What a day yesterday. What a really really good day.
I went to the LA Farmer's Market on Fairfax and Third. It's been an LA institution since 1934 - and it is a MUST SEE! I repeat MUST SEE. I haven't seen the Hollywood star strip road thingy yet - but I'm about to take my second visit to the Farmers Market!
It's not like the usual Farmers Market - this has little kiosks where prepared food is sold to eat, with a few butchers, fruit shops and cheese shops thrown in. But oh the food...the glorious food. I walked around wide eyed for an hour and a half, just watching, poking, taking photos, and of course eating!!! It's bloody ridiculous. Have a look at those caramel apple things...what the hell is that about??? Who comes up with ideas like that? Apples dipped in caramel and chocolate and nuts and sprinkles and gold dust and dinasour toenail clippings and...and... and...for goodness sake! RIDICULOUS. I BLOODY LOVE IT!!!
And as I wandered (and wondered), I came across something I've heard much about (in both Seinfeld and Will & Grace) - Funnel Cake. Now of course by this time my taste buds were salivating - I'd just bloody walked an hour and a half to get there (I've now discovered how to get the bus, which I'll be taking this morning for my second visit) and was starving. I ordered Funnel Cake.
I chatted with the nice young lass, who answered all my questions. Most people have their funnel cake with chocolate, strawberry or caramel sauce and whipped cream. I ordered mine with cinnamon and sugar (needed to start light, long day ahead). Now this is how the whole things works. Lass heats up a cast iron frypan with about an inch of canola oil. She then uses this magic pourer thing with a funnel on the end so the batter comes out in a thin stream - she makes a big pattern with the thin stream straight into the hot hot oil, so it sort of looks like a thick battered lace doily (how on earth do you spell doily?), turns it half way through, takes it off to drain, then sprinkles about 30kg of icing sugar mixed with cinnamon on top. And voila. Funnel Cake.
You can see it above during frying and after.
Looks pretty. Especially on those old cute kitschy tables.
But how does it taste????? Well. Here's a tip. If you go to your local fish and chip shop and ask them to scoop a jug full of the fish batter stuff, sticky tape a funnel to the end, pour that into the fryer in a pretty pattern, let that fry, take it out and chuck a heap of icing sugar and a smidge of cinnamon on top, you'd pretty much have it. Yep, I think it's sweet fried fish batter. All a bit wacky really, and very underwhelming. I had two bites and just couldn't go any further. $6.75 down the drain!!!
Oh well...you win some, you lose some...and this was a bit of a loss, but that's ok sportsfans, because I moved further along the stalls and came across something so magnificent, so divine, so truly joyous, that streams of sun came pouring from the sky to light up this special place...I knew I was in for a truly religious experience!
To be contd.... (see next post!)
No comments:
Post a Comment