Sunday Farmer's Market

A trip to the farmer’s market was the perfect way to start off the day.

Table after table of yummy veggies…

Just a small sample of the flowers…

There were probably 5 or more flower stations. I refrained and didn’t pick any up this time. I had purchased sunflowers from Trader Joe’s that lasted 10 days – the bunch was only $3.99 – thinking I’ll go back for some more of those.

Sidenote: I went to see Sex and the City II with a group of girlfriends Thursday night. The one thing I noticed is that all of the girls had fresh and beautiful flowers in their zillion dollar apartments. I stopped doing that for a while, but have been buying myself flowers for the past few months – I love it! A few bucks and I smile every time I walk by them… that is until the water starts stinking and they need to be replaced ~ Hah!

I’ve got these “Red Hot Pokers” growing in the backyard right now and they look awesome.

O.k., back to the farmer’s market – We met up with 3 of our friends and each of us had an agenda… I was on the hunt for some staples and a few “out of my comfort zone” items to play with this upcoming week. Another friend was on the hunt for his asparagus for broiling and his pull apart bread. We had a cherry pie maker in the group too. We sorted through cherries side by side. It’s always fun to see what your friends put in their bags. We had a last-minute car switch, so I was left without bags – I store them in my car, whoops.  It ended up being o.k., our friends had extras.

We all went to brunch after the market. I ordered an Eggs Benedict dish –  2 poached eggs, Canadian bacon and fresh tomato slices served on toasted focaccia with Hollandaise sauce and a side of red potatoes cooked with onion and peppers. Delicious! My camera ran out of battery juice, or I would have included more photos. The cafe is also known for their French toast – Huge slabs of French bread (cut on the diagonal – 10-12 inch pieces) dipped in rich custard and served with whipped butter – heavenly!

We got home, I put the camera battery in the charger and I unpacked my farmer’s market goodies and waited until I had enough battery juice to take another photo.

My goodies consisted of pretzel bread coated with sesame seeds, pretzel croissants (new obsession), yellow summer squash, middle eastern squash, pencil California asparagus, tri-color baby potatoes – haven’t tried the peruvian purples before – thinking of all sorts of possibilities recipe wise. I also got some cherries – regular with a few Rainier thrown in. One of my friends stated that California cherry farmers were worried about the cherries splitting due to all of the rain we’ve been having – I noticed it on some as I picked through them, but all in all… they looked and tasted awesome! The last thing I brought home was fava beans. I’m excited to try something with those too.

I’m having so much fun searching for different recipes, cooking methods, etc. We’re attending a Memorial Day BBQ with friends tomorrow. I’m bringing a salad and a side dish – Dan picked the side dish, so I’m going to focus on the salad. Off to make a grocery list.