Yesterday was Father's Day. My dad never knows what he will get from me, but it will probably be something edible. At least I know he will use it. Dad has always been the "fun" shopper. If it's unusual, he would buy it, we would eat it.......well, most of the time. That tin of steak and kidney pie stayed in the pantry for years! It became a novelty. I went to my local Whole Foods store knowing that I would find some wonderful fish. Red snapper has always been my dad's favorite fish and I can't say that I blame him. It is fabulous! We ate it a lot as kids. I'm guessing it wasn't as expensive back then as we had a lot of people to feed that had enormous appetites. I purchased enough fish to feed an army as well as some jumbo shrimp, Greek cheese, and lemon (knowing full well dad has a bowl of lemons on the counter, but just to be safe). Dad, at 86 still cooks up a storm every day. His refrigerator is packed to the gills. We had a great afternoon visit and I heard some stories that had us both giggling and laughing. As I was leaving, dad said: "wait, I have a cookbook for you and a cooking magazine"! He knows I love cookbooks and I will gladly share them with my sons. Our family share a love for food. We read about food, talk about food (I think there is "the great omelette debate on here somewhere), cook food together, and finally enjoy food.
On the way home, I decided to go to a farmer's market near my dad's house. Buford Hwy Farmer's Market is 100,000 square feet of wonderful, glorious, and unusual foods. It may become a weekly visit. I have never seen a market that was so huge! Aisle after aisle of specialty foods. Part of the store was devoted to Asian foods and other aisles were devoted to other areas of the globe. African, Scandinavian, Eastern Europe, Holland, Russia, and of course a lot of the store was for Hispanic cooking. Huge Asian and Hispanic populations in Atlanta are well represented here. I was like a kid in a candy store....figuratively and literally speaking! I purchased some Russian cookies, Dutch sprinkles for toast, espresso coffee, Swedish crackers, French mustard and some Mexican spices. They had an entire row, which is much longer than your standard grocery store aisle full of nothing but Ramen noodles. To be healthy, I did purchase some ginger and carrots that were yellow, purple, and orange. I can't wait to try those. I'll have to get the purple potatoes another time. I'll skip the "white dirt" which is kaolin from GA and people actually eat it.
Later that evening my dad called to tell me he cooked the snapper for dinner. He told me that he prepared it with butter, lemon, and oregano. He hasn't changed in his 86 years! I knew already how he would make it. He broiled it like he did when we were children. I would probably prefer it grilled as that is my preference. He said: "That must have cost you a fortune, you bought so much. I had so much that I have enough for breakfast tomorrow!" Yep, that's my dad! Fish, eggs, slice tomatoes, Greek cheese
and a hearty bread for breakfast!
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