Hot this morning. All the regulars were there, as well as a few new faces. This is the first I've seen of the organic blueberry man, for example. Had to buy some… short season and all.

Once again, I visited the market for just a few items and walked out with all $40 spent. I splurged on a few specialty items that I would normally pass up, payday being yesterday and all.

So here's the list, as far as I can remember.

  • Eggs from Mt. Olive Farms in Paso Robles
  • Tuscan Kale from Arroyo Grande
  • Golden Beets and Magda Squash from Bautista Farms in Arroyo Grande
  • Heirloom Romaine Freckles from Huasna (green with lovely purple flecks)
  • Yukon Gold baby potatoes and Spring Onions from Paso Robles
  • Blueberries from the new blueberry man!
  • Plums from somewhere relatively far away (about 150 miles southeast)
  • Lambs Quarters from Mt. Olive in Paso
  • And my splurge: an orchid!

About the orchid. This is no ordinary orchid, no sir. This orchid smells JUST like coconuts. It really is amazing. I saw it at the market two weeks ago, and I've been thinking about it ever since. (These are the things I think about, people. This is a problem.) So when I saw the Orchids of Los Osos booth, I had to ask about it. And then I had to buy it and take it home. Maxillaria tenuifolia. I can't walk by it without sticking my nose in there and taking a big sniff. Special stuff.

So my new goal is to try something new from the market each week. This week's brave venture: Lamb's-quarters. I've heard of Lamb's-quarters here and there, but never tried it. Here's what Deborah Madison has to say about the green in her book, Local Flavors:

Here's a wild plant (and a cultivar) whose greens are tender like spinach but with a slight edge of the wild in their flavor. Lamb's-quarters taste as if they're bound to be good for you–in a good way, that is, for they're mild and quite delectable. They're always delicious steamed until tender, after just a few minutes, then treated as you would their relatives, spinach and chard. Among the various cultivars, there's one that's stunning in a salad, Magenta Spreen lamb's-quarters, available from Seeds of Change. It goes from magenta at the base to lilac and finally to green.

Well, I'll be! This is the one I found! What luck!

So what to do with it? Sautee it with shallots, garlic, and a splash of white wine? Chop it up and toss it in a salad? I wanted to use it tonight, but time got the better of me and I ended up throwing together an ol' faithful: blackbean polenta casserole with the diced magda squash, frozen corn, Emerald Valley salsa, goat's milk monterey jack, and a pile of cilantro from the herb garden.

Funny, recipes like the above used to be the norm, made up of some fresh items, some convenience items. Now I feel a stab of guilt as I pull the pre-packaged polenta roll out of the cupboard and the box of Cascadian Farms sweet corn from the freezer. I reach past bags of fresh, local vegetables to grab a plastic container of non-local, pre-made salsa. Well, at least I can feel better about the fact that 1% of the sale of Emerald Valley products go to Humanitarian and Ecological Projects.

And actually, I should feel better about the fact that I ammend the recipe to include fresh ingredients. The original recipe is from Bon Apetit, which I found on Epicurious. The only fresh ingredients on the list:

3/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

2 cloves garlic, minced

I pile in whatever fresh veggies I have on hand, or whatever I feel like adding. Onions, zucchini, tomatos, whatever. Yay me.

Tomorrow I'm supposed to make Palak Paneer to test a recipe for a fellow Mrs. B's cookbook to be. A few things I didn't think about before volunteering:

  1. 1. We have virtually no Indian community here in San Luis Obispo, which means there are no Indian markets. Which means no Paneer. Which means I'm gonna try to make my own.
  3. 2. Slightly ironic, thinks I, that I will attempt to make cheese, seeing as I'm lactarded and all. Lactarded meaning lactose intolerant.
  5. 3. Taylor hates cooked spinach. So I will make the palak paneer, and I will bring it to work tomorrow for coworkers to taste test. Hope the Mexican Cellar workers like Indian food! They can eat it with a tortilla, so that should help.

I'll let you know how it goes. In the meantime, I've got to catch up on my reading!