the other six dollars at the farmers' market

1/4# of arugula, two dollars.

an already-bagged, very clean bunch of dinosaur kale, two dollars. (a great price on this, my favorite green. you see one of twenty leaves in this picture. would have been the highlight of the day, except for the next item on the list.)

which is:

purple and orange cauliflower! sold by weight measure, around two dollars total for both heads.

six dollars at the farmers' market

one pint of snap peas, three dollars. one bunch of purple green onions, one dollar. one bunch of baby bok choi, one dollar. three "salad" tomatoes, one dollar.

sixty-three cents-worth of kumquats from super saver

what would you do with them? throw them on a cheese plate? make a cocktail garnish? incorporate into a dessert? go hog wild with some crazy entree, like a kumquat-pistachio pork chop?

2.89# at super saver now.

my favorite cupcake so far

from the cup, of course. a carrot cake cupcake. the cake was very light, and the cream cheese frosting complemented the texture perfectly.

99c while supplies last. green beans, salt pork.

at the 70th & pioneer hy-vee today, they had these close-dated specials: 12oz bags of washed, trimmed green beans for 99c, down from 3.98 each; and 12oz pkgs of salt pork also for 99c, down from 2.49.

also at that location, corn king brand bacon for 69c a package. i didn't get any but some people were buying half a dozen packages. if i had a big freezer or a big family, i'd go in and stock up.

one thing i have to say for the hy-vee at 70th & pioneer: it plays the best in-store "hy-vee radio" of any location in town. in one trip, i heard devo and gary numan. obviously it's just their 80s channel, but i have heard much much worse music while grocery shopping.

mulligatawny at open harvest every saturday

i'm a huge fan of mulligatawny soup. my favorite in town comes from the oven. i do enjoy open harvest's version, though, and it's nice to know it's the regular saturday soup at their deli.

i hear that open harvest deli is now offering some sushi to order. i haven't tried it yet.

boxes of mother's day candy on sale, a day early

it's the day before mother's day-- and heartland pantry already has all the boxes of mother's day candy on sale for half-price.

rock island trail? $5 lunch from leon's

the rock island trail follows an old rail line through lincoln. just south of memorial park on the trail is leon's. here was my idea for lunch-- for two actually, on one recent day, for five bucks:

first, leon's always has bags of salad mix marked down to 99c because of close-date. yet the mix inside always looks great. they're storing these absolutely correctly, apparently.
then, fried chicken tenders from the deli. i cut these up into chunks to toss into the mixed salad. in the caesar-ish salad mix, this works pretty well.
and last and not least, some fruit and a brownie to share.

leon's is open sundays. and open until nine, which is after sundown even now.

buttermilk 59c/qt at ideal this week

that sale price of 59c for a quart of buttermilk at ideal lasts through friday. if you're not near ideal, but using buttermilk as a marinade (like i wrote about here) still interests you, check the price at the grocery store you frequent. it's probably low there, too. prices in the dairy section of the supermarket are noticeably lower of late. so if you like dairy products, stock up! you could get enough milk for a year for... oh wait, that won't work.

that's some more chicken (skin-on, obviously) marinated in buttermilk, then browned, then baked. very tender and moist.

mask fit. or: if the mask fits, share it

mask fit opened monday of this past week. 1311 o st. kurdish and mexican food. i'm not sure why the kurdish and the mexican together, but the eventual review in the journal star should clear that up.

they have tacos, burritos and quesadillas; and tamales which are excellent-- a picture of the pork tamale here--and i was wrong about the price there, because tamales are $2 even.

on the kurdish side of the menu, you've got gyro plates headlining. i ate one and i liked it, the meat was excellent... but there are already two places within half a block where you can get a gyro plate. anyway. rounding this out are beef rolls, which i'll try next time; and beef kuba, which i've also seen spelled kibbeh. that's a small fried dumpling filled with minced meat, rice and herbs. i am a fan of savory pastry snacks, and i'll be buying the kuba again. that's it up top.

mask fit also sells cookies, which are labeled "kurdish cookies" and cost $2 for the container you see above-- though i ate a couple before i took the picture. these would be great to take to some sort of office potluck situation if you work downtown. they're light but moist and lemony, with coconut in a supporting role, which is where coconut really shines. i'll buy these again too.

i hope mask fit makes a go of it in this spot which, as mentioned on the ljs blog, seems pretty much cursed. the $2 tamales could really be a hit on that block, which is 90% bar. i also hope they expand the kurdish food offerings. i have a feeling that's in the works.

seventy-five cent cupcakes right now

lincoln high is having a fundraiser parking lot sale today. that cupcake you see was seventy-five cents and very tasty.

someone out there should be happy to find old theater and auditorium seats? they have donated resale items as well as student artwork and jewelry. also plants. today only, until 3pm.

first friday party dresses, made of food

i always check out first friday. and by always, i mean: almost always.

here are some sketches of tonight's possible outfits.

credits: pork tamale ballgown from mask fit, 2.50. sashimi dress from wasabi, price on request.