To Market, To Market (to get a big belly)

I had legitimate reasons to head to Subi Farmers Market again this Saturday morning other than wanting to eat pizza for breakfast, really I did. My sister and I are catering for our Mum's 60th birthday party this coming weekend, and one of the guests can't tolerate gluten or lactose, so I wanted to see what Sophistibakes Gluten-Free Bakery had to offer. I also needed some fruit and veges, and wanted to check out the stalls I didn't have time to visit last week. If I happened to eat some pizza for breakfast while I was there, it was entirely coincidental.

I also wanted to meet with Market Manager Sally Lewis, who got in touch with me after coming across my recent review of Subi Farmers Market. She was easily found at the information stall when I arrived nice and early at the opening hour of 8am, and we had a really nice chat. Sally is a nutritionist by trade, which explains her enthusiasm for natural, seasonal produce, and it really seems like the overall plan for the markets is positive and practical. She is keen for it to develop at a reasonable pace, not bringing in too many stalls from the get-go, and to ensure quality over quantity. For instance, a new stone fruit stall was due be added this week, but they've held off as they fruit wasn't quite at its peak yet.

There are also plans to bring in buskers, chef demonstrations and also gardening and health experts to round out the whole natural living theme. I must say though that I'm particularly looking forward to a promised stall selling egg & bacon rolls with homemade relish. I think it will be making its maiden appearance this coming weekend when I will be up in Gero busily preparing to feed 80 people at my Mum's party, but I guess this means they can iron out any teething issues before I next get down there to taste their wares. Their bacony wares. Mmmm.

It was also interesting to hear that many of the stallholders, and/or their children attended Subiaco Primary School where the market is held, which must add to the community feel of the place. It does have a pretty happy vibe to it, with the stallholders all happy to have a joke and a chat and tell their story.

The market in a way reminds me of one of my favourite restaurants in Montreal, a vegan restaurant and juice bar called aux vivres. Given my enthusiasm for the upcoming egg & bacon roll stall, it's pretty obvious I'm not vegan but I loved this restaurant. Really affordable, filling, delicious meals that in no way made you feel like you were missing out on anything. Quite a diverse menu too, which I'm sure would be surprising for most non-vegans, and I often found it difficult to choose between quite a few things that took my fancy. One of the most striking things about this restaurant though were the people that worked and ate there. These people were in the upper percentiles of attractiveness when compared to the general population, let alone when compared to those frequenting your average shopping centre food court. Not really the best place to go when you were having a particularly fat or ugly day as I'm sure being surrounded by such people would leave you wallowing in your tempeh and drowning your sorrows in agave-sweetened smoothies.

After chatting with Sally and enjoying a long black from Luke & Pat's Coffee Shack, my tummy was telling me breakfast was required and I somehow found myself standing in front of Diablo's Oven. There were three calzones on offer this week, all rocking out 80s themed names. Rocket Man consisted of free range ham, organic tomato, rocket, bocconcini and pesto ($10), Funghi Town had organic tomato, mushroom, pesto, rocket and feta ($10) and there was a kids option with an organic tomato base, real pineapple, free range ham and mozzerella called Agadoo ($6). Disappointing there was no dessert Bananarama or Papa Don't Peach, or a nice gamey Echo & the Bunnymen, but I decided to take a ride on Rocket Man.

After ordering the calzone, we wandered down to Simplee Yummy that I noticed last week had some interesting dishes on offer but I had not the tummy space to enjoy. I wanted to try some "pohpia" which the sign described as consisting of "stir fried turnip with beansprouts, egg and mock meat floss" ($3). After asking for it, the stallholder asked if I had been to Singapore before, as I had pronounced it correctly (poh-pee-a). In fact I've never been outside the airport in Singapore, and have never heard of pohpia before so I felt quite clever for my pronunciation skills. I do wonder though how other people have been pronouncing it, as I can't really see any other way that makes sense except for possibly "poh-pie-a"?

As she was still in the process of getting everything out and ready, we got a have a chat while she prepared the pohpia. She told us that she used to be quite a lot heavier some time ago, and credits pohpia with her significant weightloss. She ate it for lunch every day, losing weight until she was told she was starting to look haggard and then she knew she'd lost enough weight! She and her husband, who also runs the stall with her, have been living in Australia for many years now and it was only once they moved here from Singapore that they started to cook for themselves.

