San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market on a Saturday afternoon.
It’s been two weeks since I made it to the farmers market and almost a month since I’ve been to the Saturday Ferry Plaza Market. I like to visit this market once a month to stock up on things that I can’t normally find at the Fort Mason Farmer’s Market. After a really stressful workweek, I was looking forward to hanging out at the market yesterday. Though, I made a rookie mistake and went one hour before closing time. Almost everything was picked over or just gone. Also, there were more people then usual at the market since the weather was super nice. Short spring dresses and sandals nice.
I was being hard on myself for showing up so late to farmers market and started to explain the farmer at Eatwell Farm about my morning. All he said was “It’s okay, it doesn’t really matter.” I smiled and agreed. He then asked to see my wrists and dropped a few droplets of lavender essential oil onto them. That just made my day.
I love cooking with lavender. It adds magic to food. Even though culinary lavender isn’t expensive, it tastes luxurious. And you only need a little bit for flavor. I discovered the power of lavender in food while in college when I made a simple meal for a friend using Herbs de Provence, which has lavender as one of the herbs in it. He was really impressed and couldn’t put his finger on that flavor. Lavender has been my secret ingredient eversince. Lavender has also long been used for its medicinal properties in Eastern medicine. I suffered from Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) in college and natural remedies were my best cures. I used lavender in a variety ways to soothe and calm my system. Lavender helped me sleep easier, reduced my stomach spasms, and aided in concentration. (Ayurvedically, IBS is experienced by Vata constitutions and lavender is balancing for Vatas.)
Unfortunately, I didn’t any pictures of the lovely lavender Eatwell Farms had. I did buy a bunch and will save 1/3 of the flowers for cooking and put the rest on my bedside stand.
I also got my hands on really fragrant herbs.
Flowering sage- Eatwell Farms
Spearmint- Star Route Farms
Sadly, I found out that last week was the last of the Cara Cara oranges. They were my best fruit find in the entire last year. If I had known, I would have had Satish stop by the market last week and grab as many of the Cara Caras as possible. At least cherries are here now.
I went a little late, so the cherries were practically all gone.
Since we have been working around the clock, popcorn has become our go-to snack. I would never eat processed, microwaveable popcorn. We pop ours over the stove. It takes two minutes and we can flavor it with whatever we are in the mood for: extra virgin olive oil, Irish butter, lavender salt, smoked paprika, etc.
Blue popping corn makes a for a great, whole grain snack.-Tierra Vegetables
I also bought hummus to snack on with vegetables -Affi’s Marin Gourmet
Sweet William flowers, the same ones Kate Middleton used in her wedding bouquet to marry Prince William at the Royal Wedding. (We also released the Royal Wedding game.)
The warm weather made me crave a refreshing, crisp salad. -Twin Girl Farms
Fiddlehead Fern- Far West Fungi
Club Dine In! is on Twitter and Facebook. Follow @clubdinein for daily health, fitness, and social news, recipes and delicious tips! Join the Club Dine In! community on Facebook to connect with like-minded individuals and find out about exclusive Club Dine! events. Be sure to sign-up to receive posts and updates straight into your inbox!
Club Dine In! 