Eugene ended up being a good half-way stopping point for the long journey from the coast back to Bend. Plus, we had to stop so that J could watch a World Cup game. Much to my surprise, the Eugene Saturday Market was taking place, which of course had a farmer’s market along with it and a food court. Everything was locally grown and looked fabulous. There were berries everywhere.
White raspberries!

And all kinds of cherries!

But really, what everyone had, and what looked the best, were the oregon grown strawberries.

There were veggies as well, of course. Here are some beautiful cherry tomatoes of different colors. Although I know that tomatoes are actually fruit.

There were also tons of root vegetables, like these turnips and beets. Potatoes were also all over the place.

Along with some cucumbers and some onions and some even more gorgeous red torpedo onions.

This dude was selling crazy mushrooms that he grows. I wonder what other kinds of non-food mushrooms he grows? Because after all, this is Eugene, and man, hippies abound!

Dungeness crab is everywhere in Oregon, and you can even find some here.

Here, they were selling freshly homemade salsas as well as fresh corn tortillas that a lady was cooking up, right on the spot.

There were food vendors in the proper food court, which was part of the regular craft vendor part. But in the farmers market, there were also a few food vendors, including this pastie shop.

J got some fish tacos. He liked these, but was surprised by the spicy salsa that was plopped on top.

I got a little teriyaki bowl from a food court vendor called “nice rice”. My nice rice bowl was brown rice topped with teriyaki chicken and veggies. It was perfectly fine. All the produce looked amazingly fresh, and if I lived in Eugene, I would hope to get my fresh fruits and veggies here all the time!

Memorial Day weekend gives my family an excuse to get together and do pretty much nothing but eat. We went to my aunt’s house in delaware, as usual, and started the festivities with these korean style pancakes. Mrs. W brought these over. This is really the easiest way to cook them. It’s an electric non-stick skillet. Just throw in some oil, which gives you the crispiness, and cook them on each side until they’re lightly browned.

They weren’t typical, in fact, they had shrimp and broccoli in them. And because the batter had some yeast in it, they were a bit on the puffy side. So chopped up raw shrimp, chopped broccoli, julienned zucchnii, and chopped scallion. And voila, lovely shrimp and broccoli pajeon. You can buy dipping sauce or just make some with soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, sesame oil, and whatever else you want.

Next up we had some riblets. We didn’t have actual proper courses or anything, we aren’t that fancy. It’s just that we started off with one thing, and then just ended up moving to the next dish, and then cooking the next thing, etc. We also had some lovely lettuce from my mom’s friend’s garden so we could make little riblet ssams. You know, like the fancy people do at momofuku and what not.

It was memorial day weekend, so you know what that means. That’s right peeps, it means firing up the grill. So as usual, my uncle manned the grill and we had some korean bbq. How easy are these to make? Super easy. You go to H-Mart and buy them marinated. Then you throw them on the grill. It doesn’t get easier than that.

Alongside the ribs, we grilled up some spicy dried file fish that my mom prepared. They were extremely thin and delicate and were boney, so you had to be careful. These had tons of flavor, but were a tad too salty for my palate.

We ate rice too, like the asians are known to do. And we had plenty of banchan. There were random green things that I did not eat. There was tons of spicy kongnamul, or soybean sprouts to you, which is one of my favorite banchan in the whole wide world. There was kimchi too, not made with your typical napa cabbage, but this one was quite the hit with everyone. I particularly liked it.

What did I do at this feast? The only thing I was in charge of was the corn on the cob. I peeled back all the husks and removed all the silks. If you can, get someone else to do this, because it’s a pain in the ass. Then put the husks back into place.  Then soak these bad boys in water before putting them on the grill. The soaking will help steam these beauties. Don’t worry about burning the husks, the corn inside will be perfectly fine. Make sure to not undercook them. I got a little scared and took them off the grill too soon. It was still good, but because it was slightly undercooked, they weren’t freakishly sweet, like they could have been. They were just normal sweet. Don’t make my mistake!

We even had dessert! This doesn’t typically happen. My aunt happened to have this lemon cake, which was pretty f’in lemony and amazing and beyond moist. I wanted to eat the whole thing. But alas, I controlled myself and shared.

We had our little bbq the day before memorial day. On actual memorial day, we didn’t really do much. My mom brought some berries and I happily ate them up for breakfast.

Later in the day for a late lunch, we had miyeok guk, which is a korean seaweed soup. When my mom makes this, she just cuts up meat. But my aunt’s version had rib meat in it and I think she had basically stewed the meat so that it fell off the bone and was super tender. I literally ate all of the meat from the entire pot of this. We didn’t just eat well this weekend, we also cooked! Or at least my mom and my aunt did. Recipes coming up next!

The Salted Caramel ice cream from bi-rite creamery. Words… cannot… describe… You know on the Simpsons when Homer just starts drooling? Yeah, that’s pretty much this ice cream. It’s just… gah… I don’t know how… what… blargh. You just have to try it yourself. Bi-rite, I’m happy you’re far away.

Yum… a big old giant bottle of beer that’s the cost of like a case of beer… Look at it, it has a date bottle and they only made 600 cases… and it’s aged in oak barrels…

J kept on going on and on about this cabbage slaw from bi-rite, the market part. I can see why he likes it so much. The crunch, the zest, the technicolor beauty. It’s awesome. When it was nearly gone, there was still dressing left so we threw in some raw shredded cabbage in there to extend its life.

Before my flight out to SFO, I hung out in the US Airways lounge. You can’t bring outside food in, so I had to buy something or otherwise starve. I got the tuna salad. Oh the whole thing was just bad. The cucumbers were old, the tuna fish was blah, the croutons were old, and the greens were wilted. But the dressing was good! But overall, terrible and overpriced. I was very disappointed. The food on the airplanes is a thousand times better.
And here is some evidence of the food on the flights that I actually enjoy. My flight home was horrifically delayed. They did not even offer us a free cocktail or anything. But I had to eat so I got the cheese and fruit snack pack. I really like this thing. The grapes were sweet and fresh, and so were the strawberries. There were three different types of cheese cut into cubes and a few crackers. Plus, there were some juicy dried apricots. All in all, it’s not a bad deal!