Made it by the King's Grant Farmer's Market after a break. I usually have some lame excuse as to why I can't make it but I didn't today so me and Jasper headed over to see the market regulars.
Jubilee Seafood Oysters
We had the pleasure of snagging the last bag of Jubilee Seafood Eastern Shore oysters this past weekend. Nice salinity, sweet, and big. Grab some if you get a chance at the Old Beach Farmer's Market or call them to order.
So good!
Virginia MOCA Holiday Craft Sale & Family Fest 2016
Old Beach Farmers Market - 8 Oct 2016
Old Beach Farmers Market
Old Beach Farmers Market - 1 Oct 2016
Dave Adams from Green Flash was in town getting the new brewery up to snuff. We met up at the Old Beach Farmers Market so I could show him around a bit and invite him to some of the locals. I got to congratulate Three Ships Coffee's Ms. Cosmopolitan too (wink.) Oh, made a quick pit stop at Bottlecraft Virginia Beach too.
Old Beach Farmers Market - 24 Sep 2016
Old Beach Farmers Market - 24 Sep 2016
Read MoreOld Beach Farmers Market - 10 Sep 2016
Another great day at the Old Beach Farmers Market, letting Jasper do his thing and hanging out with friends. A little Hashi and Breakfast in a Cup to top it all off too!
Read MoreJumbo Jimmies from Jubilee
That title was a tongue twister!
For a couple years now we've primarily buying our crabs from Jubilee Seafood Company out of Knotts Island, NC. They have a booth setup at the Old Beach Farmers Market in Virginia Beach on Saturdays and I'm always at the market on the weekend because Jasper would kill me if we didn't go. That's his social time and he even makes me go to Back Bay Brewing and buy him a beer sometimes. He never drinks it, he doesn't even like beer, so I end up having to drink it for him.
Jasper thinks it makes him look cool when he has a beer.
Anyways, back to the crabs. Jubilee has a beautiful crabs, they're usually selling jimmies, but they can do females sometimes too. The prices aren't bad either, on average you can get a bushel of #1s for $130. That's a great deal.
In addition to crabs they sell oysters, shrimp and clams...here let me just cut and paste they weekly letter with the prices:
Hard crab **Please pre-order by Thursday
Jumbo size - $40 dozen or a bushel for $180
# 1 size hard crabs for $25 a dozen or a bushel for $130
# 2 size hard crabs are $20 dozen or a bushel for$70
# 3 female hard crabs $15 dozen or bushel for $65
Littleneck clams - from the Eastern Shore
**Please pre-order by Thursday - we recycle clam/oyster bags.
$35 for a bag of 100 clams
$18 for bag of 50 clams
$10 for bag of 25 clams
Seaside Oysters - from the Eastern Shore **Pre-order by Thursday- we recycle clam/oyster bags
$50 for a bag of 100 oysters
$30 for bag of 50 oysters
$18 for bag of 25 oysters
Live Soft shell crabs** size & costs will vary- haven't seen many in the last few weeks
East Coast Shrimp $14.00 lb
The prices are comparable to what you'd find at the grocery or cheaper but you're also buying from fine folks that locally put the work into bringing a fresh product to the table. Jubilee has their own boats and have been doing this work for over 30 years.
I like to cook them shell down, keeps the juices in, I like to sip it out when I pick.
Next time you're in the area and want some crabs (while in season of course) check out Jubilee Seafood Company. You'll be happy you did. Here are more photos from our recent Blue Crab dinner with delicious Jubilee jimmies.
Check out the claws on these monsters!
Feisty action shot! I've been pinched a few times by these things when catch them. It feels how you imagine it might - not good lol. This kinda reminds me of the Barrel of Monkeys game.
Shelby likes butter when she picks crabs, I love the mud and stuff in the head :)
Old Beach Farmers Market - 4 July 2015
We spent our Independence Day chilling out at home but not after hitting the Old Beach Farmers Market at the Oceanfront. Blue crabs are in season so I was hoping I'd score some and, as you can see, I did! A dozen #1 jimmies and a few females. I grabbed some Hashi was while I was there and headed over to Back Bay Brewing to try the new TideWater Melon Wheat they were tapping. Very refreshing.
John O'Rielly, Back Bay brewer
The tasting room was open during the CRAFTED event.
