for the past 5 years, i’ve pooh-poohed the santa monica wednesday farmers’ market as being expensive and overly crowded and having poor quality produce. which is crazy, because many top chefs shop here and there’s a cookbook featuring many of the farmers who sell their goods here. i attribute my skepticism to my obsessive devotion to the hollywood farmers market. change is hard for me. today, i changed my mind about the SMFM. no, it’s not cheap (although i did get some persian cukes for $2/lb which is rare), but i found some of my favorite vendors and discovered some new ones to which i will return.

for example, burkhart (s side of arizona btwn 3rd and 2nd – most of the good vendors are here) had jujubes today and will have them again for 5-6 weeks. they also had grapes, but i found a new grape vendor – not my hollywood guy – he is scott farms from dinuba, ca. he had 4-5 different varieties and i sampled 1 green and 1 red: the sweet scarlet grapes were firm and not too sweet. i nabbed a few bunches and i also got those tiny green grapes that i love so much – also firm and not too sweet. i tried some red grapes at another vendor, but waaaaayyy too sweet. can’t remember where he was located exactly…but the guy behind the table also works for burkhart.

north of arizona on 2nd is coleman farms. we bought shishito peppers and juliet tomatoes from them last week. i purchased the peppers again today. their smell is so strong they fill my grocery bag with peppery goodness. i can smell them now. too bad the internet isn’t scratch and sniff.

peacock farms, also from dinuba, ca, had early girl tomatoes. i asked if they were dry-farmed but she didn’t know what i was talking about. i bought them anyway. i explained that dry farming is when the roots find their own water source. i failed to mention that this kind of farming makes them way sweeter, but maybe i piqued her interest. if i develop a relationship with this farmer, maybe i can get them to dry farm a crop. :) peacock farms also has lots of great produce – many different kinds in all different colors. i think i will return.

lastly, i found yali pears for $2/lb. that’s significantly cheaper than $4/lb at the ferry plaza in sf. we’ll see just how good/authentic they are.

so, all in all, a successful venture. i only spent $26 and can pretty much guarantee that everything in the picture/on the table will both look beautiful and taste amazing.

and then i spent $80 at sm seafood for my gumbo experiment tonight. which will also, hopefully, be beautiful and amazing.