Return to the San Diego Public Market

Still thinking about last week's visit prompted us to go here again...

The day started off sunny and ended up drizzling later that afternoon! But us spoiled San Diegans are finally getting a taste of fall right?

Anyhow, let's go back to the market shall we?

Another cool mural we saw under the Coronado Bridge while on our way to Newton Ave...

Just a few more blocks and you hit the East Village and Petco Park...

One of the highlights of our day was meeting Gilbert Quintos of Gilbert and Lee Quintos Farms in Fallbrook. TC bought a pack of four persimmons from his stand. He got to chatting with Bert and asked if he was Filipino. When Bert said "yes", he replied, "Ako rin!" (which means, "me too!").

He was such a nice guy and shared that he is one of ten siblings who immigrated from the Philippines to the U.S. A retired postal worker in his early 50's, he enjoys working the various area farmer's markets and selling his vegetables. I asked why he didn't sell any bittermelon or opo (loofah gourd) squash or other Filipino type vegetables and he said that they don't really sell well. Hmmm, they would in certain areas of San Diego like the South Bay or Mira Mesa, where a large concentration of Filipinos live! A fun note - he also sells "pumpkin bushes" (seen blow in the plastic). These are little branches with tiny dried pumpkins on them. They are only $4 a bunch! I'll have to get some next time as Fall decor. They last a long time he said and are already dried. This type of arrangement would go for three or four times as much at a conventional market or store.

Beautiful beets and beans from Suzie's Farms...

This was from the vendor selling Asian vegetables (nappa cabbage, bok choy, kang kong - aka 'water spinach', etc). He comes from Fresno and was also selling ginger, kabocha squash and eggplants. Isn't Fresno a mighty long way to drive to do a five hour farmer's market?

Of course we had to return to Jenny's booth! Jenny was off that day but the super nice gal working the booth (Kristen) was kind enough to give us an "ANZAC"  (the lighter cookie in the jar) cookie, which was listed as "CRANZAC" on her menu board). Donut muffins were in the cute little bags and were quite tempting,  but I ended up getting macarons again! A note about the ANZAC - it's an acronym for Australian New Zealand Army Corps. These  were originally egg-less biscuits made with rolled oats, syrup and coconut and were popular to give to the troops during WWI.

TC opted to get a Cucumber Lychee lemonade ($2.50).

They also had a "spicy" lemonade ringed with that sweet/sour/hot chili powder that you sprinkle on fruit. But no, TC was not up for that.

Her lemonade matched GIR's skin on her Invader Zim shirt. Her blended drink had pureed lychees and cucumbers with mint and lime juice. Very refreshing but a little too "chunky" for my comfort.

While we were looking at the map, a guy came over to explain all the changes that would be happening over the next year such as bringing in artist studios, planting an urban garden, building a demonstration kitchen and market hall, and so on. These were very ambitious plans and it will be awesome once they come to fruition.

Oh, I also got one of Jenny's trifles - The Chocolate Raspberry ($3)  - Enjoyed later that evening! Chocolate cake on the bottom with mousse, fresh raspberries, and cream on top with tiny little crunchy chocolate balls.

Here were TC's persimmons from Quintos farms ($2 for four). This would be her school snack for the next few days.

A pint's worth of fresh okra (before I roasted them) from Suzie's Farms ($2):

A trio of colorful beans, also from Suzie's Farms ($3 lb/this was $3.75). I loved the look of those purple beans. When I sauteed them later that evening, the color faded to green. Poo. :(

Another treat we tried today were these Medjool Dates which are grown in the Imperial Valley but are processed in Santee ($3.75 for a half pound).

These were amazingly sweet and very sticky!

Here were the macarons from Jenny. I bought two packs of three ($3 each) - chocolate with salted caramel filling and chocolate with raspberry filling. I loved BOTH flavors equally! I wish I could eat them every day without major repercussions to my waistline.

More please...

And here's that ANZAC cookie again...

Jenny's version had dried cranberries in there which were a nice touch, hence her own moniker, "CRANZAC"! The cookie was not crumbly but had a soft feel to them when you broke a piece off. They were still firm enough when you bit into them. We really enjoyed this Australian treat.

These green onions (which were superlong by the way) were $1 from the Fresno/Asian vegetable vendor. Haha, you can see our Costco rotisserie chicken in the background.

From Maciel Farms, I bought two bunches of beets ($2 each) - one red and one yellow. The folks at the booth gave me tips on how to prepare these beet and the greens.

Although I've eaten greens like collards, mustard, and swiss chard, this would be my first time preparing beet greens!

Coming up - the recipes I used to prepare these farm fresh vegetables!

And a little more info about Gilbert Quintos here and his pumpkin bushes here.

Another fun visit to the market! No live music this time, but still lots of people out and about. The vendors are all very nice and seem to enjoy talking to their customers. It's that personal touch that I think draws me to these types of markets, which is ironic given how anti-social I can be at times. I hide it well, heh heh.

Our visit was produce heavy today. As it is de rigeur in any CC family outing, lunch and dessert would be at two separate venues...