So we have had a thoroughly modern evening… Chels, Peter and I tried a new dinner mix (Hungarian Goulash), which took about an hour and half, prep through cooking. We chatted, had mocktails, looked up rescue dogs and periodically texted, played words with friends and checked the weather. Dined together and decided that we liked the goulash (a bit too spicy for Chels). Had cookies, swapped books and favorite authors. Life is good.

We were able to get a limited amount of softshells for tomorrow so call us early if you know you want some. Plenty of great grilling fish in anticipation of the fab weekend weather: 2+ yellowfin tuna, swordfish, red snapper and also we have a load of Wellfleet oysters coming in.

Fish arriving tomorrow:

• Alaskan Cod, flash frozen at sea
• Soft shell crabs
• Red snapper
• Swordfish
• 2+ yellowfin tuna
• Sustainable Shetland Salmon
• Dayboat Haddock
• Icelandic Arctic Char
• Wellfleet oysters, Martha’s Vineyard
• 16/20 Domestic Shrimp
• PEI Mussels
• 10/20 Dry Scallops

See you at the Store!

The Uncommon Market
“A store worth walking to.”

802.223.7051

www.uncommonmarket.net

Tomorrow night we will be sampling an amazing new Cuban marinade we brought in. Fabulous! Love at first bite!

The new breakfast items have been going well and you will continue to see them. It also means we are more likely to have blueberries and strawberries around and I, for one, am grateful. I had a moment of channeling my Mom (who was a great cook and liked to get up early) on Sunday. I woke up dashed to the store and came home and whipped up a German Apple cake, a Chocolate (critical for channeling my mom Indulgence Cake and a batch of blueberry lemon crumble, got em all done within an hour and hung out with family for the rest of the day nibbling on desserts!

We just got back from Middlebury this evening from seeing Peter’s Mom for a belated Mother’s day. Below is her recipe for blueberry lemon crumble, cut it into bars, serve it in bowls or cut it into wedges like I did. Really delicious, sort of a short bread, lemony, blueberry crumble thing. And oh yes, quite easy!

Fish below and the menus for the week. Soft shell crabs are not available for tomorrow because of the demand around Mothers Day. They should be here on Friday.

The fish tomorrow:

Dayboat Haddock
Icelandic Arctic Char
Swordsfish
Alaskan Cod. Frozen at sea
Shetland Salmon
Dayboat yellow tail sole
Rainbow trout, farm-raised in Idaho
10/20 Dry Scallops
16/20 Shrimp
Wellfleet Oysters, Wellfleet, MA
PEI Mussels

Day of the Week Lunch Special Soup Special Dinner Special
Monday Hot spice rubbed Salmon sandwich on a soft roll. Clam Chowder Turkey Enchiladas
Tuesday Hot shaved Steak and cheese sandwich Greek Lemon Chicken Soup Shrimp Scampi
Wednesday Grilled Ahi tuna steak sandwich Lobster Bisque Salmon Cakes with Caper mayo
Thursday Bahn Mi, Vietnamese chicken sandwich Chicken and Sausage Gumbo Turkeyand vegetarian burritos
Friday Pulled pork sandwich, come early, it sells out! Fish Chowder Not sure yet, looking for a winner!

Blueberry Lemon Crumble
Fresh or frozen blueberries work equally as well. I liked the fresh. 12 Servings

Preheat oven to 400

Crush and beat together until smooth:
1 cup softened butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Then add 2 cups flour and mix together just until mixture forms small crumbs.

Press about 2/3 of crumb mixture into a greased 9×9 square baking dish (or a greased 9 inch pie pan). Set remaining mixture aside. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until lightly golden brown. Remove from oven and reduce heat to 350

While crust is cooking make the filling.
Mix in this order:

½ cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons flour
juice and zest from 1 lemon
1/8 tsp salt
3 eggs

Mix well until frothy and then stir in two cups of fresh or frozen blueberries

Pour this mixture over partially cooked crust. Sprinkle remainder of crumb mixture over the top. Bake at 350 for 30 to 40 minutes or until top is golden and puffy. Serve alone, with ice cream or crème fraiche.

