Sunday Shopping

It was a bit of an ordeal getting to the Hollywood Farmers Market this morning. First the on-ramp to the Hollywood freeway was closed so we took a very poorly signposted detour through the streets of downtown. As we drove the surface streets, we passed a car which had run off the road and hit a post near a homeless encampment. Larry got out to make sure the driver was okay, which he was, and we continued on our way, finally getting to the market after it opened at 8 a.m.

There were many more shoppers than we're used to, but we did not allow that to dissuade us from our perusal of the organic vegetables. An americano from the Cafecito Organico stand helped soothe our nerves.

I had a nice chat with a young man whose descriptions of the dried beans he grew were exceptional. I bought some scarlet runner beans which he said were very meaty and would be great in a stew on a cool evening.

And Larry played with a puppy in a backpack at the South Central Cooperative Farmers stall, where I picked up two bunches of huge beets with their greens and some beautiful broccoli.

I bought a lot of beets this week because we are going to be eating them raw every day as a way to cleanse our livers and gall bladders of all the stress hormones produced on our weekly trips to the market. 

Here's what we came home with:
1 dozen medium eggs, 2 grapefruit, 2 navel oranges, 24 small tangelos to juice, 1 bunch asparagus, 2 bunches beets with greens, broccoli, the top of a Brussels sprouts plant, 1 portabello mushroom, 4 cremini mushrooms, 2 onions, 3 small plain St. Benoit yogurt, Mike's firehouse cheddar from happy jersey cows, 7 red delicious apples, dried scarlet runner beans, 2 butternut squash, 1 red onion, 10 small sweet potatoes, 3 bartlett pears, 12 beets with no tops, 1 lb Finca Columbia coffee from Cafecito Organico.

The top of a Brussels sprout plant.