I love popsicles.

I love popsicles. As a kid, I took them any way I could get them. Often, in the summer, that usually meant what we called "freeze pops," brightly hued sugar water that tasted vaguely fruity in plastic sleeves. I was an only child, but on my block, my mom and my friends' parents bought enough so the hoards of playing kids could all have frozen treats without it getting too expensive.

My favorite flavor was pink. I'm not sure what flavor it was supposed to be—maybe strawberry—but I went for those first. I loved letting them melt a bit before sucking the "juice" up the sides of the frozen block, leaving the frozen middle intact. That, and whacking the still-sealed plastic tubes on the counter, or the table, or the front steps—whatever was handy—and creating a "slushy" that could be slurped.

My grandma's sister (who I also called Grandma) lived in the suburbs and had a pool, and she a freezer chest on her enclosed back porch. In it could be found a trove of frozen goodies for all the often-visiting kids in the family. There were ice creams with flavors like heavenly hash, which I only ever had at that grandma's house, enjoyed with cousins who would bit the tips of their sugar cones to suck the melted ice cream from. Not me. I slowly savored the ice cream to maximize the time it was in the cone so it would soften around the edges, eating the softened cone before devouring the still-crunchy pointed tip, filled with melty ice cream.

That grandma had exotic popsicles, too. In addition to the standard flavors—cherry, grape, orange—she always had an extra-special box with a crazy-exciting variety—banana, lime, and root beer. I'd usually choose one of those over ice cream. I loved them all, but my favorite was banana. Deep golden yellow and rich-tasting, they were lapped up, even when I was freezing cold, wrapped in a towel after swimming in her pool that was surrounded by tall trees, in the shade, and always very, very cold.

Back in Chicago in the summer, paleta men would come around. The men pushed white carts filled with Mexican-style popsicles kept cold with steamy dry ice. The flavor variety was dizzying, and included fruits and combinations I hadn't heard of—tamarindo, jamaica, guayaba. I almost always got one of two flavors—sandia, made from fresh watermelon, that had chunks of fruit and sometimes seeds—or arroz con leche—rice pudding. OK. So rice pudding? Not what I'd expect in a popsicle, but after trying it, it became a fast favorite—creamy with a grainy, sweet-rice flavor, flecked with cinnamon, and studded with soft grains of rice.

When I moved away from Chicago, I kind of stopped eating popsicles. I was off to college, in the land of exotic Ben and Jerry's flavors and frozen custards. In grad school in Wisconsin, it was fruit sherbets. (By the way, why is next to impossible to find natural sherbets in Austin?) Sure, there were occasional popsicles along the way, but they'd lost favor to other frozen desserts. Then, I just didn't eat much ice cream at all. A shame really, but I'd buy a pint of the good stuff, have a small serving, and it the remainder would frost over in the freezer before I got to it again.

Lately, I've been eating popsicles again. It started with a box of fruit pops from the grocery. But I've had my eye out for more, and I've been gobbling up Austin-made GoodPops from the farmers market. And I've been on to more. Frozen yogurt, ice cream, and even some homemade treats. And I'm seriously thinking of buying some paleta molds to try to make my own. (This is pretty serious. I am usually really reluctant to buy any new kitchen equipment unless I NEED it, or it's very, very special.)

But making a batch of homemade paletas can lead to its own problems. The most important one is, who's going to eat them? I fear that even homemade paletas, if they number more than a few, would languish in the freezer until they're too frosty to discern their flavor. But I may be up to the challenge.

More Eat Local Week Goodness

Eat Local Week has been a great time so far - there are so many great events, and I'm really impressed with the number of people who have been turning out.

Last night, I went to City Hall for the Better Bites of Austin Edible Local Holiday Gift Fair. Better Bites of Austin, a trade organization that links small natural food businesses in Austin, had representatives from many of its vendors.

The highlight of the night for me was the Mary Louise Butters Brownies booth. I've been a fan of the sweets since moving to Austin, and I love giving them to out-of-town guests and sending them out in gift packages to my family and friends in Chicago.

Mary Louise Butters and her brownies

Last night, I tried the Fara, a swirled blend of a brownie and blondie, and I've got to say, that even with half of it being a non-brownie, it quickly became my favorite. I think I even took a couple steps back after tasting it - it was rich with chocolate and molasses, moist and chewy. I bought one for myself, and a couple more for gifts (we'll see if they make it into the packages).

The brownies (the Fara variety are in the tan and black packaging)

Zhi Tea also had samples of their Sweet Desert Delight, a caffeine-free sweet tea. We bought a few teas for gifts, as well.

