The last time I stopped by toward the end of last summer, this was a bedraggled little market being held in a parking lot. Now they close off Market Street (aha!) and there were already several vendors this early in the year.
I can't remember what these gorgeous little tomatoes were called--not tomato, not plumb--but they are delicious. They must be lovely in the field.
I've been reading Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, which is an account of her family's efforts to eat only locally grown foods for a full year. This should be easier for me here in California. She keeps bemoaning the produce she can't have because it's shipped in from here!
I can tell, though, that I've pushed beet season to it's limits. The beets were smaller than those I've had in the past couple of months, and the greens were not as tender.
Dodger poses with some "unsprayed" (no pesticides, but they probably aren't certified organic) tomatoes. Specialty fruit for only $1.oo a pound!
What I did on my mini spring break: made a steamed beet green salad with roasted beets, cauliflower and carrots, fresh tomatoes, crumbled bleu cheese and pine nuts.
Mmm mmm mm-mm-mm!
And for dessert: Trader Joe's French Village Creamline Yogurt and fresh Oxnard-grown strawberries.
Life's good in the SoCal.
3 comments:
Curses to you Sundry. I live in one of those places that is decidedly not So Cal. But I could never do what Kingsolver did. And why should I? Why live in a world without citrus and tea. In fact, tea with citrus are one of life's great pleasures. And what about the poor banana farmer. Should he only sell to those within 100 miles of his plantation? I believe in (fair) trade. We just need to figure out how to do it with biofuels.
Are they grape tomatoes?
Boise - Naw, I don't think Kingsolver really advocates people doing what she did. But if I had the resources and a book deal to write about it, I would definitely give it a go.
Never have another blueberry because they don't grow here? Wouldn't want to do it. But I do think it's wise to know when things are really in season so that we can buy food that actually tastes like food and which hasn't lost a lot of its nutritional value by being picked green, gassed and shipped for days and days. (How to Pick a Peach talks about this a little too.)
And we need to find biofuels that don't cost more energy to make than they produce, but I figure you know about that!
Kim- Yes! You're right!! Man, are they good! I shared at the office and everyone's eyes popped.
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