Health
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Better Than Butternut: Roasted Delicata Squash Recipe
10 Simple Ways To Eat Less Without Noticing
Juicing: Stupid and Pretentious or Nourishing and Enlightening?
10 Tasty Carbs That Won’t Make You Fat
How To Start Working Out When You Don’t Like To Exercise
Focus More on Your Brain and Less on Your Diet if You’re Serious About Losing Weight
Home Court Habits: The Secret to Effortless Weight Control
10 Reasons You Aren’t Losing Weight When You Think You’re Doing Everything Right
How To Burn More Calories Without Breaking A Sweat
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Foodists
Farmers Market Update: Spring Ahead
spinach basket
Tonight we are supposed to adjust our clocks and spring ahead into longer, warmer days. And judging by the bustling crowds at the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, daylight savings has arrived just in time.
The market was packed today. I went a little later than normal, but I think the reason for the crowds was the beautiful, sunny weather. Spring is clearly in the air and sprightly greens are all the rage. 
It is wonderful to see so much excitement over broccoli shoots, asparagus spears, baby kale and green garlic (to name a few of this week’s farmers market treasures). In fact, people were so captivated by all the vegetables today the Girl Scout’s cookie stand was entirely deserted! (Hooray for vegetables!)
Shortly after beginning my own shopping spree, I was “double dog dared” to take the Wild Radish Rapini Challenge by Knoll Farms. The deal was that whoever was willing to buy a 1 lb bag of wild radish rapini ($5) and try their recipe (free) would be guaranteed to love it. If the greens did not live up to your expectations, you could bring back the recipe the following week and get your $5 back. Could I turn this down?
I ended up only buying half a pound (a whole pound is a lot for one girl), but I’m excited about it! Their recipe is “coconut sesame” and sounds interesting. Stay tuned for the outcome.
On the citrus front, the season is in its final hurrah. Late season fruits like tangelos and kumquats are finally peaking, while pomelos and grapefruits are gracefully bowing out. The $1/lb navel oranges at Hamada Farms are still amazing though. This might be the best deal at the market right now.
I will end by saying it was really nice to be back in my element today. As you know, I was out of town last weekend and when I returned I had to go the week with minimal fresh produce. I managed to survive, but it wasn’t easy 😉 
Today’s purchases:
- Wild radish rapini (Knoll Farms)
- Dino kale (Capay Organics)
- Collard greens (Capay Organics)
- Carrots (Star Route)
- Thyme (Star Route)
- Asparagus (Zuckerman’s)
- Kiwi (Four Sisters Farms)
- Navel oranges (Hamada Farms)
- Meyer lemons (Hamada Farms)
- Clementines (Hamada Farms)
- Broccoli shoots (Chue’s)
- Sweet onions (Chue’s)
- Garlic (Chue’s)
- Enoki mushrooms (Far West Fungi)
- Dried porcini mushrooms (Far West Fungi)
- Pan epi loaf (Acme Bread)
- Bella Donovan (Blue Bottle Coffee)
Is it spring in your city yet?
That double-dog-dare sounds like so much fun!!!! Did they have photocopied recipes or something for you to take? I don’t ever think I’ve even seen rapini; now I’m so curious to know what it is like. You’re farmers market sounds like it is so alive……
Wow, what is that violet & green leafy thing in the last picture? Its beautiful! I'm pretty sure that it is spring everwhere here on the west coast, I'm not really sure how you midwesterners/east-coasters survive the long winters. You sure do take great pictures though, those cara cara's look so rich; were they sweet at your market?
Hi Darya,I enjoy your Farmers’ Market posts. It is amazing that you have them all year round.I like the idea of the wild raddish rappini challenge with a money back guarentee. Who could refuse that? I wish that the Girl Scouts could be a little more progressive and sell something besides cookies.
Can you imagine the girl scouts selling broccoli, or brussel sprouts or something?! That would be hilarious, they would have gone out of business years ago. I but the whole thing started as a giant bake sale or something though, with everyone making cookies; now look at what its become; $4 boxes of refined calories, without any of the LOVE baked into em! They’ve even been sanitized; they changed all the original names to more descriptive ones, like Samoas are now called ‘Caramel Chews’ or something like that. Thanks Meg, what a funny thought….
I never liked Broccoli much, but I think it has high nutritional value and cant be skipped. Thanks for the update.
I know this isn’t what I was supposed to take from this post, but mmmm Girl Scout Cookies!Obviously the rest sounds delicious, too!
Are the girl scout cookies made out of real organic girl scouts or cheap artificially flavored ones?It’s definitely not spring yet…it snowed a little last week and the temps are a little low. Great veggie chili weather…The sun is starting to rise a bit earlier, so it’ll be here soon enough…
@KarinTotally fun. I will post details this week when I share the recipe :)—–@heathyliving That is red kale. I would have bought some but I already had a ton of kale in my bag. Maybe next week.The cara caras were good, but not as good as the navels. —–@MegThanks for dropping by! I’m glad you like my market post. They don’t usually get a ton of comments, but I do hope they influence how people shop. Give me a buzz if you’re ever in SF and I’ll show you around the market!—–@ScottHilarious. The vegetables totally trump Girl Scouts in SF. Hooray for California!—–@AnonI’m convinced that we actually only like the idea of Girl Scout cookies. They are so sweet I am not even tempted by them anymore. If you are in SF, drop by Tartine bakery and you may never want a Girl Scout cookie again ;)—–@MattThey are made out of real Girl Scouts, but I doubt they are organic ;)Love the musical selection btw, wonderful way to end my evening.