Union Square Farmers' Market

[oyceter]

I still have blisters from yesterday, and taping band-aids over them do not help! Woes. Also, buying two liters of juice was probably not the best of ideas, given walking to and from the subway and aforementioned blisters.

On the other hand.... HEIRLOOM TOMATOES! Heirloom tomatoes that I have not seen in my Bay Area market before! I promptly forgot the names for all of them, but I have these long red and green ones that look vaguely like peppers, ovoid purple ones, extremely wrinkly red ones, extremely wrinkly red ones with pointy bottoms, red zebras, round yellow ones that are not pineapple or peach or oxford tomatoes, and lots of wee cherry tomatoes in a variety of colors! I am so excited! New tomatoes! So many!

I also bought wee Tristar strawberries (OMG cutest thing ever!), which are slightly less sweet than the ones at home but still very good (and wee! and cute!), blueberries, two-colored sweet corn (there is no white corn here. I am baffled), and peaches.

Sadly, although there were romanos and haricots vert and cranberry beans and wax beans, there were no peas. This means I have missed pea season in two separate states. It is a tragedy!

(I realize I am hypocritical, as a) I had a chance to go to an NY market and b) I missed pea season because I was in Taiwan eating awesome food. But still. I mourn my peas. I only got a week of them before I left for Taiwan and THAT IS NOT ENOUGH. Now I will have to wait until sugar snaps start coming in.)

I also met up with an old co-worker for lunch at Basta Pasta, and we bonded over how odd we feel as Californians in New York. I then met with more New York culture shock in the market as I discovered that apples are out here! Like, many! Different kinds! Already! (New Yorkers, you can start mocking me oh, say, starting from last week.) And the variety of heirlooms has me incredibly jealous!

There are also lots of different plums here, but I am somewhat baffled by the lack of white peaches (possibly I just didn't see them). And no pluots! Are they out of season? Or not in season? As heresluck likes to say, California seasons are freaky and weird.

I feel Food Network should do a show based entirely on farmers' markets around the country and/or world. They would have an audience of me!

Comments

[gwynnega]

I love heirloom tomatoes so much. I need an heirloom tomato icon...

[oyceter]

Tomatoes! Made of win!

You would like NH, then

[bellatrys.livejournal.com]

We have lots of people doing heirloom tomatoes up here, and heirloom other things too (not so much heirloom apples yet, unfortunately, but that's being worked on.)

One of my best farmers' market experiences was getting heirloom blackberries from 150-year-old blackberry canes - the farm's been continuously in existence growing and sell fruits for that long!

[gwyneira.livejournal.com]

I feel Food Network should do a show based entirely on farmers' markets around the country and/or world. They would have an audience of me!

And me! Unfortunately, the little farmers' markets around here aren't very good, and I never have time to go over to Pike Place Market. It's not all farmers, but they have special farm days during the summer.

I got seven pluots in my organic fruit box today! (They're from California, though; I've rarely been able to find local ones.)

[oyceter]

Eeeee pluots! I had apriums for the first time last week in CA and they are really amazing.

[delux-vivens.livejournal.com]

New Yorkers, you can start mocking me oh, say, starting from last week.

*chuckles*

[oyceter]

Distinct seasons! They are strange and baffling!

[oracne.livejournal.com]

If the blisters have attained the full of fluid stage, you can drain them with a sterilized needle and dress with bandaids and antibiotic salve or some such.

[oyceter]

I, uh, think I accidentally popped one while walking today. Siiiiiigh.

[oracne.livejournal.com]

At least they feel better afterwards...

Bandages with salve are supposed to make them heal faster.

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

Huh. We have pluots up here, and had them in Maryland last week, even though I couldn't eat any due to flu (sigh). So I don't see why they shouldn't exist in NYC, which is pretty much directly between the two.

[oyceter]

Oh huh, I have no idea!

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

I feel Food Network should do a show based entirely on farmers' markets around the country and/or world.

I would watch this show!

There are always apples. New York is apple country. Kids go apple-picking on camp and school trips. I've done it, even.

I've seen white peaches in farmers' markets here, although they're less common than yellow peaches or black or red plums. I've never seen pluots here although occasionally there are "exotic" plum varieties (I am thinking of these small but conical very blue plums I got one year), so you'd think people could grow them. I end up having to get all my pluots from supermarkets, imported from other places.

[oyceter]

My imaginary show has an audience of three!

Oooo apple-picking! I went with rilina, which was exciting, but I bet there are even more here!

Oh, I am sad about the pluots. I was hoping I had just missed them, since I remembered eating some at your place, but I guess not.

[nojojojo.livejournal.com]

I would follow a farmers' market show religiously. Then I would go on a pilgrimage, and eat my way across the nation. Om nom nom.

[oyceter]

Me too! They could totally market it with a promised tour!

in re blisters - look for the special J&J bandaids

[bellatrys.livejournal.com]

designed to go on blisters - they are large, kind of off-white, and have a bubble of cushioning goop in them to protect the sore spot, and they don't have the same nasty adhesive that regular bandaids do - they are great for preventing blisters, too (and imo better than regular bandaids for everything but pricy alas.)

They feel disturbingly scifi and have a Trekish look to them, but that's a minor problem. They come in a teal box like this (http://www.sq1med.com/eMerchantPro/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=0&idproduct=83).

(Since I have no working car, blisters are a Pertinent Issue in my life.)

Re: in re blisters - look for the special J&J bandaids

[oyceter]

Oh, thanks for the tip!

You're welcome - I hope they help!

[bellatrys.livejournal.com]

I was fairly skeptical at first, but desperate (just had discovered that a pair of dress shoes which seemed okay in the store was ankle-and-bunion ripping after two hours wearing) enough to spend what felt like too much money on a potential solution, and it worked like a charm.

They are also pretty waterproof, so long as you put them on dry skin first, they will stay on through a couple of showerings. The fact that they feel like, well, sea slug skin, or maybe alien pleather, when you're applying them is my only real complaint, but I'm weirdly fussy about touching things with unexpected textures, always have been since childhood, so it may not bother you or most people at all.