Running Around Town - Oct 11, 2014
October 11th was a busy day. Saturday kicked off with the CRAFTED: Indie Arts & Craft Market at O'Connor Brewing in Norfolk, VA. Local crafters were joined by crafters from Richmond to display and sell their work. We saw a lot of friends and our buddies at HomebrewUSA were there serving up their beer; a demonstration on home brewing was setup for those who wanted to see how it's done.
After O'Connor went headed over to Smartmouth Brewing--also in Norfolk--because Shelby saw that New York Souvlaki was setup there that day. We kept missing it when it was out so this was the perfect opportunity to finally try it. It was great! Lucas inside poured me a nice, cool Rule G Shelby and I finished while we ate our chicken and pork kebabs.
We went to Cheap and Cheery at Grape & Gourmet in Virginia Beach, VA after we finished up at Smartmouth. I've posted plenty of Cheap and Cheery event photos and it's one of the events Shelby and I look forward to every month. We bumped into a bunch of friends while perused and sampled wines, beers and ciders on the tables. A great event that lets you sample things you might not normally buy. Wen we finished at Grape & Gourmet we took a little break at home to finish up a pita full of meat called "The Bomb" we got from New York Souvlaki earlier. After our brief down time we headed out again.
The last stop of our run for the day was at Lynnhaven Pub to meet the local chapter of Barley's Angels. Barley's Angels Coastal Virginia is a group of female craft beer enthusiasts who aim to educate and promote craft beer in their region. One of the ways they do this is through volunteering and that night's meeting was a big one because the next day they were going to work the Treasure Chest event.
San Diego brewing company Green Flash has held a breast cancer awareness benefit called Treasure Chest Fest. This year is special for Virginia Beach because it was going to the first one and held on the future spot for a brand new Green Flash brewery! We bumped into a lot of friends and met the friendly people from Green Flash mingled about.
We headed home at a decent time but I still stayed up too late. In the morning I was headed to Treasure Chest Fest where I was asked to be the event photographer. I'll write about that later.
The Creative Wedge on Let's Eat!
A while back I wanted to write a story on the--then new--cheese shop opening in Virginia Beach, Hilltop, The Creative Wedge: An Artisans Market. Sloane and Barbara have done a great job with the place and it has been busy. I love to pick-up the Smoked Gouda cheese dip and the Balsamic Vinegar and Onion dip. I have a hard time not eating it all when they have it out to sample (samples ≠ hor devours.)
Reason I bring this all up is that our local public television station, WHRO in Norfolk, has a food blog called Let's Eat. I'm a regular contributor to the site and they posted my bit on The Wedge. I just wanted to share it. Please check out the shop if you're in town.
http://letseat.whro.org/on-your-plate/93-wedged-into-the-scene
Hydroponic Lettuce
I swung by the Old Beach Farmer's Market located near the Oceanfront in Virginia Beach. A beach staple, Croc's 19th Street Bistro, provides the space for the farmer's market in addition to participating in it (you saw the James River Oysters I posted right?)
John and Jacob of Heads Up Hydrogreens
It's been a little bit since I've made it out to the market and I passed by a new table for Heads Up Hydrogreens. They grow lettuce that is packaged alive and they contain no petrochemical fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides according to their literature. I chatted with John and Jacob from Heads Up for a little bit and they gave me a couple heads to try out at home. They handed me a bag with a Batavian Crisp Head and Butter Crunch.
The next day Shelby made spaghetti and meatballs (chicken meatballs!) and I made a Greek style salad with the Batavian Crisp. The Batavian Crisp had a slightly curly leaf, it was in-between the crisp (imagine Iceberg) and Romaine. It was crisp, clean, great flavor and the stems weren't bitter like they are on some lettuce. You could see the bulb and get an idea of how it was cultivated.
Batavian Crisp
Shelby's mother was over for dinner and she really enjoyed the salad. I'm looking forward to trying the Butter Crunch next.
Red Crab
We tried Red Crab for the first time this past weekend and really enjoyed them. Virginia is pushing the Red Crab as an alternative to Blue Crab since the later has dropped in population. We prepared them the same way we would Blue Crabs but we also ate them with butter—I never do that with the Blue.
Overall worth trying and pretty tasty. We bought ours at Uncle Chuck’s Seafood and Produce in Virginia Beach, VA, at the VB Farmers Market.