Thinking about culinary school?

Kayla Webley of Time has an interesting story up: Can culinary school lead to a career that pays enough to equal the cost of the tuition (and the student loans)? Or would budding chefs be better off skipping the degree and heading straight to the kitchen line?

It's a valid question. And an intriguing one, here in a city with four culinary schools. Here's the link: www.time.com.

At last, a superhero I can believe in: Mrs. Butterworth

New farmers markets take root

I'm starting to get used to this: By mid-summer every year, several new farmers market set up shop in the middle of the summer season. I haven't been out to see these yet, so if you have feedback to share, add a comment and let me know how these are doing:

Elizabeth Avenue Farmers Market, 1521 Elizabeth Ave., in the parking lot between Torrence and Hawthorne. 8 a.m.-noon Saturdays. This one was started by Trey Wilson of Customshop and has only been running for a few weeks. But it's about time Elizabeth had a market, isn't it? The list of vendors is short, but growing: Stone Seafood (let's hear it for Rock Stone fans), Wild Turkey Farms, Landis Mushrooms and Think Bees. Details: www.elizabethavefarmersmarket.com.

Wallace Community Tailgate Market, 11202 Harris (Eastfield) Road, Charlotte, 704-252-1654. 9 a.m.-noon Thursdays. Producer-only market with quite a few north-end growers and makers, including Houston Farms, Windy Hill Farms, Cabarrus Farms, Commonwealth, Cloister Honey, Great Harvest, Pickleville and Rocky River Coffee. Details: Wallace Community Tailgate Market on Facebook.

Village at Robinson Farm, at Rea Road and Williams Pond Lane. Noon-6 p.m. Wednesdays. It's organized by Jason Stone of Unity Farms, which is a familiar vendor at Trade and Tryon most weekdays. Check the Village at Robinson Farm on Facebook for more details.

There's also a new market project coming up on North Davidson Street, behind Area 15 at Davidson and 15th Street. That will include the output of a group of 19 farms around Reidsville, as well as art and some other events. It plans to start Aug. 13 and continue on the first Saturday of the month through November.

And while I haven't had a chance to add these, we still have our searchable list of farmers markets all over the Carolinas. Go here to look for more.

Yes, I'm a biscuit-eater

Thanks to Sam Sifton of the New York Times, who kindly asked me for a quote or two for his story on biscuits in this weekend's New York Times Sunday magazine. It's only July, but I was flattered to be in such august company, including Nathalie Dupree. Here's a link to the story.

Cooking in the heat

Or maybe I should say "not cooking in the heat." For a story coming up, my colleague Andrea Weigl wants suggestions on what you make when it's too hot to cook. Here's her column on what she does:

http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/07/20/1355599/a-hot-tip-to-reduce-cooking.html

If you have good recipes or ideas to share, email her directly, andrea.weigl@newsobserver.com.

Charlotte's food truck rally is still rolling

Thursday night was supposed to be the end of the July Chow Down Uptown food truck rally, in the parking lot across from 7th Street Station.

But it's been such a hit that Moira Quinn with Charlotte Center City Partners says it will continue, probably once a month, for as long as the truck people want to do it. "They're driving, they're in charge," she told me at the 7Venth Market public forum.

By Friday morning, they had apparently picked a date for the return: Aug. 18. Same spot and same time (5:30 to 8 p.m. or so, or however long the food holds out.)

The food trucks certainly have grown. There were nine or 10 out Thursday night, from Emma (say it EEE-mah) Merisier of Southern Cake Queen to my old colleague Dan Huntley of Smoke. I hit Roaming Fork for the pulled pork sandwich, got a very tart lemon frozen-fruit bar from Lollie's at Huntley's truck and did a dueling-cupcake tasting at Southern Cupcake (Summer Bliss, lemon cake with raspberry buttercream) and On the Go Cupcakes (the Elvis -- banana cake, peanut butter buttercream and candied bacon).

Favorite find of the night: Deep-fried Deviled Eggs from Roaming Fork (left). Those turned out to be more like egg salad (but good egg salad, very yolky) coated in panko and fried, then served with a honey mustard dipping sauce. You got three big ones for $3.

If you want to keep up with where the food trucks are roaming, you can follow most of them individually on Twitter.com, or follow @cltfoodtrucks.

The food is great, but eating in a parking lot isn't all that charming in July. Here's hoping the trucks keep rolling in October, when it will be a lot more pleasant. In fact, given our usually-mild winters, couldn't we have a food truck rally in February?

New city market has a name

How does "7venth Public Market" strike you? That's apparently the name for the planned city market in the old Reid's space in 7th Street Station. (And yes, my first impulse is to ask "what were the first six?" Are we counting forward from the 1890s when farm wagons still parked along Trade Street?)

Last night's public open house drew about 30 people to mill around and scribble thoughts and suggestions about what they want the market to be on long sheets of white paper.

The idea for a public food market has been around for years, but now it's drawing closer to the planned October opening. For one building, the market is already holding a lot of goals. Dr. Dan Murrey ran down the list: In keeping with support from Carolinas Healthcare System, it's supposed to bring better food access to underserved urban areas and Charlotte's food deserts. It's supposed to be a business incubator for local products. And it's supposed to focus attention on local and regional foodways. He even mentioned the idea of a library with used cookbooks.

Walking around to look at the notes people scribbled, here are some of what people are thinking: Under "We've Been Told These Things Are Important . . . " people wrote:
"Wine and Beer." "Oh yeah!"
"Butcher." "Absolutely."
"NC/SC Fish and Seafood."
"SC/NC Berries."
"Tamales."
"Breads." "Gluten-free."
"Pizza." (Crossed out.)
"Local Wine and Beer."
"Spices and Herbs."
"BBQ (Make sure it's from Mac's.)"
"Local Meat."
"NC Food Crafters."
"Shared-Use Kitchen or Kitchen Incubator."
"Cheesemonger."
"Tacos and Papusas."

My favorite, though, was a comment on another sheet: "Let's make the notion of 'local' disappear and replace it with 'normal.'"

Now that's an intriguing thought.