Making pohpia at the Simplee Yummy stall

The pohpia was made by first spreading some chilli paste over the bottom corner of a spring roll wrapper, then adding some fried turnip, beansprouts, mock meat floss and chopped coriander. I think the sauce drizzled over next was a sweet soy sauce, which was followed by some cubed boiled egg (as opposed to a boiled cube egg) and then rolled up into a spring roll and cut into bite size slices. I was too busy chatting away and had to be gently reminded by the stallholders that I hadn't paid them yet. Oops.

Back to Diablo's to pick up the now-ready calzone and then it was time to find a sunny spot to sit, hurriedly photograph the food and get eating.

Rocket Man calzone of free range ham, organic tomato, rocket, bocconcini and pesto from Diablo's Oven

Pohpia from Simplee Yummy

Another Saturday, another tasty calzone. Great combination of fresh, flavoursome ingredients and soft, fresh base (is it still referred to as a base if it's a calzone? Base and lid? Receptacle?). I think a good dough is more important with a calzone than with a regular pizza, as the dough:topping ratio is higher. In fact, I'm not normally a fan of the calzone due to this, and I must admit I did not eat all the outer folded bits of my breakfast calzone due to the importance of effective stomach-space use when doing the farmers market eating circuit.

The pohpia was a really nice surprise. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but my friend and I both enjoyed it. The turnip was warm, soft and mild, while the beansprouts and coriander added a real freshness to the flavour base rounded out with the chili and soy. I wonder if pohpia's properties still work if eaten in conjunction with a calzone?

Chocolate beetroot cake from Sophistibakes

Empty tummy crisis averted, I then went to suss out if Sophistibakes had anything to offer that was both gluten-free and lactose-free, and I was happy to discover that all their breads and also their chocolate beetroot cake cover both these bases. I decided upon a small loaf of German rye, and a slice of the cake for my Mum's friend so that she would be able to have some bread and dessert should she want to. Both are now sitting in the freezer until the weekend, and I'm hoping the cake will defrost well. I guess we'll soon find out.

After getting some more of the amazing asparagus that I bought last week, along with some other fruit & veg I also bought a cherry tomato plant. Let's hope I'll be enjoying the fruits of this purchase before too long (boom boom!).

Cambray Sheep Cheese stall

I didn't have a chance to check out the Cambray Sheep Cheese stall last week so that was next on the list. From memory, they had seven cheeses out to taste and I thought it was only fair to try them all. I was particularly taken with the Greek-style yoghurt and the hard, aged cheese (can't remember the proper name for it), but they were all excellent cheeses. My research reveals that Cambray Sheep Cheese were also involved in Terra Madre (which I mentioned in my Slow Food post) in both 2006 and 2008 and are one of only 12 sheep dairies in Australia. Makes me wonder how many sheep dairies are in New Zealand?

After eating all this cheese, luckily it was time to leave to hit my gym class.


I had a craving for some smoothie action after my workout and actually ended up heading back to the market to try one of the Raw Kitchen smoothies that I saw last week and also recently read about on Wellness WA. Four types of smoothie were on offer - Green (baby spinach, banana and water), Choc It To Me (cacao, banana, agave and fresh almond milk), King Hit: Choc Chilli (cacao, banana, agave, fresh almond milk and cayenne) and Strawberry Sip (strawberry, banana, fresh almond milk and vanilla) all for $6. You could also add a Super Booster for 50 cents, with the options of maca, coconut oil, wheatgrass, chia, acai berry, barley grass, bee pollen and spirulina. As intrigued as I was by the thought of drinking bee pollen, I passed on the boosters and chose the King Hit: Choc Chilli and my friend chose the Green smoothie with added mango ($1 extra).

Doing the smoothie salsa.. or is it the smoothie shuffle? I can never remember..

Green Smoothie with added mango from Raw Kitchen

King Hit: Choc Chilli smoothie from Raw Kitchen

I wasn't quite sure what to expect from the Green Smoothie, but it could best be described as a big cup of cool freshness. The banana took centre stage in the flavour stakes, followed by a muted spinach flavour that just seemed to add an overall fresh quality, with the mango following up in the rear (think I could get a job commentating the Race the Stops a Nation tomorrow?). As nice as the Green Smoothie was though, it had nothing on my King Hit Smoothie as far as I'm concerned. A big mouthful of chocolate, with an undertone of banana, followed by decent hit of chilli that lingers. The perfect degree of sweetness too, only just enough. Delicious! And totally healthy and calorie-free, right? Cos it's just fruit? Good, I'm glad we agree on that.

