delectation

Alemany Farmer's Market

I managed to get to the Alemany Farmer's Market today, despite a latish start (I can't/ won't let myself get up from bed before 9am on the weekends...). I arrived around noon, and found parking relatively easily (perhaps something to do with a latish start?). It was simply gorgeous: a great San Francisco summer, cool and dry in the shade, but blissfuly warm in the sunshine. I wandered about sans sleeves and took in the lovely stalls, decorated by the Precita Eyes Mural collective; reveled in the wonderful and cheap seasonal produce, and later on took a side detour to check out the other awesome graffitti surrounding the market.

In season at the market: summer stone fruits -- absolutely huuuge fuzzy peaches, nectarines, plums and pluots. I could not help myself and bought 4 pounds of peaches -- 2 pounds each at different stalls, all the while making a light lunch of tasting the samples every good vendor sets out. There was eggplant of all kinds, shapes and colours: round, thin and long, oval, greeny, striped; or stark ghostly white and plump like little ghosts. I loved the streaked, striped ones -- purple with slashes of cream, or the mottled greeny round dumplings of thai eggplants... There were oodles of peppers, hot and sweet; bursting heirloom tomatoes; bitter melons, mysterious unknown greens, and pale zucchinni the colour of seafoam...

I loved the flowers at this stall the best -- huge selection, and cheap ($3 to $3.30 for a bunch of blooms that would sell for $6-$8 at your neighborhood flowershop...)! The little old couple who cut me a slice of asian pear, the amazing produce, the smiling, cheerful vendors, the shoppers toting their bulging bags of fruit and vegetables, the sun smiling down on us all, indeed made for an absolutely perfect morning. Posted by claudine at August 7, 2004 09:14 PM