Best of Boston - Bakeries and Markets

Today was quite the perfect day for me because it involved a lot of my favorite activities - sipping freshly brewed coffee in a neighborhood cafe, munching on a baked-that-day chocolate chip cookie, reading a novel, and visiting different fresh produce shops and a farmer's market.




After lunch, I made my way to Flour Bakery + Cafe in the South End of Boston. Started by Joanne Chang, a former consultant and Harvard College Econ graduate (there is hope for those like me), it has been consistently featured in different 'Best of Boston' lists for its desserts, breads and sandwiches. I had a Scharffenberger chocolate chip cookie, which is made with two kinds of chocolate. I suspect the cookie is also baked with two types of brown sugar - light brown sugar and dark brown sugar - to give it an extra chewiness and richer flavor. With a small cup of french roast, it was the perfect accompaniment to The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway.

The trendy South End is also known for having a couple of gourmet fresh produce stores. I popped into Lionette's market to see what organic, local produce they had for the day and was pleasantly surprised to find that they sold fat in different forms. A sign posted at the day proudly declared 'Today's Fat Selection': lard, duck fat and shortening. Nice to know there are still good folks enjoying the flavors imparted by fat and that not everyone has gone crazy in pursuit of a low-fat, no-carb, substitute-any-other-diet fad. Plum Produce was another store I dropped by and it carries sometimes elusive, gourmet and seasonal ingredients such as white asparagus. I was less impressed by it as it was pricey and looked offputing to an everyday cook.

The last stop was the farmer's market at Copley Square. Held every Tuesday and Friday in the summer, the market showcased some of the freshest produce from local farmers. All kinds of organic and beautiful vegetables and fruits were on display as well as freshly baked goods from you would find at farmstands, such as fruit pies and cobblers. Iggy's Breads of the World (another veritable institution in the Bostonian bakery world) had delicious breads and pastries on sale and I promptly picked up a deliciously flaky and just sweet enough almond-paste filled croissant.