Out of Africa's Durban Curried Chillies

Also totally calorie-free: samples. If it's free, it doesn't count. Just as well, as I took my smoothie a-walkin' over to the Out of Africa stall that I didn't have time to properly peruse last week. My South African friend J was right, they are otherworldly. I particularly loved the creamy Mint & Peanut Paste, and the Chilli Coriander Jam, but I ended up getting my wallet out for the Durban Curried Chillies. They won a Gold Medal for Tastiest Chilli Product at the 2009 Perth Chilli Festival (which by the way will be held in Fremantle next year as opposed at Araluen) so I don't seem to be alone in my like of this smack-you-in-the-mouth chilli product. It's pretty hot, filling up your entire mouth with its presence, but in a really tasty way. Not just heat for the sake of it.

Post market lunch (cos I needed to eat more food): roo and vege stir-fry with curried chillies

I got home and decided to add it to some kangaroo and vegies for a tasty stir-fry lunch. I mixed some through, and plopped some extras on top, and had to keep the tissues handy during my meal. I love chilli but I wish it didn't make my nose run. Oh and if you happen to follow my lead and buy these curried chillies, watch out for stray cardamom pods. With the combination of a running nose from the chilli and watering eyes from chewing on a cardamom pod I am glad I was dining alone.

Oh and errr... I might have had some more fudge for dessert. This time, choc mint. Really nice and minty, with the aroma wafting out of the bag as I hurriedly unwrapped it. I didn't enjoy it as much as the Cherry, Chocolate and Coconut fudge, but I am such a sucker for coconut it would be difficult for any other flavour to top that one. I'm sure I'll make my way through them all by the end of the year, reaquainting myself with the Cherry, Chocolate and Coconut at regular intervals just to make sure it's still good. Like how I have to check any chocolate I'm cooking with isn't poisoned before I use it in a recipe.

Seeing as I'm going to be up in Geraldton this weekend for the big partay, I won't be doing a third Subi Farmers Market post in three weeks, don't worry. Although.... guest post anyone? I want the lowdown on those egg & bacon rolls!

Subi Farmers Market

The Subi Farmers Market opened its gates for the first time on Saturday 17 October, and I went to check it out yesterday to see if it lived up to how good its website seemed to suggest it would be. Unable to sleep in with the early spring sun glaring through my blinds, I was at the market bang on 8am with a hungry belly, hoping that this expedition would not be a repeat of last week's hungover shamozzle of unrequited crepe love.

Information Stall

The tagline for the market is "the natural way to shop" and there is a real focus on organic, biodynamic and sustainable practices. They apparently have a strict 'no plastics' policy, and sell Subi Market branded reusable bags and trolleys. I like the idea of a trolley, as my eyes are generally bigger than my arm and shoulder muscles, but I just can't bring myself to buy one. According to the useful blackboard at the Information stall, they also have 'Story Time under the Tree' at 9:30, which I assume is for children and doesn't involve farmers regaling each other with tales of how big the bugs are whose plots they managed to foil through non-pesticide means, but I had made good my escape by this time so I can't comment further. Oh and there's a "Bike Parking" sign which you might be able to see next to the bikes. I'm surprised the Subi parking inspectors haven't utilised this potential parking ticket revenue stream.

Ringwould goat cheese stall

First up in the tasting stakes was the Ringwauld goat cheese stall. They keep their goats in Redmond, near Albany in the south west of Western Australia, and I can say that these goats make a tasty, tasty cheese. We tried all four on offer, and though they were all really nice I was most taken with the Ringwauld Blanc fresh goat's curd (in the little tub). It was mild, deliciously creamy, and would make a perfect mayonnaise substitute.

Loafers stall

Next to the tasty cheeses was the Loafers organic bread stall. According to their little sign, they make their organic breads using traditional slow fermentation methods, and thus their sour dough takes one week to make. The breads really did look great, with the crust on their "Bayern Brot" looking particularly tempting. Given that I don't each much bread, and knew that I already had a loaf sitting in my freezer, I resisted the urge to buy a loaf and rip into it there with a pot of that goat curd.

Passion Ate

Diablos Oven in action, with my "Garden Gnome" breakfast calzone

By now my belly was starting to grumble and although the sweet treats on offer at Passion Ate looked quite tempting, I really needed some savoury action. Just as well the next stall was Diablos Oven. On the menu today were two types of calzone - "Porky Pig" of organic pork sausage with fresh tomato, feta and fresh herbs or "Garden Gnome" of organic portabello mushrooms, roasted pine nuts, fresh spinach and feta. We ordered a Garden Gnome and waited as patiently as we could, distracting our hungry selves by looking again at the Passion Ate products, including some giant avocados they were selling. These were massive. You could kill someone with one. Luckily for the unsuspecting public our calzone was soon ready and my mind was taken off such thoughts.