See you at the Store!

The Uncommon Market
The Market Worth Walking To

802.223.7051

Weather is perfect I think…warm…not so warm…warm again. Yep, real spring. I’ve already raved about my staff but honestly we are just getting done doing it and I’m pretty tired. All the food we put out this week was really tasty, gorgeous and on time.

For the best shot of store energy see us early… Peter and I opened this morning with Jeremy and then Jen, followed by Liz and Steph … I think a reasonably good time was had by all, look for the same tomorrow, except Jonah will be there instead of Jeremy. Followed by the very class act of Burt and Chelsea for the evening entertainment, Devin in a heavy supporting roll and hey, it’s Jeremy again for second deli. Running this place is like conducting an ochestra.

Peter ordered a bunch of soft shells for tomorrow but as always call early if you, in particular, want them. I totally did the wine thing and I think I can make this work. Two wines a week, that I really think about and I can offer a deal on.

Fish arriving tomorrow:

• Alaskan Cod, flash frozen at sea
• Sustainable Shetland Salmon
• Dayboat Haddock
• Yellow Tail Dayboat Sole
• Icelandic Arctic Char
• Katama Bay oysters, Martha’s Vineyard
• 16/20 Domestic Shrimp
• PEI Mussels
• 10/20 Dry Scallops

See you at the Store!

The Uncommon Market
“A store worth walking to.”

802.223.7051

www.uncommonmarket.net

Spring! Sweet. The market has just been buzzing along, something about nice weather gets you all coming in much more often to visit. Thanks!

We’ve also been doing a tremendous amount (for us) of “catering.” I say “catering” in quotes because we don’t actually bring the food to you, no delivery, no set up. That however, saves you tons of money and if you are willing to pick up your food or work with the local delivery guy you have some great options available. In the past week we put out lunch for 17, (sandwiches, peanut noodles, pasta salad, dolmas, and cookies); breakfast and lunch for another crew (muffins and yogurt and fruit in the morning, burritos, our green bean salad, chips and soft drinks for lunch) and are scheduled to send out lunch tomorrow for 22 (chicken salad, tossed green salad, manghi’s rolls and soup, I think… not to worry, its written down at work). Thursday’s catering job is taking a bunch of the hot sandwich special for that day, go Bahn Mi!

We do parties of up to forty for complete meals, our hot dishes go out all the time (enchiladas anyone?) and can help you do much larger parties by contributing large amounts of single dishes. The biggest complete lunch we ever did was 150 at city hall. We did it, the food rocked… and we will never do it again, 150 is just too dang many. That being said we have been a lovely part of several weddings numbering in the hundreds, we supplied a smoked salmon plate one time, fish cakes another, spanikopita and antipasto platters yet another time.

We are booked for the next week totally and dates are filling up for the rest of May and June already.

A huge thank you to the market staff, which if you haven’t noticed, is absolutely top notch. I don’t know if I have ever experienced a staff that works so well together, is so incredibly fun to work with, over the top nice and amazingly efficient. Staffers, you guys are awesome. (and I promise to keep the staff coming if we ever do a week like this again .

On Wednesday, look for two new wine stacks by the produce cooler with the wine deal. I figure if I need I visual to keep reminding me about the wine you guys probably do too. So Wednesday, 1 red, 1 white, on sale until its empty (I picked them and I like them and there will be a real description) and then I’ll switch the deal.

Quick note about fish, when there is something seasonal like soft shells your best bet is to pre order, Monday by noon or Thursday by noon for next day delivery. We do try to bring in enough to cover basic sales but are never going to bring in the bulk of the region’s desire for soft shells on spec. If you order fish after noon on any day it may or may not be available next day. We do have a dozen soft shelled crabs coming in tomorrow which are not spoken for! Call in the am if you are interested, tonight’s crew won’t promise for tomorrow (and rightly so).

