I give to a few folks, or maybe trade a bit here and there. Last week though, with stuffed wallet, I rolled up to the market on my bike as usual, then unloaded before I got mugged by someone looking to take my hard griddled cash. Because, by stuffed, I mean somewhere around 30.

Good thing I brought so much because I gave away at least 8-10 of them before I got any shopping done. I needed tofu and cheese or there would be mutiny at home. I wanted some nice heirlooms for the salad greens we started harvesting, and I wanted another squash variety besides the patty pans in my yard. The torpedo onions are just downright fun, and as far as I'm concerned one of the best deals. I learned this year, if you let them get all sprouty on the kitchen counter, just chuck 'em outside and bury them a bit. Next thing you know you have your own growing outside your window. It's like buying veggies that will never spoil.

Well, gotta keep it short and ride over to the ATM on the way to the market this week!

(Hmmmm, in case the funds are low, maybe I should take a minute to feed the sourdough, so I'm not totally broke at the end of the week.........)

muffin money

We've been a bit strapped for cash. With banking funds low, credit cards can be handy, but the ensuing debt is prohibitive of relying on this too much. I love shopping locally, but for the most part it's a cash only affair, so where do I go from here?

I've been doing alot of baking lately, and receiving very kind compliments and suggestions for opening a shop. I laugh it off, knowing that making this a reality would be a tremendous amount of work. But it has me wondering, could I at least be bartering my foodstuffs? So, in going to the farmers' market this morning, I had a new tactic. I was gonna experiment and try paying with muffin money.

With my money safely in my "wallet" I pedaled to downtown berkeley and was surprised to find this big street festival happening. I first thought that the market had moved over one block, then realized it was part of the big Earth Day events for the weekend. I walked past the vendors and info booths and made my way to the booth and dropped some of my gear. I said hello to some friends, then made my way over to begin my bargaining for the biggest ticket item for the day. Goal number one was to accomplish trading some english bucks for bacon strips.

With bacon procured, and a newfound confidence in the value of my currency, I thought about my sweet tooth. I'm a fiend for lemon quark and some delicious stuff can be found in these parts. Half a dozen muffins later I found myself wanting to go home and immediately start smearing this spreadable cheesecake all over the money left in savings.

I still had a few "bucks" left and needed some produce. Perhaps one of the farming crew might enjoy some freshies. Turns out and I found the right person to talk to, as it seems my breadware reputation preceeded me. The last few and change brought a large smile and a willingness to part with carrots and cauliflower. My muffin money bounty in the bag, and an empty wallet. Time to go. I turned toward the bay and took the long way home.

A very busy railway corridor and an interstate lie in the path, but not to fear, the pedestrian bridge is here! If you have ever sat in traffic on this stretch of highway, trying to wrap your head around the onramp sign that declared it to be both 580 Westbound and 80 Eastbound simultaneously, you may have also noticed the steel structure overhead, often displaying some homemade sign declaring "No more war," "Out of Iraq," or one of my favorites "Buck Fush." Well, today, with crowds abundant and tail lights ablaze, there were none to read for the motorists. Ahhh, road grafitti. How old is that? See, riding your bike does have its advantages sometimes. As if somehow I needed a reminder of my revolutionary actions.

Hell, this morning I accomplished going to the market using my own body power for locomotion, and came home with the bacon. And the quark, carrots and cauliflower. Apparently the muffins were a hit, and their use as an informal currency was a success. Call me a pacifist but I call that one hell of a revolution. Now, I don't know of another food market out there that facilitates my being able to trade in commodities, do you? Please tell me.

Water, milk, flour, corn and salt. See, if you know how to properly care for and combine these items, shape and griddle 'em too, you can trade, barter, beg or grant IOU's in exchange, and make it possible to go hit the local scene without money at all. Today I learned that I can still go to the farmers' market totally broke.

How 'bout that, buying local without money!

Is this the demographic that some critics of the "buying local" credo are thinking of when they call it "elitist?" Yeah, must be. After all, they think of nearly everyone when they state their opinions.

Everyone but me.



Got good stories of food swapping? Please do share. Comment, email me, whatever. Maybe it will inspire me to finally write down the cosmic bagel karma story.