The calzone was piping hot but luckily had been cut up for us so was soon ready to get stuck into. It was a little messy to eat, as the spinach and mushrooms had released a lot of moisture out and my napkin was soon soaked through, but it tasted good and I managed not to spill anything on myself so I was happy.

Spirals Cinnamon Buns

Luke and Pat's Coffee Shack

Although my hungry tummy wasn't entirely satiated by my calzone half, I resisted the cinnamon buns at Spirals to make sure I had plenty of room for more tastings. I did however complete phase one of my breakfast with a long black made by Luke or possibly Pat at Luke & Pat's Coffee Shack, and then we continued on our merry perusal.

Spot the happy cupcake girl!

I didn't notice this girl when I was taking this photo. Man she looks chuffed with her cupcake purchase.

Sophistibakes Gluten Free Bakery goods

I like beetroot, and apparently I also like chocolate beetroot cake. Thank you Sophistibakes for enlightening me. I asked if they grated it to use in the cake, like a carrot cake, but they cook it and puree it before adding it to the mix, similar to adding pumpkin puree I guess.

Fudge Fusion, and some incriminating teeth marks

After being reminded of the great fudge I had in Niagara-on-the-Lake last year after reading a couple of fudgey posts recently on Iron Chef Shellie, I was happy and a little scared to next find myself in front of Fudge Fusion. They had sealed little samples (good for the swine flu conscious sampler) of both their soft fudge and their crumbly fudge, and I discovered I'm more of your soft fudge kind of girl. Take from that what you will. Although tempted by the Mint Chocolate fudge, I decided on the Cherry, Chocolate and Coconut fudge and after getting stuck into it at home about 5 seconds after walking through the door I was overjoyed to discover it packed a great coconut punch in the face. I tasted each layer on its own, and found the chocolate and cherry flavours to be quite subtle in comparison to the coconut layer which also contained little bits of coconut within it.

I didn't think I liked fudge until I tried it in Niagara-on-the-Lake. The fudge stores there are all open plan, so you can see the (generally older men) making the fudge and be horrified at the amount of sugar and evaporated milk that you will soon be ingesting as you fail to resist temptation after trying the little samples. I wish now that I still thought I didn't like fudge.

Necessiteas

After smelling one tea at this stall I instantly knew it had to be mine. I also bought some of it for a friend, who I'm yet to give it to, so I'll be coy and not tell you which one it is.

Deep Creek Olives

I also bought something at the Deep Creek Olives stall as s gift for someone, so my coyness will continue.

How could you resist these asparagus spears?

Awesome. I just remembered I bought some of this asparagus and it's still sitting in the fridge waiting for me.

Turban Chopsticks

I've seen the Turban Chopsticks retail store on Bulwer Street in Northbridge before and been puzzled by the identity crisis of a name. I now know it sells a range of sauces, marinades, pastes, spices etc and the name appears to be due to their coverage of Indian style and Asian style flavours. Actually, it's funny how in Australia we don't seem to mean India when we say "Asian", which I assume is due to our closer proximity to south east Asian countries. I have noticed in the UK however (which you may particularly notice if you happen to be a fan of The Bill) that when they refer to an Asian person they often mean someone of Indian descent. Interesting.

Anyway, Turban Chopsticks products look like they'd come in very handy to whip up something tasty when you're time poor or just can't be arsed doing something completely from scratch. The meal packs in the left of the photo above looked particularly good, containing all the nonperishable things you need to make a range of dishes like "Royal Festival Briyani" and "Puy Lentil Stew". I didn't take note of how much the packs cost though, so I can't comment on value for money in comparison to just buying the components yourself.

Koeksisters

I didn't try or buy anything from this stall but wanted to include the photo as it looks like the stallholder is wearing leopard print pants. He wasn't, but I think he should.

Simplee Yummy

Again, I didn't try or buy anything from these guys but I like the action shots. Chop chop chop! Scoop scoop scoop!

The Raw Kitchen

No room for a Raw Kitchen smoothie this time, but next time I'm keen. Maybe to wash down some Simplee Yummy turnip. Also, is it just me or does it look like there's a little boy up in the background doing a wee in the bushes?

Well, I didn't actually manage to check out every single stall as I ran out of time and needed to get myself to the gym in time for a class, but I was pretty impressed with what I did check out. Seems like more stalls are on their way too. Conclusion: Subi Farmers Markets are well worth a visit and I'd recommend going with an empty tummy. And possibly a trolley.