How timely the thread about eggplant! I don't particularly care whether
it's vegetarian or not, unlike the other thread. I'm thinking either
sliced, breaded and fried (I have no idea why that seems to be a difficult
concept even for a beginning cook) or sliced into coins, brushed with olive
oil and some herbs then grilled (I *must* get a better grill first!) or
eggplant parm.

Forget trying to follow the perpetually moving farmer's market around the
Beaufort, SC area. Forget about only being able to go on Tuesday unless I
want to follow it to Hilton Head or Bluffton. There's a farm stand on Hwy
21. Great produce and I don't know why I didn't stop there the last time I
was here.

I picked up some nice looking eggplant yesterday as well as zucchini, yellow
squash, tiny new potatoes ("creamers"), pole beans, freshly shelled butter
beans and a small (huge!) Vidalia onion. Looked at the fruit; the quality
of the plums wasn't great; the regular sized ones were getting shriveled but
there were smaller ones that looked great. And the bing cherries looked
wonderful; I nearly snagged a bag. Ditto the peaches. They had a cold case
with strawberries and blueberries... I'm thinking of dragging out Mom's
1950's waffle iron

I'll definitely be going back to get what the Gullah cookbook calls "store
bought breader" (and it actually says it's "breader" on the bag) which
includes cayenne pepper for some kick. That might be a really nice touch
for the the eggplant parm.

I also made a trip to the Island Meat Market. Oooh! A real butcher shop!
Grilled bacon-wrapped filet minon last night. They also have a wide variety
of things in their refrigerated and freezer cases which I just don't find in
Memphis (okay, I probably could if I drove all over the city, shut up
Christine!) Ostrich steaks; elk chops. Shrimp pie. (Yep, I said shrimp
pie, double crust.) Alligator tail meat. Rabbit (remember when you could
find it in the grocery store? Pel-Freeze or something like that). Oh, and
the sausage! They have "Low Country" sausage, which is the stuff used in
Frogmore Stew, as well as a wide variety of Italian link sausage, Andouille
and Chaurice. The only thing I haven't been able to find here is Boudin,
which surprises me given the rice-growing culture of the area and the
similar historic influences of south Louisiana.

Whooo boy, I'm finding lots of stuff now that I have time to look around and
not just shop for stuff that is quick-fix for my mom. I really do need to
get a better grill. I didn't realize the hibatchi I had sent to Dad some
years ago for "emergency" cooking (he was worried about losing electricity
during hurricane season) was as cheap and flimsy as it is. Corn on the cob
isn't quite in season yet but a trip out to Dempsey's (you pick it) Farm a
few miles to the south may be in order shortly, too. The butcher told me
his SIL picked 12 ears of delicious white sweet corn last weekend. I love
grilled corn on the cob. A hibatchi, flimsy or not, just won't cut it for
grilled corn. Next on the shopping list is a handy-dandy Weber kettle grill


Jill