Market Report: Peas and paradise

Have I mentioned before that I wish I liked radishes? Oh, I guess I have. They come in such beautiful colors and shapes that I can’t stop photographing them, but I just haven’t developed a taste for that radishy sharpness. Any suggestions?

I was at the Ballard farmers’ market yesterday, standing at the Anselmo’s stall, taking my time to pick out the plumpest English pea pods, when I heard a couple of voices behind me — English voices — talking about the peas. I turned to the two men, and made one of those polite, completely unmemorable comments one makes when contemplating produce with strangers at the farmers market. As the older of the two (father and son, I thought) plucked a pea pod from the box, split it open, and popped a couple of peas in his mouth, the younger one said, “You can keep your sugar snap peas; these are the real thing.” One of the ladies from Anselmo’s said that she thought shelling them was just too much work; I replied that it was something I did while doing something else, like watching TV. The younger Brit opined that one should enlist one’s dinner guests to shell the peas. “They want to eat,” he joked, “they’ll shell the peas.” I wonder who shelled the peas for the beautiful meal he prepared with them. (Matt was one of two bloggers I chatted with at the market, but I already knew that Karen was a blogger. Small world.)

As well as shopping for food for this week, I had another mission at the market: to buy a few tomato starts for the Good Neighbor Garden Project. Many farmers were selling tomato plants, so after filling my market bag and stowing it in the car, I returned to peruse the plant options. Oxbow‘s charming pitch for their Sungold starts tickled me and everyone around me, so I thought I’d share it with you:

Have you ever tasted JOY? PERFECTION? PARADISE? — If so, it must’ve tasted a LOT like a Sungold cherry tomato. Sungolds are little bubbles of tropical juice that explode in your mouth. We strongly suggest that you grow some. This is not a sales pitch. This is about your happiness.

Not a sales pitch? This was a perfect sales pitch, funny and evocative, and it would’ve worked on me (I’ve never tasted paradise, and I must admit I’m curious), had I not already picked up all the starts I needed.

And what did I bring home from the market, other than English peas and anecdotes? Our first CSA delivery from Local Roots Farm is this week, so I bought fewer vegetables than I normally would have done. That meant there was enough room in my bag for some fresh gnocchi… but more on that later.

Cauliflower (Sidhu Farms, Puyallup, WA)
Cherries, Burlat (Lyall Farms, Mattawa, WA)
Eggs (Skagit River Ranch, Sedro Wooley, WA)
Gnocchi (diVino Pasta, Seattle, WA)
Halibut (Wilson Fish, La Push, WA)
Ham (Skagit River Ranch, Sedro Wooley, WA)
Milk (Sea Breeze Farm, Vashon Island, WA)
Peas, English of course (Anselmo’s Organic Farms, Snohomish, WA)
Potatoes (Anselmo’s Organic Farms, Snohomish, WA)

Tagged as: NaBloPoMo