happy_stomach wrote:I'm afraid I won't make it to Maxwell St Market tomorrow after all. I apologize for the late, late notice. I've been keeping a crazy schedule lately, and I think it's finally catching up to me. I'm going to try my hand at sleeping in tomorrow. Please take lots of pictures; I will look forward to the report.

I can't believe I'm choosing sleep over eyeball tacos!

Hey no problem, and believe me, when you're talking about eyeball tacos, you're not really missing that much.

Hi,

I'm really glad to be sitting down. This desk jockey almost never walks for 3 hours straight.

Delightful time, really good food and new faces to connect to names.

Thanks again for organizing this!

Regards,

I’m afraid a persistent bout of nausea* kept me from enjoying much of the food this morning (and from uttering more than a couple coherent sentences). Still I enjoyed the company and experience.

Please excuse the lack of captions. I didn’t have the energy to keep notes.













-ramon

*This is not a rare occurrence and nothing of concern.

Ramon wrote:I’m afraid a persistent bout of nausea* kept me from enjoying much of the food this morning (and from uttering more than a couple coherent sentences). Still I enjoyed the company and experience.

Oddly, I, too, came to the market with a bad stomach, which I believe was the result of eating some partially cooked sage (I think sage contains some toxin, which is usually taken care of by frying, but I didn't fry it last night). By the time I got home, I could hardly walk; it cleared up, and did not impair my enjoyment of seeing all the young people heartily packing away tacos de los ojos y sesos. Quite inspirational. Will post pix later.

Thank you, David, for offering your suggestions. And, thank you to the others who did the same. The company was excellent, as was the food.

I bought some beans and we weren't sure what they were. The vendor said limas, but they were all splashed with maroon, so I did a little checking when I got back. Of course he was partially right.

Perfect for the season:



Christmas Limas

Thank you for organizing this event! It was wonderful. I found myself skipping about most of the day re-tasting the excitement of piping hot sugary churros, juicy eye tacos, and huitlacoche. What a treat!

Ramon wrote:Please excuse the lack of captions. I didn’t have the energy to keep notes.

Like the saying goes " A pictures worth a thousand words" Thanks for documenting a great morning at the market.

JSM

As always, lovely to see everyone, nice to meet new faces and get lost with people I just met... (Don't worry, happy_stomach, you didn't miss a transcendant eyeball experience, it's not that different from a taco de cabeza)

Sparky, after a bit of a rough start, had a fabulous time, thanks mostly to the other LTH kids (thanks, parents - and Ramon, I love the shot of Sparky "dead" at B's feet!) I enjoyed sharing cesos and ojos with Jyoti, but I especially liked the taste of goat broth courtesy of YourPalWill. We did finally find a candy to satiate Sparky after he turned down the tamarind and the chocolate-covered marshmallow - a chocolate-covered strawberry, of all things!

Afterwards, we schlepped down to Madison and took the FANNIE MAY FREE CHOCOLATE FERRY where I discovered (D'oh!)I had my camera with me all along:



FYI - With the free trip from Madison to Michigan Ave, you get a square of chocolate, and a coupon for a free serviceable hot chocolate you can redeem at the FM store at Michigan and Wacker. It was fun, even if I'd prefer another carne asada taco.

I found a pedometer online, and I figure, all told, Sparky and I probably walked over 4 miles (between 16th and the White Palace Grill is about half a mile) - not bad for a 7-year-old, or his creaky old Mom, either! We got home, and I gave that child a serious scrubbing in the tub to take off all of Canal street that came home with us.

Today's Inductees to the Order of Omnivorous Orb Eaters:

Great time.

As I mentioned to a few people, I tried using my little camera in video mode, an an excuse to play with my iMovie software. Knowing there are a good number of video professionals on the board, I simply ask them to be kind with my first video effort, especially since my batteries died halfway through the tour:

LTHForum visits Maxwell St. Market

(If that link doesn't work, try this one - slightly lower quality)

It's tube socks free!

nr706 wrote:I simply ask them to be kind with my first video effort

NR,

Really enjoyed the video, my favorite part being as one of the kids* took a bite of eyeball taco a bit of eye popped out of the side.

Looks a great time was had by all, no one better to go to Maxwell St with than the indefatigable Hammond.

Enjoy,
Gary

*I think it was Jimthebeerguy and SaintPizza's oldest

HI,

I really like the street theater at Maxwell Street, especially when one finds themself unexpectedly part of the drama.

JSM and I were having a lively conversation, when I saw a woman making a very deliberate approach to us. She walked slowly clutching a bag in one hand and a cane on the other.

"My Dad died recently. I have cases of these (holding up a bag of adult diapers) in my car. Do you need any?"

"We're not quite at that stage of life yet."

"Do you know anybody who needs these?"

"Not really."

"Would you ask around, then send them over to me?"

"You realize that is a delicate question I would be reluctant to ask."

We all laughed. She walked away looking for another live target.

Only at the Maxwell Street Market do you have these interesting interactions.

Regards,

What a delightful day! Great people, great conversations and I'm certain, great food. I was surprised to see saws, sinks and a plethora of other home repair devices among tube socks, beauty products, chile stands and food stalls. The Market was not at all what I thought it would be!

Free Parking: Yesterday I parked in the self-park garage above the Whole Foods complex for free. To get to it, enter the Whole Foods parking lot from Roosevelt. There is a ramp (a really cool ramp) on the eastern most side of the lot that will take you up to to the parking garage. When I asked a staff person at Whole Foods about it, he said the management has said for months that they are going to start charging but never have. As of yesterday the ticket booth machine was taped off so if it starts distributing tickets, it's no longer free.

Thanks David for organizing the tour!

Veloute wrote:The Market was not at all what I thought it would be!

