Farmers' Markets

I was so excited when my friend Zita invited me to check out a local farmers' market with her this weekend. We share the same foodie obsessions....and their consequences. Always lured into pretentious restaurants way above our means, emotionally attached to the quality of our cooking (still can't get over last week's disastrous caramel cheesecake recipe that just did NOT make sense!) and dying inside with every buttery/sugary bite of the latest craving. Who else but us would wake up at 8:30 in the morning to drive to a farmers' market across town, just to get first pick of veggies?

The first market we tried, at Jack London Square in Downtown Oakland, was disappointingly touristy. But thank goodness for my terrible sense of direction because, on the way back, I took a wrong turn after the freeway exit and we wound up passing right by another, even better looking, farmers' market (at Claremont and Cavour, next to the DMV). Definitely called for an immediate and illegal U-turn. This market was everything that had been missing at the touristy Jack London Square. It was in the parking lot of a random building, next to an adorable stream that cut through the neighboring houses and the produce looked real. Even though the samples of fruit and savory spreads were generous, we wound up eating a lunch of buckwheat crepes filled brie, pesto and tomatoes at a plastic table between the stream and the "dog parking lot" where people could drop off their pets before walking around. As usual, we ended up with far too much produce for just ourselves....and it was a fantastic way to spend a Sunday morning.

Look out! I will be posting recipes using produce from the farmers' markets very soon.