Changing Seasons at the Market

This post is dedicated to Kim. Thanks for reading, and thanks for encouraging me to get back to taking pictures and writing about my market escapades.

Persimmons are still in season (yay!) but nearing their end (boo).

I still like slicing them up and eating some almonds to start the day.

I've gotten back into drinking PG Tips black tea in the morning... I just bought my second box in 2 months - whereas before this autumn, my stash of tea bags were stale and over 2 years old.

What's not pictured are the ginger cookies that I promptly dunked and devoured prior to the shot.



Despite the fact that I have been promoting the exploration of seasonal foods, the fact that certain things are no longer easily available can be very frustrating!


Case in point: Poblano chiles. Not in season unless they're grown in hothouses. How am I going to make my new favorite and almost weekly recipe of the roasted sweet potatoes with Keffir Lime & Poblano Chiles? Also - I can only find the Keffir Limes in Santa Monica - not Hollywood. But I can usually get the Poblanos at Hollywood... thus forcing me to go to 2 markets.

And this new soup that I made and fell in love with - using Chanterelle mushrooms... next week is the last week for Chanterelles! And they are so darned expensive. $20/lb.!

The apples aren't looking that great anymore - the ones from my favorite apple vendors at See Canyon farms are at the end of their season. The Gold Rush were small, the Pink Ladies (pictured above) were bruised, and I didn't want to get the red apples. But I love that crew: Vinnie cracks me up telling me dirty jokes & stories about Canada & betting on Hockey - and the 2 girls there are funny too. It's such a pleasure to shop there and talk with people who remember you and recognize you. They remember me by now. Their Fujis were still good, and they had mandarins & sapotes (I bought one) & pears. But they are down to 5 varieties of apples when in September they had about 15!

Did you know you can get several different colors of carrots?

I have 2 red skinned varieties here. But neither have red flesh. I wanted the red-fleshed variety for my soup - but a substitution is in order - I couldn't find any.

instead, I have the red-skinned orange carrots, and the "Indigo" carrots - which have a darker red/purplish skin, and a white flesh.

There is a slight difference in flavor - but if you were to blindfold me, I wouldn't be able to detect which was which. but they make for a beautiful presentation!

Here are some Xmas Lima Beans. So-called due to their red and white swirly pattern, I suppose... and the fact that they're readily available in winter.

The title of the soup is "Elegant Barlotti Bean soup with Chanterelles & Chard" but I didn't find the Barlotti beans... However in the notes of the recipe, it said to use the Xmas Limas as a substitute... which I did.

And for yet another substitution, I used the turkey stock that I froze after cooking down the bones of the Thanksgiving turkey - instead of chicken stock. It was so good.