Tasty teas

Also at the fair were:

• Rio's Brazilian, where we got a package of Pao de Quiejo with basil.
• Jake's Granola, where I tried a cranberry-pistachio biscotti and the man bought a package of the gingerbread biscotti.
• Bona Dea Bread, who had a deliciously rich challah, and whose chocolate challah rolls are high on my list of things to try
• World Wise Grains, who gave out little cookies made with Arzu, their multi-grain blend
• SASS Fresh Dressings, with plenty of dressings to try with fresh bread
• Pie Fixes Everything, who had fruit pies and quiches (and who delivers them!)

And a whole lot more that I didn't get to try. I hope they do this again during Eat Local Week next winter. It's just in time for the holidays.

Tonight? I'm heading to the Wally Workman Gallery for their Fine Art Food Night to taste bites from Les Dames d'Escoffier, Hosteria Verde, Portabla and Fete Accompli while checking out Feast, the exhibit featuring images of food and cooking.

Eat Local Week

Edible Austin's Eat Local Week kicked off last weekend with some great events that I was lucky enough to attend. (In the interest of disclosure, I work with Edible Austin on their editorial team.)

All of this week's events benefit Urban Roots, an amazing program that teaches local teens sustainable farming, and all it encompasses including planting and harvesting, selling, marketing and how local food benefits the community. Urban Roots donates a portion of their harvest to local hunger relief efforts and is working hard to bring fresh, local food to East Austin. So go out and give them some money!

Friday night, Book People had a multi-media night, hosting authors Pamela Walker, author of Growing Good Things to Eat in Texas, and Chef Alain Braux of People's Pharmacy, along with Ana-Sofia Joanes, director and producer of the documentary FRESH. Food tastings were provided by Thai Fresh and FoodSmarty, and drinks by St. Arnold Brewing.

Saturday, I attended the Tea Festival at Zhi Tea and got to try lots of delicious teas from several local tea purveyors, and attended a screening of FRESH at the Paramount downtown.

Sunday, I checked out the Drink Local Coffee Festival and Drink Local Night.

There are still lots of great events going on all week, from the Julie & Julia Feast tonight at the Alamo Drafthouse, the Gulf Coast Sampler tomorrow at AMOA, a Meet Your Local Brewers Happy Hour at the Whip In, and lots more. I'm going to try to pack as much in as I can.

Check out Edible Austin's Eat Local Week events page to find an event (or events!) that appeal to you.

Sugar Mama's Has Pies.

OK. Sugar Mama's Bakeshop has my favorite cupcakes in Austin. Or favorite anywhere, really. My favorite Sugar Mama's cupcake is The Odd Couple, which is chocolate cake with salted caramel cream cheese frosting. So chocolatey and good.

All the goodies come in these little brown paper bags or unbleached paper boxes.

They've been open a year now, and had a first birthday celebration last Saturday, where they debuted their new pies in a pie-eating contest (that, sadly, I missed).

I finally got to try the pie yesterday. I went with the Banana Cream, with crunchy, buttery graham cracker crust, fresh whipped cream and a caramelized banana topping.

Don't you want to steal a swipe of that whipped cream?

And it was good. Really, really good. I'm more of a cake person than a pie person, but now I want to try all the pies. Coconut cream will probably be next.

There was a good crowd at the birthday party last weekend, happily partaking in free food by the Casserole Queens and drinks by Tito's, along with birthday cake and Nada Moo ice cream.

The Casserole Queens and Tito's reps serve food and drinks

By the time I got there, the cupcake case had been decimated, but they still had a few of another of my favorites, the Hula - coconut cake with coconut cream cheese frosting with toasted coconut topping.

Nearly empty cupcake case

Full English

I go the Sunset Valley Farmers Market almost every week. While I'm usually going for veggies, fruit and fresh pecans, other stuff sometimes finds itself in my bag. This can be hot sauce or pesto from Sgt. Peppers or teas from Sesa, but more often it's sweets from Full English.

The booth at Sunset Valley Farmers Market

Owned by a charming couple, Alice Bachini-Smith and Shad Smith, Full English makes traditional English pastries in small batches from scratch, using good ingredients like unrefined sugar, Callebaut chocolate and unbleached flours.

The stall always has a good variety of sweet and savory pastries, and sometimes chutney and lemon curd.

Savory pastries

I haven't tried anything I didn't like there. The cheese pasties are savory and flaky.

