Cauliflower Renaissance at the San Francisco Ferry Building, Farmer's Market

Cauliflower Romanesco is a real fantasy vegetable
Read more about this darling crucifer

Cauliflower dates back to the 1600's. It was a favorite of Louis XV mistress, the Comtesse du Barry. the  Like broccoli,bok toy, and brussels sprouts it's a member of the cabbage family - often called the crucifer family.

Brassica oleracea var. botrytis
Purple Cauliflower? Read more

Daydreaming About Summer in the Land of Fruits and Nuts

Folks used to think fruits and nuts when they thought of California. Now when I tell people where I'm from, they think silicon.

Still, even in Silicon Valley, which is much cooler than the great Central Valley of California,  we still grow 'em. Both damson plums and walnuts  grace my yard and serve the local population of birds and squirrels, not to mention the occasional raccoon, possum or skunk, well.

If we're really lucky we even get a few.

California on a Plate (What's for Supper?)

We're California Dreaming
When it Comes to Supper

Our favorite no-decision supper is salad with everything handy. Tonight that included typical local produce....
* Strawberries from Hollister
* Lettuce also likely from Gilroy/Hollister
* Avocados - Some of them show up in our local farmer's market, but I'd guess this Hass was from farther away Southern California
*Walnuts grown and harvested, within a hundred miles of here
* Turkey, which thrives in Petaluma as well as our Central Valley. According to California Fast Facts and Trivia, "More turkeys are produced in California than in any of the other states in the U.S."
*Even the Ak-Mak crackers I crumbled on my salad just after I snapped this photo with my cell phone, have been produced in California for four generations

There were a few exotics...It's a bit early for tomatoes around here, and I'm pretty sure that the dried cranberries don't grow in any of our bogs.

Stop by, and bring your fork.

Pedaling Home:The California Shopper

At our local Farmer's Market,
I filled my bike basket with
CA persimmons, tomatoes, narcissus and
a locally grown orchid

The landlady of our vacation flat rental in the Trastevere neighborhood of Rome, a few years back, told me she pitied Americans, as we have no open air markets. When I told her that in California we did indeed have such markets, she laughed at me and told we didn't. Such markets, she told me, are one of many things that makes Italians more fortunate than those we live in the U.S.

Yes, I know how lucky I am to be able to pedal home with my basket full of produce from our local farmer's market.

A Few Links for San Francisco Bay Area Farmer's Markets

http://www.localharvest.org/menlo-park-farmers-market-M3662

http://sanfrancisco.about.com/od/fooddrink/ss/sffarmersmarket_2.htm