Fish below and the menus for the week

The fish tomorrow:

• Dayboat Haddock
• Soft shell crabs
• Icelandic Arctic Char
• Swordsfish
• Alaskan Cod. Frozen at sea
• Shetland Salmon
• Dayboat yellow tail sole
• Rainbow trout, farm-raised in Idaho
• 10/20 Dry Scallops
• 16/20 Shrimp
• Katama Bay Oysters, Martha’s Vineyard MA
• PEI Mussels

Day of the Week Lunch Special Soup Special Dinner Special
Monday Hot spice rubbed Salmon sandwich on a soft roll. Clam Chowder
Tuesday Hot shaved Steak and cheese sandwich Greek Lemon Chicken Soup Shrimp Scampi
Wednesday Grilled Ahi tuna steak sandwich Lobster Bisque Salmon Cakes with Caper mayo
Thursday Bahn Mi, Vietnamese chicken sandwich Chicken and Sausage Gumbo Turkey and vegetarian burritos
Friday Pulled pork sandwich, come early, it sells out! Fish Chowder Thai Seafood Curry

See you at the Store!

The Uncommon Market
The Market Worth Walking To

802.223.7051

www.uncommonmarket.net

.

It is going to get warmer, it is, it has to, right? Wednesday is going to bring a few quick dinner mixes from a food show.  Think all natural, really tasty, just add protein and have jambalaya, Indian food and two other dishes I loved but can’t remember. We will be sampling them on Wednesday, thursday and Friday.

I also have a very good white coming in on Wednesday, a Grenache blanc that is absolutely delightful. Retail around $19.00, description and location marked in the store.

Curry on Friday won’t be quite as hot next week, we definitely crept out of my comfort zone. Soft shells still coming in and the price went down a bit this week. Trying to suss out when they are peak quality in their season and at their lowest price point is like trying to forecast retail, tricky.  Good luck, anyway we carry them at our reasonable margin at whatever price them come in at.

Fish below and the menus for the week

 The fish tomorrow:

• Dayboat Haddock
• Soft Shell Crabs
• Icelandic Arctic Char
• Swordfish
• Alaskan Cod. Frozen at sea
• Shetland Salmon
• Dayboat yellow tail sole
• Albacore Tuna
• 10/20 Dry Scallops
• 16/20 Shrimp
• PEIMussels

See you at the Store!

The Uncommon Market

The Market Worth Walking To

802.223.7051

www.uncommonmarket.net

.

Great time at the Black River Produce food show.  They do produce really well but do a ton of other stuff, which you will see rolling in.  If you haven’t checked out the new Green Mountain Greek yogurt you should.  I love Greek yogurt and was always pretty happy with the Chiobani…let me tell you the Green Mountain Greek is way better. Beautiful clean taste, nice tartness, no fat, and rich – can’t beat it

Soft shelled crabs are just moving into the affordable range so we’ve ordered a limited quantity for tomorrow. Call early to reserve or to order for next week. We can order soft shells for Saturday but it’s a minimum order of a dozen.  There should be a steady supply for the next several weeks.

As store owners we try to stay away from the political, you know, everybody eats.  Food has its own politics, however, and that being said we try to be very thoughtful about what we do.  So… farmed fish.  When people started farming fish there wasn’t much, if any, over sight and folks weren’t particularly thoughtful about what they did.  Kind of like Disco, I mean truly, yuck.  Peter and I didn’t buy farmed salmon to eat, it was gross.  This is no longer true of all farmed fish.  We have been super picky and we do a ton of research before we decide to sell a farmed fish. It needs to be sustainable, not detrimental to the environment or native populations, no antibiotics, no artificial colorants and beautifully fresh when it arrives.  So, as you might imagine, we don’t do a ton of farmed fish but the fish we do sell that is farmed we truly believe in.  Farmed fish is a really important piece of a sensible world food supply. So give it a shot and ask us anything, if we don’t know we’ll tell you and find out. ‘Kay off politics.

