Inspired much?

Inspiration, in the artistic sense, can come from anywhere, thing or place. It's usually waiting around the corner of the least likely place you thought you'd find it. I like to consider myself an artist, or at least I always tackle my "to-do" list with an artistic approach. Be it a large-scale painting for a window display to each meal I prepare from scratch. I believe that living the artistic life allows me to give a piece of myself each and every time I produce something. Call it what you will..it makes me happy!



This week for Tuesdays with Pookie, I found myself one Pookie short. She's on a whirl wind tour of the United States and I'm not really sure where she's at right now. I think she's somewhere in NYC. It's like that game...you know? Where's Pookie? Regardless. I needed to accomplish this week's entry and grabbed my gal pal, Shanni and ran off to the Ferry Building's Tuesday Farmers Market, http://www.ferrybuildingmarketplace.com/, to scoop up a week's worth of bounty. For the past several weeks stone fruits and peppers in every color and kelvin scale have dominated the booths. Peaches, plums and pluots are so sweet that all one need to do is slice and eat. Although, I tend to want to make pies, crumbles and betty's in all flavors when I pick up these super sweet stone fruits!



I was looking for inspiration for Tuesday night's dinner. I needed to let the produce speak to me. As I made my way from one booth to the next, I was mentally flashing through recipes and ideas of what I could do with this and that. All the while on an empty stomach. Never a good idea. NEVER! I found my inspiration not in the food, but in the weather. For those of you readers who also happen to be my facebook friend , www.facebook.com/andy.farriester , you'll know by now that living in San Francisco during the Summer months is sometimes irritating due to such inclement weather. The weatherman this morning actually pointed out that San Francisco's temps have not soared above 70 degrees since July 4th! Hello! IT'S AUGUST 11! Needless to say. I was in the mood for comfort food. I flipped through my mental rolodex quickly hoping to land on the perfect dish that would lend itself to the bounty of produce in front of me. Standing in front of brightly colored root vegetables, I came to the conclusion that I would make a pot pie! Inspiration came and I was on a mission to see it to fruition. I grabbed a bunch of fresh from the ground carrots, a bag of just picked french green beans, a sweet onion and a clove of garlic. All I needed now was the bird and the crust. Thankfully for us, we were at the Ferry Building and all of that could be found within.



For the bird, I stopped at Prather Ranch, http://www.prmeatco.com/, to pick up a whole bird. This purveyor of all things protein is stocked with some of the most organic, HMO-free and free range possibilities. The bird I picked up was unlike any bird you'd find in your neighborhood grocery store. Smaller than those plumped up birds you'll find on Safeway's shelves. Lucky for me, they also carried their own pie crust. A lard crust, none the less! Voila! I had everything I needed for my Tuesdays with Pookie dinner!



Not being one to not contribute, Shanni lent her fresh shelled English peas and a wonderful salad to accompany our hearty dinner. With her peas, I made a pea puree by simply boiling the peas with some low-sodium vegetable stock, pepper and a garlic clove. After five minutes, I removed from the stove, added the remaining stock and about a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. Using an immersion blender I blended this mixture into a smooth and bright green mixture that tasted of nothing more than sweet peas. I placed this chilled puree into small liqueur glasses and topped with finely chopped pancetta from another fine house of meat located in the Ferry Building, Boccalone, http://www.boccalone.com/ , This is Chris Consentino's haven to tasty salted pig parts. Yes, the same Chris who runs Incanto in San Francisco. That fine eating institution to all things offal. I finished off this amuse with a few springs of mint and must say that it evoked everything great about each parts. The sweetness of the peas and the velvety texture playing nicely off of the salt and crunch of the pancetta. I easily could have downed a jug. Hell! I'd even give up beer if I had this in it's place. All in all this was one tasty dinner!



Whatever inspires you, find it. Find yourself inspired daily to create and to make beautiful things. Paint, cook or even cleaning. All of these things done with intent make me feel accomplished and alive. I hope that you, too, can find the beauty in everything around you. Sometimes you may have to search for the inspiration, but other times inspiration may just find you.



There will be no Pookie's Loo Reviews this week. We'll have more when we're able to resume our regularly scheduled TwP. In the meantime, eat well, laugh till it hurts and love endlessly.