I've been hitting the farmers markets hard this summer. It's now a twice a week habit due to the Wednesday market that I discovered in the Castro. It's a tiny market, only a block long with about 15 vendors at most, so for me, that's perfect. I can be in and out in 10 minutes, depending on what I am looking for. There is one cheese vendor who had tastes of this delicious feta, which I finally bought after a couple of weeks of just tasting it when I walked by. It tastes so salty on its own, but in a salad it gives that perfect tang.
Today's lunch salad consisted of spinach, raw corn (shaved off of the cobb right before composing the salad), tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, and some leftover Israeli couscous from earlier in the week. This would be an easy one to add some cooked chicken to, but it's very satisfying as is, with just a few splashes of olive oil and red wine vinegar, salt and pepper.
One of the many cool things about the farmers market, is that you are assured of eating what is seasonal. For example, stone fruits were in abundance, like this incredible peach from Frog Hollow Farms, but there were no apples or broccoli imported from somewhere where they can grow them or from hothouses. And while it may be more expensive than going to your neighborhood grocery store chain, you are assured that each piece of produce will taste great. And if you know it's going to taste great, you are more likely to eat it than forget about it and end up throwing it away at the end of the week. And I consider that to be a savings in the end.