Fish arriving tomorrow:

• Alaskan Cod, flash frozen at sea
• Sustainable Shetland Salmon
• Soft Shell Crabs, ltd.
• Albacore Tuna
• Dayboat Haddock
• West CoastDoverSole
• Red Snapper
• Icelandic Arctic Char
• KatamaBayoysters,Martha’s Vineyard
• 16/20 Domestic Shrimp
• PEIMussels
• 10/20 Dry Scallops

See you at the Store!

The Uncommon Market

“A store worth walking to.”

802.223.7051

www.uncommonmarket.net

So as long as the rain takes it easy and comes down over time instead of flash floods, I’m all about it.  Put down that dust, soften up my garden and fill those water reserves and oh,  I might need an extra day to sleep in…something about the gray, warm rain of spring that makes me sleep like a baby.

If you dig our sirloin chili or if you haven’t tried it, there will be some in the case tomorrow. Texasstyle, all meat, no beans (or frankly many vegetables at all), spicy but not too hot.  We make it with our filet mignon, ribeye,New Yorkstrip, pork tenderloin and bacon. McGillicuddy’s invited us to a chili contest the first year we were open. A bunch of local restaurants participated and we won, hands down.  Give it a try.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, below is a recipe for a great Portobello sandwich recipe that Peter and I have enjoyed for years. I’m thinking about trying to work it into the hot lunch rotation but until then the recipe is below and it makes a great quick evening meal.

Peter and I had a great time at the food show and I wish I could tell you about all the new things we have coming in. I don’t know yet when they’ll arrive so mum’s the word until I have them. At least twenty five new items and all personally taste tested, I will keep you in the loop.  Peter, Chelsea, Burt and I are headed off to another food show tomorrow where we hope to find another round of fun new food, emphasis on local, for you all to share.

Fish below and the menus for the week

 The fish tomorrow:

• Dayboat Haddock
• Icelandic Arctic Char
• Albacore Tuna
• Swordsfish
• Alaskan Cod. Frozen at sea
• Shetland Salmon
• Dayboat yellow tail sole
• Rainbow trout, farm-raised inIdaho
• 10/20 Dry Scallops
• 16/20 Shrimp
• Wellfleet Oysters MA
• PEIMussels

For two great Portobello sandwiches

You will need:

2 portobello mushroom caps, de-stemmed and brushed off

1 medium red onion, sliced into ¼ inch rounds

½ cup balsamic vinegar

½ cup tamari

2 good quality rolls

2 oz goat cheese, I used VT Butter and Cheese herbed chevré

2-4 table garlic mayo, (crush one clove into mayonnaise)

Greens of your choice; I’ve used romaine, sunflower sprouts, mesclun greens… I kind of like the romaine here.

Put onion and mushroom caps in a zip lock bag and add balsamic and tamari, gently toss till coated, leave on the counter and flip every now and then for at least fifteen minutes or up to three days J. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and dump contents of bag into baking dish. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, flipping caps once and poking the onions around. While mushrooms and onions are cooking toast sliced rolls. When rolls are toasted spread bottom half with room temp goat cheese, top half with garlic mayo. Remove mushrooms and onions from oven and using slotted spoon, drain then put mushrooms down, then onions, then greens of your choice. Cap with the top of the roll and you are there.  Save the cooking juice from the mushrooms and onions, cool and store.  You could use for salad dressing, stir fry, chicken basting, you name it.

See you at the Store!

The Uncommon Market

The Store Worth Walking To

802.223.7051

www.uncommonmarket.net

Now Spring is honestly in the air, how nice. You know… when it looks fabulous out and if you get the right moment, in the sun and out of the wind, it feels good too, but probably not for long.

So spring has me thinking about new white wines, which make me think about all the new wines we have, which make me think I need to clue you in. Look for a wine epistle in the next week or so.

