Food Revolution Day: Join me at the farmers market, hangout with Jamie Oliver & get a free Mercado Bag [sold out]

by Darya Rose | May 9, 2012

Farmers Market Boot Camp

Big news! On May 19th, I’m hosting one last Farmers Market Boot Camp at the San Francisco Ferry Building in support of Food Revolution Day and Jamie Oliver’s foundation.

For those who don’t remember, last year I offered a farmers market tour/class for a few weeks that was really fun and wildly popular. But I hadn’t started it up again this year due to time constraints.

To support Food Revolution Day I’m hosting one last boot camp and donating all the proceeds to Jamie’s foundation. Even better, Quirky is donating a Mercado farmers market shopping bag to everyone who takes the class. How awesome is that?!

Space is limited to only 10 people, so don’t wait to sign up.

Food Revolution Day Farmers Market Boot Camp

What?

The last Summer Tomato Farmers Market Bootcamp

When?

Saturday, May 19th @ 9:30am

Where?

San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers Market

Price?

$40

Hangout with Jamie Oliver

If you can’t make it to San Francisco on May 19th why not just hangout with Jamie in the comfort of your own home? Jamie is hosting a Google+ hangout for Food Revolution Day that will be broadcast live to everyone. For a chance to join the hangout and talk to Jamie himself, all he asks is that you make a simple video describing one meal that revolutionized your life. Jamie will be watching the videos and will pick the winners who get to join him live. For more info check out Jamie’s video below.

There are a handful of us here on the front lines trying to help people get healthy and live longer, richer, happier lives, and it is hard to argue that anyone has had a bigger impact than Jamie Oliver. I have tremendous respect for Jamie and all he’s done to raise awareness for the importance of real food, educating people around the globe about what it means to eat well. That’s why when the Food Revolution Day team asked if I’d be willing to help out, I jumped at the opportunity.

To learn more about Food Revolution Day or host your own event, check out the Food Revolution Day website.

Tags: Farmers Market, farmers market boot camp, Food News, Food Revolution Day, Jamie Oliver, Mercado, News

Farmers Market Update: Boot Camp

by Darya Rose | Jul 10, 2011

Green Zebra Tomatos

This weekend marked the first ever Summer Tomato Farmers Market Boot Camp! A small group of people met up with me at the farmers market for a tour and lessons on how to tackle shopping when overwhelmed with awesomeness.

First Farmers Market Boot Camp

I had such a good time with the class that I scheduled another one in two weeks, and I expect to be doing more throughout the summer. If you’re in San Francisco for one of them I’d love to meet you.

Dirty Girl Strawberries

We went a little nuts today, I’ll admit. I got so excited explaining to the group how good everything is I bought way more stuff than I normally do. I don’t regret a bit of it, and I’ll certainly eat well this week, but if you compare today’s shopping list (below) with previous weeks you’ll see what I mean. It was amazing.

Tokyo Turnips

SF has officially migrated to summer. The stone fruits (those with pits like cherries, plums, peaches, etc.) are out of control delicious right now. At the sampling dishes we all had the same experience: 1) Gently choose fruit piece with tongs, 2) place fruit in mouth, 3) moment of silence, 4) “Oh my god. I have to buy those.” Today it was the yummy rosa pluots that had us all hypnotized.

Yummy Rosa Pluots

Fruit is always spectacular, but for my day-to-day cooking I’m most excited about all the fresh greens, vegetables and herbs.

Lemon Cucumbers

I’ve been making the best salads with radishes, turnips, carrots, cucumbers and other bits of deliciousness.

Summer Tomatoes

Today I even got some green zebra heirloom tomatoes (top) to add to the salad mix.

Salad Fixins

The shear volume of herbs is also incredible. Today we found not one, not two, but four different varietals of basil. There was sweet Italian basil, Thai basil, purple basil and lemon basil. Who knew?

Lemon Basil

I also found chervil at the market today, an herb I’ve read about but never tried (pics weren’t that great). Any serving suggests are welcome.

Purple Basil

Other summer vegetables are also starting to appear. For the past few weeks I haven’t been able to get enough summer squash. The yellow and green zephyr squash I’ve been getting are so good when cooked with eggs I sometimes mistake it for cheese. I know it sounds weird, but it’s something about the chewy texture and earthy, salty, sweet texture that puts the zucchini I grew up eating to shame. These days you might be lucky enough to find squash with their blossoms still attached.

Zucchini Flowers

I was excited to see yellow wax and green beans this week, they always look so inviting it’s almost impossible to resist digging your hand into the basket and grabbing some to take home.

Yellow and Green Beans

Oh yeah, and I discovered a variety of kale today I’d never heard of before. Anyone familiar with spigariello kale? I didn’t have room for it in my bag this week, but I’ll probably pick some up next time I see it.

Spigariello Kale

Every week I see more varieties of peppers, which makes me ecstatic. Peppers might be my favorite summer treat. These padrons are a little ripe for my taste (they’re best when dark green), but they sure look pretty.

Padrons

I also saw corn for the first time this week, and I went ahead and grabbed an ear, just in case. I’m thinking I’m going to throw it in a stir fry with peppers, beans, squash, cilantro and tomatoes. Yum.