Wonderful Farmers' Market In Monterey

I've previously mentioned I'm at a conference in Monterey while my family fends for itself from the Whole Foods deli.  At the end of today's meetings, I had a chance to stroll the weekly market here.  How refreshing to see all that lovely summer produce still abundantly available in this land of year round growing.  I even saw artichoke blossoms - stunning purple flowers bursting out of the opening artichoke (although isn't the artichoke itself the blossom of the artichoke plant?)!  I'll be back to the land of butternut squash soon enough.

Farmers' Markets - The View From Monterey

While my starving family struggles on their own (well, technically "its own") back in Boulder, I just got a chance to check out the farmers' market in Monterey CA, which runs all year round in this farming paradise (think Salinas Valley, Steinbeck, Earthbound Farms - you get the picture). The market here is pretty big, at least three long blocks, and includes more crafts and even more prepared foods than we see in Boulder. As for the produce, in addition to what we expect at this time of year, I saw tons of strawberries, grapes, persimmons, figs, and some artichokes. There was a long table of very interesting veggies, many unfamiliar to me, that I couldn't inspect more closely, as I wasn't buying, and the table was exceedingly crowded with a predominantly Asian clientele. I'd love to know more about what those things were. Probably the biggest surprise for me was the "Roti Rosti" truck - a truck with its side panel flipped up to reveal hundreds of chickens roasting on spits, right on the side of the truck. And there was a line to get them. So I'm off for dinner out (although the sample of naan with some sort of eggplant sauce I had at the India Cuisine booth was mighty tempting), the family back in Boulder gets to cope on its/their own. Hey, I left them with plenty of leftovers, including a beautiful chowder and some roasted chicken, and there's still that option of the excellent deal on a large cinque formaggio pizza at Whole Foods.