Farmer's Market

I looooove to grocery shop. I think my love for grocery shopping started in college when I was a personal assistant for a family and was actually paid to do all their shopping at fancy stores like Gelsons ("when in doubt Katie, just buy the more expensive brand") and the "Cheese Store of Beverly Hills" ($85 truffle salt!!!!!).

But back to reality.

One of my absolute favorite things about living in San Francisco is the way I shop for food here. In LA, everyone makes a huge trip to the grocery store once a week and expects that food to last them all week. This always results in most of one's food spoiling thus less healthy eating habits because all you have left are starches and packaged stuff. Now I go shopping almost every day. Of course, I still make the weekly or so trips to Trader Joes for "the basics" (pastas, sauces, canned tomatoes/beans, the Kalamata olive oil I like, cereals etc) but I tend to buy all of my fresh stuff the day of. Market Mayflower is a block away from my apartment and they have great fresh produce for reasonable prices, so I tend to just pick up a bunch of broccoli or salad fixings etc on my way home from work. I find this experience incredibly liberating because I don't have to plan out my menus for the entire week for fear of wasting food and precious dollars.

The BEST day of the week for shopping, however, is Thursday because that's when the Farmer's Market comes to the Financial District. I go just about every week with my partner in crime Katie Quinn and I always walk away happy. Plus, almost everything there is organic and you get to meet the families of the people who own the farms and I enjoy the general "feel good" atmosphere. Here are some photos:


Can't you feel the "feel goodness"???


The FM is held in the Crocker Galleria and has a pretty glass roof so you sort of feel like you're outside, but you stay dry if it rains! hurrah! I purchased: 3 heads of organic broccoli from the stand pictured here, about 5 of those little red/yellow potatoes (organic), 3 red beets and 3 yellow beets (organic), 4 pink lady apples and an over priced yet too delicious to pass up spinach Bolani from the pushy Afghanis.

I also accepted a free sample from the date guys who are a bit creepy and bit into it and hurt my tooth on the pit. Damn you date guys!

Last night (Saturday) I made a tasty roasted beet salad with carrots and cilantro. Katie Q gave me the recipe from a yoga magazine. It's pretty good and very colorful. It's not a mind blowing salad, but it's very different. The dressing is just olive oil, cilantro leaves, lemon juice (I put in about twice as much as the recipe suggests) and a bit of soy sauce. I think it might be good with some dried basil or something added...next time.