Union Square Farmers' Market
I still have blisters from yesterday, and taping band-aids over them do not help! Woes. Also, buying two liters of juice was probably not the best of ideas, given walking to and from the subway and aforementioned blisters.
On the other hand.... HEIRLOOM TOMATOES! Heirloom tomatoes that I have not seen in my Bay Area market before! I promptly forgot the names for all of them, but I have these long red and green ones that look vaguely like peppers, ovoid purple ones, extremely wrinkly red ones, extremely wrinkly red ones with pointy bottoms, red zebras, round yellow ones that are not pineapple or peach or oxford tomatoes, and lots of wee cherry tomatoes in a variety of colors! I am so excited! New tomatoes! So many!
I also bought wee Tristar strawberries (OMG cutest thing ever!), which are slightly less sweet than the ones at home but still very good (and wee! and cute!), blueberries, two-colored sweet corn (there is no white corn here. I am baffled), and peaches.
Sadly, although there were romanos and haricots vert and cranberry beans and wax beans, there were no peas. This means I have missed pea season in two separate states. It is a tragedy!
(I realize I am hypocritical, as a) I had a chance to go to an NY market and b) I missed pea season because I was in Taiwan eating awesome food. But still. I mourn my peas. I only got a week of them before I left for Taiwan and THAT IS NOT ENOUGH. Now I will have to wait until sugar snaps start coming in.)
I also met up with an old co-worker for lunch at Basta Pasta, and we bonded over how odd we feel as Californians in New York. I then met with more New York culture shock in the market as I discovered that apples are out here! Like, many! Different kinds! Already! (New Yorkers, you can start mocking me oh, say, starting from last week.) And the variety of heirlooms has me incredibly jealous!
There are also lots of different plums here, but I am somewhat baffled by the lack of white peaches (possibly I just didn't see them). And no pluots! Are they out of season? Or not in season? As heresluck likes to say, California seasons are freaky and weird.
I feel Food Network should do a show based entirely on farmers' markets around the country and/or world. They would have an audience of me!
On the other hand.... HEIRLOOM TOMATOES! Heirloom tomatoes that I have not seen in my Bay Area market before! I promptly forgot the names for all of them, but I have these long red and green ones that look vaguely like peppers, ovoid purple ones, extremely wrinkly red ones, extremely wrinkly red ones with pointy bottoms, red zebras, round yellow ones that are not pineapple or peach or oxford tomatoes, and lots of wee cherry tomatoes in a variety of colors! I am so excited! New tomatoes! So many!
I also bought wee Tristar strawberries (OMG cutest thing ever!), which are slightly less sweet than the ones at home but still very good (and wee! and cute!), blueberries, two-colored sweet corn (there is no white corn here. I am baffled), and peaches.
Sadly, although there were romanos and haricots vert and cranberry beans and wax beans, there were no peas. This means I have missed pea season in two separate states. It is a tragedy!
(I realize I am hypocritical, as a) I had a chance to go to an NY market and b) I missed pea season because I was in Taiwan eating awesome food. But still. I mourn my peas. I only got a week of them before I left for Taiwan and THAT IS NOT ENOUGH. Now I will have to wait until sugar snaps start coming in.)
I also met up with an old co-worker for lunch at Basta Pasta, and we bonded over how odd we feel as Californians in New York. I then met with more New York culture shock in the market as I discovered that apples are out here! Like, many! Different kinds! Already! (New Yorkers, you can start mocking me oh, say, starting from last week.) And the variety of heirlooms has me incredibly jealous!
There are also lots of different plums here, but I am somewhat baffled by the lack of white peaches (possibly I just didn't see them). And no pluots! Are they out of season? Or not in season? As heresluck likes to say, California seasons are freaky and weird.
I feel Food Network should do a show based entirely on farmers' markets around the country and/or world. They would have an audience of me!