If you are not familiar with Michael Pollan’s book Food Rules, check it out. Right on the money and fun to boot. I’m not on his level but I have slowly been evolving my own food rules. Unlike Michael I am not solely focused on what is good for you and my rules tend to gravitate towards what tastes good. I’ll continue to share them with you as they occur to me, starting with the basics:

1. No cheese on Chinese food. Seriously I did this one night and it totally sucked, I think I got a little lost in the cooking.
2. No cheese on chicken salad. Okay I know half of you love this (and you can still have it) but it is somehow wrong to me.
3. Jam and ham sandwich, I can’t personally get behind this but I can see how it works.
4. Peanut butter and bacon sandwich… very good. I think if you were on a deserted Island with Michael Pollan you might get one of these once a month and no other protein. Or he might give it all to you to see who lived longer.

I’ll keep you in the loop with rules. As far as fish and menus go… We don’t have soft shell crabs this week but New Yorkers in know do so I am very hopeful that we will have them within a week or two. Friday night’s dinner has been good, Thai green Curry with seafood and we are making it again, still tweaking hotness but we haven’t hurt anybody yet, it’s very delicious.

Fish below and the menus for the week

The fish tomorrow:

• Dayboat Haddock
• Icelandic Arctic Char, farm-raised in Iceland
• Swordsfish
• Alaskan Cod. Frozen at sea
• Shetland Salmon
• Dayboat yellow tail sole
• Albacore Tuna
• 10/20 Dry Scallops
• 16/20 Shrimp
• Katama Bay Oysters, Martha’s Vineyard MA
• PEI Mussels

Day of the Week Lunch Special Soup Special Dinner Special
Monday Hot Salmon Sandwich made with Shetland salmon, Salmon rub on a soft roll. Clam Chowder Meatloaf and mashed potatoes, gravy
Tuesday Hot shaved Steak and cheese sandwich Spicy Meatball soup Shrimp Scampi
Wednesday Grilled Ahi tuna steak sandwich Lobster Bisque Salmon Cakes with Caper mayo
Thursday Bahn Mi, Vietnamese chicken sandwich Chicken and Sausage Gumbo Turkey and vegetarian burritos
Friday Pulled pork sandwich, come early, it sells out! Fish Chowder Thai Seafood Curry

See you at the Store!

The Uncommon Market
The Market Worth Walking To

802.223.7051

www.uncommonmarket.net

.

So I find myself in that unenviable position of having gained an unfortunate amount of weight over the winter. I know how it happened. That’s not a problem. I have plenty of excuses, that’s not a problem. I even know why it happened so that’s not even a problem. The damn weight, that’s the problem. Now, what to do??

Do I convince myself it doesn’t matter, that I look cute? That I’m getting older and it’s inevitable? That Sharon doesn’t mind, that she thinks I’m damn good looking anyway. That it’s only important how I feel, not how I look? Well, I feel fat. No, I need a plan. It seems, as I take note of what I’m doing in writing about it to you all, that part of my plan is to underscore my largeness by pointing it out to all of you. Sharon always wonders about why I would want to do that.

So here’s my plan. I’m going to lose it the old fashioned way. Diet and exercise, in tandem, the only way I know how to lose weight. The old jumping jacks and denying myself much of what I want. That’s gonna be me these next few months. That and I’m going to chase Sharon around a lot to make it fun.

As for food, let me know if you want shad roe as it’s still available for a few weeks more. We have local duck eggs coming in tomorrow and they’re a happening unto themselves. We have the greatest steaks in town, I’m sorry but we do. Try our new Vt raised sausage, it is unlike any sausage most of you have had. It tastes so fresh you want to cook it medium rare.

Fish arriving tomorrow:

• Alaskan Cod, flash frozen at sea
• Sustainable Shetland Salmon
• Dayboat Haddock
• Yellow Tail Dayboat Sole
• Swordfish
• Albacore Tuna
• Smelts
• Icelandic Arctic Char
• Katama Bay oysters, Martha’s Vineyard
• 16/20 Domestic Shrimp
• PEI Mussels
• 10/20 Dry Scallops

See you at the Store!