I know, same here! I had gotten the impression that it was nothing but tube socks and tacos. And yes, there are plenty of tube socks and tacos, but so much more. The next time I go, I'm going straight for the bavarian cream churros, the ceviche, and the tacos al pastor.

Thanks David Hammond, for organizing this!

Cathy2, those diapers would have made a great gag gift for an office christmas gift exchange!!

Anyone know when the market closes for the winter, and when it opens again in the spring?

nr706, that video is great!! Now I have Damian's foray into eyeball tacos preserved forever. How long did it take you to cobble that together? I once made a video for mother's day.... never again! It took me hours and hours to put together a 30 second video.

I met up with a vegetarian friend and her 2 daughters at Pita Inn for lunch. Damian shouted a LOT about how much he liked the eyeball tacos. I think our vegetarian friends thought he was kidding!!

Hi,

The market is every Sunday throughout the year.

Regards,

Wow. Great day. Thanks, Hammond, for organizing and Cathy for driving. It was nice to see kanin and ben scanlon, figs molly and justin, and to meet dippy-do-da-egg and her intrepid friends from U of C. I learned a lot about foods I've never tasted. The pickled mangoes and figs were interesting, but I am a convert to champurrado.

Sparky and Ramonita have long supported my belief that omnivores of all ages are LTH material! But Damien (son of Saint Pizza and Jt BG)--well, Damien rocks! The first time I met him he polished off the hottest hot-pot Double Li could dish out. But the eyeball tacos-- wow! I am humbled. Damien has singlehandedly buttressed my faith in the next generation's open-mindedness.

It was nice to see everyone having a good time. The first time I went here I had no idea where to go or what to try and it was easy to get overwhelmed. It's a completely different experience altogether walking around with knowledgeable people.

I learned a lot about chiles from all of the helpful vendors who took time to explain their wares. There was a wide selection of chiles I've never seen in groceries before, and it looks like I'll be able to try more of Diana Kennedy's recipes.

Thanks to David H for organizing this event (and for bringing along pictures of chiles).

Saint Pizza wrote:nr706, that video is great!! Now I have Damian's foray into eyeball tacos preserved forever. How long did it take you to cobble that together? I once made a video for mother's day.... never again! It took me hours and hours to put together a 30 second video.

Took several hours, but mostly because it's the first time I've tried the software. Next time will be faster.

Also, for anyone having trouble wih the original link, there's a lower quality YouTube link here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5gZRFSOBGA

What an incredible day!

While visions of sugarplums may dance through some heads, I know mine has been filled with the delights of: huitaloche, cesos, ojos, huaraches with chorizo, tamales etc.

As always, the event was significantly enhanced by fellow LTHers who were more than willing to try and share every available food item.

Thank you David Hammond for cordinating the event and guiding us to your favorite vendors. I'm sorry to hear you were not feeling well that morning, but I must say you were a trooper and we would have never known.

Thanks again.

Jyoti

jygach wrote:As always, the event was significantly enhanced by fellow LTHers who were more than willing to try and share every available food item.

That is always one of the most warming elements of these outings; people getting excited about a spoonful and then, rather than taking another bite, holding out the plate so that someone else can have a slurp...sometimes with the same spoon.

Josephine wrote:Sparky and Ramonita have long supported my belief that omnivores of all ages are LTH material! But Damien (son of Saint Pizza and Jt BG)--well, Damien rocks! The first time I met him he polished off the hottest hot-pot Double Li could dish out. But the eyeball tacos-- wow! I am humbled. Damien has singlehandedly buttressed my faith in the next generation's open-mindedness.

It was really neat to read this! Thanks Josephine! And though I hate to disabuse your notion of Damian as a sort of culinary Young Indiana Jones, I feel that I should point out that he finally did turn up his nose... at the huitlacoche. Though it may have been because he was too busy devouring a roasted corn cob with the mayo, cheese, margarine and cayenne pepper.

Thanks for a great morning everyone! Can we do it every week?

Really sorry to have missed this one -- especially with the indefatigable and expert Hammond at the helm. Thanks, everyone for the visuals and the reports. If it ever happens again, I'll do my very best to be there.

=R=

Damian just told me that his Health teacher wants him to report every single thing he eats this week - starting Sunday.

He told me that he will write ojo so as not to scare the teacher.

nr706 wrote: Also, for anyone having trouble wih the original link, there's a lower quality YouTube link here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5gZRFSOBGA

Thanks, was going to PM you, but that worked. I love the segment where Jyoti and I are philosophically consuming and discussing eyeballs, with almost identical hand gestures....

I just want to echo everyone else's sentiments. It was a great time and not just because of the food. I enjoyed getting to meet everyone and thanks to David Hammond for organizing and leading us.

Just wanted to say "thanks again to David" for organizing the outing. Eventhough we didn't get to stay for the entire event, we enjoyed seeing the market through others eyes. And, it's the first time I've been hungry so I did get to try a plethora of items it my hour stint.

In true sincerity, we actually regret not buying any socks!

-ramon

I just wanted to update everyone that the parking above the Whole Foods is no longer free. Each validated ticket receives 90 minutes of free parking and after that there is a cost. I think I paid $6 for a total of 3 hours....not bad IMO.

Had a interesting drink while there today called poncho(sp?) that is served at Christmas time in Mexico. I was told it was a base of tea with some added had pieces of fresh fruit. My cup had a whole guava floating in it. The bases tasted very familiar but I couldn't name it. I'm wondering if it was hibiscus flower. Hopefully some internet research will provide me with some more information.

The Oaxaca Tamale guy, Manolo's, the tea/champurado/corn guy and two other taco stands were braved the cold weather but other than that it was really quite desolate. We did manage to get a few mouthwatering tastes!