Tags
avocados, cherries, kohlrabi, market, peaches, salad, vegetables, Vegetarian
Sandra and Kathy sharing real estate
Though still a bit frazzled having arrived just over a week ago, I’m back in California for an extended visit (sissy getting married!) and finding myself assuredly falling back into old habits. The commute to work first veers towards grabbing a convenient cup of coffee for the drive; gym clothes, work shoes, and all other essentials now reside in my (borrowed) car; and I thoroughly enjoy being able to order things such as soy lattes or buckwheat organic spinach crepes at the farmers’ market.
Memorial Day weekend brought about a mini reunion – old friends, new friends, crisscrossing circles, kiddies, babies, and adults alike. Best of all, Sandra and Lolo made the drive up to Norcal to partake in the weekend festivities.
We first drew ambitious plans of cooking up a storm at a friend’s backyard BBQ. However, as the weekend and time quickly passed us by, Sandra and I settled to raid the Campbell Farmers’ Market for the freshest of veggies and the sweetest of fruits in order to toss together a few simple but tasty salads for our party contribution.
Cherries in season at the Campbell’s Farmers Market
I defaulted to creating a super-sized version of kohlrabi slaw, but substituted sesame seed oil and a touch of olive oil for the fish sauce to accommodate the vegans, and added just a splash of rice wine vinegar (3:1 ratio of oil to vinegar). Of course, some extra found goodies were also added: chopped green onion, cilantro, rainbow carrots, cucumber, and pickled ginger/beets (found at a kraut stand that additionally offered kimchi and pickled jalapenos). The ginger/beets painted my originally color diversified salad with a uniform shade of magenta, but nonetheless added great crunch with just a hint of “sauer.”
Kohlrabi slaw bathed in magenta.
Sandra and Lolo endeavored together on a beautiful chopped veggie salad and an additional fruit salad. The chopped salad, lightly tossed in a lemon and olive oil, with a pinch of salt and pepper included a variety of mixed greens, cherry heirloom tomatoes, oven roasted baby beets, half a pound worth of shaved parmesan, and a Sandra-requirement… two jumbo Haas avocados. We desperately searched the market for perfectly ripened avocados, and next a Trader Joe’s, but finally sped into trusty Whole Foods as the last resort. Not the first time a Whole Foods has saved the day!
The fruit salad nicely balanced out our array. The farmers market yielded wonderfully sweet and seasonal fruits that filled two big bowls with strawberries, cherries, blackberries, blueberries, and juicy white and yellow peaches (plus a squeeze of lime juice to macerate everything).
lovely fruit salad
Asparagus waiting to go on the grill
Yes, we know – it’s been a while since Sandra and I have made a squeak in the blog-o-sphere. But hopefully the days of being MIA are behind us as the fantastic weekend together brought about a few new ideas and delicious inspirations… stay tuned!
baconbiscuit212 said:
That’s so funny about how quickly you can fall into old habits after living abroad. When I moved back from Paris, the first thing I did at the airport was make a beeline for Starbucks to order a half-caff-half-soy-sugar-free-caramel-macchiato-easy-on-the-foam.
I don’t really like Starbucks, nor would I ever really drink something like that. I just wanted to order the most complicated thing that I could think of because this was America gosh darn it! and I could. The beautiful thing? The woman didn’t even blink when I asked for such a weird drink. She just Magic Markered it on the cup and sent me down the line.
It looks like you got an amazing haul at the farmers market! Everything looks great. And who can blame a girl in California for wanting avocados!
Kathy said:
My husband has been teasing me that he spent all this time converting me to unadulterated espresso and as soon as I’m back in Cali, my drink of choice becomes a medium soy latte w/ an extra shot and some cinnamon – downed in the car during the morning commute to the office, of course. That’s classic with your extraordinary Starbucks order that seems totally ordinary! I do love being back in Cali, though – really appreciating the amount and quality of variety that’s sometimes hard to find abroad.
baconbiscuit212 said:
Haha! One of the most frustrating things I found about living in Europe was that I was always being told that I couldn’t have something some way because that wasn’t how it was supposed to be. Like how I had an argument with a British server who refused to take my order for a medium-rare steak (we compromised on medium, but it came to be on the well-done side of medium).
That has to be the most refreshing and underrated thing about America. If you want to go into a gas station and self-serve yourself Mountain Dew, Cherry Coke, and Sweet Tea all in the same 48 ounces cup, you can.
Markets too! European markets are amazing, but they don’t seem to have the same enthusiasm for a million different varieties of heirloom peaches all at the same time that we do
Kathy said:
So true… during lunch, Sandra asked that her omelette be cooked scrambled style, versus the traditional fold-over with things stuffed in the middle – and the cafe smiled and obliged. Imagine trying to make that request elsewhere!
Actually, now that you’ve mentioned it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a self-serve soda machine in Europe! huh.
baconbiscuit212 said:
Right?
Self-service fountain drinks? That’s freedom, baby. Socialized gas stations have no self-serve dispensers
PushDumpFatButton said:
Reblogged this on Push Dump Fat Button.
Sandra And Kathy's Corners said:
Thank you for the reblog!!!!