The Uncommon Market
“A store worth walking to.”

802.223.7051

www.uncommonmarket.net

Hang in there, this is just our regular spring, a couple more days of cold and we will start edging up again. Even if it gets to seventy it is NOT time to plant anything yet. Saw a few folks planting last week and thought “Oh no…that’s not going to work.”

So the biggest common thread in any day of owning a reasonably busy market is the sheer number of people you see each day. It is a lot and it is varied. I would say a minimum of twice a week my mental jaw just drops. I say mental because the first, best thing you learn as a store owner is a pretty dang near perfect poker face. And I will have you know that I remained a smiling, helpful store person throughout (as did Chels). So for your edification here are a couple of my favorite jaw droppers:

• A very pleasant middle aged woman who is a reasonably regular customer walked into the market, browsed a bit and sauntered to the register and admitted sotto voice that her underwear appeared to be falling off. I, for myself in the same situation, would have made a grab for the offending garment but she asked if there was a quiet corner of the store. I replied that we had a restroom, for which she was grateful. As I watched her, her hips swung wider and her stride got wider in an unfruitful attempt to keep things in place, all without hands. Didn’t work.

• One teenage customer appeared to be a little out of it and was having difficulty coming up with the correct change. To aid his efforts, he emptied his pockets onto the counter, including what appeared to be a bag of marijuana. Chelsea pointed out that marijuana was still illegal. He glanced at her with confusion, found the missing change, re stuffed his pockets and was on his way. Helloooo, anybody home?

• One persistent job applicant came in to drop off an application, unfortunately, quite close to lunch time. I explained that I was happy to get his application but that now wasn’t a very good time to talk. He said okay, but then started to explain his qualifications, I had to interrupt several times to wait on a customers. The first time he was pleasant, the second and third times he literally rolled his eyes and the fourth time he stormed out, extremely pissed, muttering about my rudeness. No job for you dude!

• Customer with one hundred and ninety nine pennies for a large coffee. Really? Could you roll them please?

• An obvious newcomer to Montpelier stomped to the front of the store and said he had just gotten a parking ticket while shopping at my store. I really did empathize and sincerely said I was sorry, that really sucked. He said “No, you need to fix it.” Big blank look from me. “You merchants are responsible for this and you should pay for it…” and so on and so forth. I just kept smiling, nodding and ringing in the next customer (always at lunch time you know), he must have thought I was simple minded. The rest of the line listened in shocked silence… which lasted for a bit after he left. I broke the silence with “I wonder if he put any money in the meter.”

These things might seem a little negative but honestly they are the things that make it real and make me laugh.

Fish below and the menus for the week

The fish tomorrow:

• Dayboat Haddock
• Icelandic Arctic Char
• Swordsfish
• Alaskan Cod. Frozen at sea
• Shetland Salmon
• Dayboat yellow tail sole
• Ahi Tuna, frozen at sea
• 10/20 Dry Scallops
• 16/20 Shrimp
• Katama Bay Oysters, Martha’s Vineyard MA
• PEI Mussels

Day of the Week Lunch Special Soup Special Dinner Special
Monday Hot Salmon Sandwich made with Shetland salmon, Salmon rub on a soft roll. Clam Chowder Meatloaf and mashed potatoes, gravy
Tuesday Hot shaved Steak and cheese sandwich Spicy Meatball soup Shrimp Scampi
Wednesday Grilled Ahi tuna steak sandwich Lobster Bisque Salmon Cakes with Caper mayo
Thursday Bahn Mi, Vietnamese chicken sandwich Chicken and Sausage Gumbo Turkey and vegetarian burritos
Friday Pulled pork sandwich, come early, it sells out! Fish Chowder Thai Seafood Curry

See you at the Store!

The Uncommon Market
The Market Worth Walking To

802.223.7051

www.uncommonmarket.net

.