Market Shopping

Yesterday I told Larry I was happy to go to the Hollywood Farmers Market alone because we didn't need much food.

I took a bag to hang on my shoulder for all the heavy food like potatoes and citrus, and a bag for my other hand for the greens and strawberries. No problem. I'm strong. And it was a short shopping list.

Apples, potatoes, coffee -- moving through my list. Then I arrived at the Mud Creek Ranch stall and found they had Sierra Gold tangerines which would be great juiced with the oranges left over from last week. Plus they had cherimoyas, and I really wanted to try my cherimoya creme brulée again. I made it at St. Patrick's day, but it was a little solid. I need another try, so I picked a cherimoya that will be ripe on Friday, a good day for dessert.

At Finley farms they had dandelion greens, which would be great with the home-grown chard I was going to make into wilted greens for lunch. And fennel for crudités - Tracie was coming for lunch, and while I was planning chips and salsa as a pre-lunch snack, I wasn't sure if she was on a carb-free kick.

I resisted the wonderful spinach at South Central Farmers Cooperative, but gave in to the beautiful mustard greens from Flora Bella. You can never have too many greens.

Then McGrath Family Farms in Ventura County had small turnips with greens attached, and I remembered an Italian recipe for turnips cooked with their greens. Into my bag they went.

I picked up 2 pounds of chickpeas at Suncoast farms for our bean salad this week, and then found Jorge (the stall next to them) not only had his wonderful grapefruit, but also tangelos -- best juice ever -- and ripe avocados for guacamole during the hockey game. So much for a light day's shopping.

I was still on the hunt for celery. I won't buy celery unless it's organic and we were all out. However, I've found it disappears from the market in some months. Fortunately I had the fennel for crudités.

And at Givens farm stand I found kohlrabi. Tracie had requested it specially because she had read my kohlrabi post and really wanted to try some. Into my bag it went, along with a small box of strawberries, and I was fully weighted down. I gazed longingly at the fava beans at Tutti Frutti, but my arms were happy I had only taken two bags to the market. Next week, Larry will come with me again. After all, you can never have too many vegetables.