Studio City

Today, I visited the Sunday farmer's market in Studio City, at the corner of Ventura and Laurel Canyon Blvds.

How often do you get to taste a new fruit? At least, I never heard of the sweet lime. Its name is a bit of a misnomer though. It does not look like a lime. Instead, one could mistake it for a lemon (see picture), though more round than oval. It is has a definite citrus flavor, but it is not very sweet. The flavor is probably more tangerine, but with hints of grapefruit. I got this at the stand of Cliff McFarlin, who brings his fruit fresh from his family's orchards near Fresno. Aside from the sweet lime, he brings all kinds of citrus. He also sells wonderful sundried raisins.

At the Ipatzi nursery, I obtained some lemon grass to grow in the yard. For $3, I expect to have a life time supply. In the grocery store, one can pay almost as much for one packet of old stalks.

These are just the immediate highlights. I brought enough vegetables for several dinners, and I'll report on those over the course of the next week.

West Hollywood Farmer's Market

My first blog post! If it all looks a bit primitive, please give me some time. I'll work on the design, I'll introduce myself better, etc. Right now, I just want to get it started and see where it leads.

Today, I hit the West Hollywood's Farmer's Market and tasted my way through some great goodies.

The discovery of the day was some amazing Kim Chi from Dave's Gourmet Korean Food. I have visited Korea before, and I knew Koreans love their Kim Chi. I did not get it. Today, I got it. It looked great. These fermented vegetable morsels tasted surprisingly fresh and retained their crunch. One particular mixed-vegetable Kim Chi built up pleasant peppery spices in your mouth. After a minute or so, it did get quite hot. Dave was all prepared for this, and he give me a sample of tofu, which neutralized the spiciness just in time. A very nice spicy condiment that plays well with others!

A cherry danish from La Boulangerie was intended as a snack, but it filled me up satisfyingly, and I skipped lunch. Thierry, the owner of La Boulangerie, is clearly someone who loves his craft, and I look forward to exploring more goodies from him. On the way home, I did snack on some wonderful Lemon Almonds from Alex's Fruits and Nuts. Count on a blog item on them in the near future.

I also brought back some beautiful purple heirloom tomatoes from Bonsall Farms, which will serve as a light supper tonight with some wine and cheese.