I bought some fresh Bay Leaves from this man. How could I not? I knew they would keep and they were PERFECT. Look at these little babies in the bag above. Little miniature lettuces picked up by a restauranteur who let me take a peek. Oh, my gosh! I am so inspired. I was so frustrated that I was finding myself at the market with no place to create and cook after my visit. Talk about having to garner discipline!
I also bought a bundle of rosemary from him because it was so healthy and beautiful. I still have it and it is over a month later, and still lovely in the paper bag. Believe it. Yes, I have used some.
Look at these blossoms! I was literally quivering out of my skin with the thrill of seeing them here. Why don’t we have these in Edmonton?
Then there was the seafood booth. These items were all fresh. None of them were previously frozen. Each little delicacy was resting on ice. How I wanted to pinch these little cheeks and then sautéthem for supper. Serving them on a bed of fresh market greens would be perfect.
My fish soup at home is made from frozen fish heads. What am I missing? And, I had never heard of this kind of seaweed salad. The booth was too busy to ask for a sample. If it was good, I would buy plenty, but not without tasting. Not today, anyway.
Everywhere there were homemade seasonings and salts and sauces and such that had zillions of varieties. How do you pick? What do you taste? I was just too overwhelmed to even get into it with this kind of thing. Pick a couple of hits, and feature those. What is all this about? It is just too much!
The organic garlic was a piece of art. And the brown bags and paper baskets are so evocative of my past that it just felt good to be near them.
If I didn’t know what something was, or how to use it, I would just ask the person buying it, and usually they were very open and friendly about sharing their ideas. There was a host of unknown Asian greens, like the esoi sim above, and for the most part, people seemed to be purchasing them to use them creatively in salads. I actually “googled” it, and cannot find a bit of information on it. Others had special dishes in mind I had never heard of. Tasting was welcome, but like smelling too much perfume, after awhile it was just too overwhelming.
I am usually not a taster of what I know already, at the market, but the white peach was thrust in my face with such enthusiastic passion I could not refuse. Honestly, I have never tasted a “peachier” peach. It was juicy, and ripe, but not soft. The flavour was bright and strong. YUMMERS. I turned around to tell Lauren about them, and she was already in the buying line.
A statue of Ghandi is in the middle of the market draped in laural leaves. Ah, the tomatoes. The first thing you notice is the viney fragrance in the air. These tomatoes smell really great. All colours, all shapes. How do you pick? Aparently, you do not. They had a mixture of varieties packed together in plastic clamshells. Of course, celebrate the harvest!
These were calling everyone’s name. Lauren succombed, thankfully.
The red and yellow striped bean is the new “in” vegetable these past few seasons, for sure. I don’t believe they taste as good as the green ones, but that is a personal preference thing.
This is artichoke country. They were everywhere, and the small ones looked divine! The fresh organic fowl also looked really beautiful.
The prices directly above are certainly higher than at home. Thought our local farmers would be interested in these prices. I pay just under $5.00 a dozen for my organic farm raised eggs in Edmonton. These are in American dollars which wasn’t too different this past August when we were there.
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