The flapjacks are slightly chewy, kind of crunchy oat cakes that are nothing like American pancakes. The sweet and moist cakes have a great oaty flavor.

Flapjacks

My favorite, though, is the rock bun, a tiny muffin-shaped crumbly cake. It's crisp on the outside, and has an amazing toasty, buttery flavor. The light crunch of the outside of the pastry is well balanced by the crumbly texture of the interior, which is chock-full of plump, juicy raisins.

The humble but mighty Rock Bun.

I remember my first rock bun, from when the stall first opened at Sunset Valley about a year and a half ago. I had bought one for me and the man to share, not knowing how delicious it was going to be. After we shared that bun later that Saturday evening, we were both upset that we a) didn't get at least two of them, and b) had to wait a whole week before getting another one.

Since then, we're been buying them in 6-packs, except for when they run out (sometimes early!), when we shake our fists at the sky and hope for better luck next week. For a while, we were getting them once a week. Now it's more occasional, but we usually try to get them when we know we're having out-of-town guests.

Full English sweets are available at:
Sunset Valley Farmers Market
Farm to Market Grocery
Thom's Market
Live Oak Market
Cafe Caffeine
The Hideout Coffeehouse

Okra Stew with Black-Eyed Peas

I brought this stew to a potluck dinner Friday night. With gorgeous okra from Finca Pura Vida, I thought an okra stew would be a nice, summery dish.

French Quarter Stew
3 Anaheim chiles, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2 teaspoons safflower oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 28-oz can diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon tomato paste
1 15-oz can black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained
3/4 pound fresh okra
1/2 cup water
salt and pepper

Heat safflower oil in a large pot. Add the onion and chiles with a little salt and pepper and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, and cook until beginning to soften, about a minute more

Add the tomatoes and tomato paste, and season with more salt and pepper. Simmer until the tomatoes begin to break down, about 10 minutes. Add black-eyed peas.

Cut okra into 1-inch pieces, discarding the stem ends. Add to the pot with the water. Cover and simmer over low heat until okra is tender-crisp, about 15 minutes. Serve over rice.

The chiles were much hotter than I'd expected, and much hotter than other Anaheims I've had this season, so I didn't have to add any more heat (I'd planned to use jalapenos). A little Sriracha on top would do, too.

Cauliflower Soup: Better with Air Conditioning

There are so many good veggies at the market now. I got an incredibly gorgeous golden cauliflower recently at Sunset Valley.

My usual method of cooking cauliflower is roasting - I find it really brings out the flavor without having to add much of anything else, except for a little bit of butter and salt.

I've been eating a lot of soup lately, so I tried a creamy cauliflower version.

To start, I chopped the cauliflower and roasted it until it was golden brown.

As it was roasting, the house got hotter and hotter. That's not so unusual, but the air conditioning was on. I checked the vents, and air was coming out, but it wasn't cold. Uh oh. Now, I had roasting vegetables and I had to eat a bowl of hot soup pretty soon.

I added the cauliflower to a pot of sauteed carrot, onion potato and vegetable broth and boiled it all together for a few minutes.

I added fresh milk and parsley and whirred it with a hand blender until it was smooth-ish (I like some texture).

The result was delicious, and really pretty. I love the pale orange color. I'd thought about adding some Full Quiver Cheddar for sharpness, but I forgot. (I blame the heat.) It was good, even without the cheese, but I may try it next time.

Eating hot soup in a hot house is not the most comfortable thing in the world, but when the soup turns out really well, it isn't all that bad.

Stuffed Squash

At last Saturday's farmers market, I found some round squash. The farmer described them as being similar to zucchini in texture and flavor. Since I hadn't had them before, I thought I'd give them a shot.

Their full, round shape and flat bottoms make them perfect for stuffing. It's been quite warm, so I decided to use a light and summery quinoa mixture.

First, I scooped out the middles, creating hollows in which to stuff the stuffing.

Next, I stuffed them with a mixture of the sauteed middles, cooked quinoa, Pure Luck feta , tomatoes, toasted almonds, fresh parley and mint.

Then I baked them until they browned a bit.

I think they turned out really well for a dish thrown together on the fly, and I'll probably make them again, or at least a variation. Next time, I might add more fresh herbs—their flavor, especially the mint's, got a little dulled with the cooking.

The squash themselves did taste a lot like zucchini, juicy and buttery, but has slightly more bite to them. Overall, the dish tasted really fresh and summery. Aside from having to brown them in a hot oven, they're a great hot-night dinner.