Gorgeous Haul From the Del Ray Farmers Market -- Tastes As Great As it All Looks, Too!

I wasn't planning to hit the farmer's market Saturday. I was heading to the ATM.  I parked a block away so I just HAD to walk through the market to get to the ATM.  It was so worth it!

As I headed toward the tomatoes, to compare them to what my garden has been trying hard to produce in this blistering heat, happily I ran into my bff, who was looking like the very cute pregnant lady that she is, and then made a round of the market with her.  I should have pictures of the berry scone(s) but I had one for breakfast and brought the other to the super-cool Kellee, hairstylist extraordinaire; she of the KILLER cut and color (those little grays showed up when I was 26!).  Kellee always gives me a huge cup of delicious tea (excellent for scone dunking, handily enough). The unbelievable coffee-ish cake-like blackberry cobbler-esque thing, which I told myself  I was buying as a treat for later, well, that thingy barely made it home.  Holy cow, it was crazy good!  Clearly, it is VITAL that I get back to the market soon to I buy another piece so I can photograph it for you.  It's only fair.  It's a big job but I can handle it.

And now on to the macarons. This week I tried  Vanilla Bean (a gorgeous blue with a light and very clear vanilla flavor), Nutella (no explanation needed), Lemon-Lime (more lemon than lime, just perfect) and rose (light and aromatic like a rose tea). I love macarons. They are difficult to make. Ok, they look like triple-black-diamond-difficult to make so I haven't bothered trying.  And now I don't have to because of Mariana's Macarons.  Amazing, perfect, delicious little bites of heaven.  On her website, macarons are defined this way:

The Macaron is a sweet confectionery consisting of two meringue cookies made from a blend of finely ground almond flour, sugar, and egg whites with a buttercream, jam, or ganache filling.   They are lightly crisp on the outside and smooth and creamy in the center.  These naturally gluten-free desserts are available in an assortment of stunning colors and delicious flavors.

Above:  Blue = vanilla bean, cream colored with powdered chocolate = Nutella, swirled yellow & green = lemon-lime, pretty pink = rose flavor

As I walked toward a ten foot table of peaches, the smell was intoxicating.  Then I spied these sweet little funny looking peaches.  The woman held one up and said they are regular sweet white peaches inside, just grown (bred?) into a shape that makes it much easier to eat at your desk. Is this run of the mill smart, or true Dr. Evil genius? Your call. Naturally, I just had to buy some. They are definitely delicious little treats and such fun to eat. They have a curiously handy shape compared to traditionally sized and shaped peaches and nectarines.

 

And now an update from my little garden over the past few days:  over the past few days it has provided lots of my favorite tiny yellow pear tomatoes and a few yellow squash.  I know I should do something different with the squash, but really, it is so amazingly good on the grill, that's what I'll probably do Monday night for dinner. 

There are worse problems to have than deciding how to enjoy your very own home grown, fresh picked squash. 

My wish for you and for me is for this to be the worst problem we encounter all week.

xoxox JPV