Moroccan Salad

Salads with an innovative mix of ingredients are never boring.  But they can be a bit too much prep work to motivate me to compose a really good one at home.  So I could not resist when I read the description of the Moroccan Chicken Salad offered at a restaurant recently.  In addition to a modest portion of chicken bits, it also featured

• chopped Medjool dates
• chunks of roasted butternut squash
• hard boiled eggs
• julienned carrot
• roasted beets
• toasted almonds
• avocado chunks

all tossed in a champagne vinaigrette dressing with romaine lettuce.

Could all that together really work?  It did, and surprisingly well.

Composting in Public

I had heard through the grapevine that the city of San Francisco had started curbside compost collection for its residents, and either offered the service or required it of restaurants.  These both seemed progressive and sensible, resource-conservative steps for a major city to take.  Manageable.  And I have been to conferences and catered meetings fairly often where the food provider places bins for trash, recycling, and compost out in the serving area for guests to use.  In all these situations, average people seem to either catch on quickly without help or manage to sort their napkins, plates, scraps, etc properly with a modicum of technical assistance and peer pressure.

So I must confess that finding the three-bin system in a public space, untended, still surprised me.  I ran across the containers inside Ferry Plaza, on a day it was overflowing with visitors, most of them shopping for food.  Not a soul hovering nearby to help the clueless distinguish compost from trash.  Could mere signage do the trick?  In fact, a peek inside the bins revealed as accurate a sort (it's never perfect, regardless of the setting or the crowd) as I usually see at managed events. 

While I always like to see materials handled properly to avoid waste, what pleased me most was the publicness of the set-up.  For the thousands of people who visit this site (and others like it throughout the city), and may not even have municipal composting available at home, it sets a great example.  Nothing jumps the obstacles placed before a theory (composting smells, attracts bugs, requires too much work, etc) like visiting decision-makers going home and saying, "Well, I saw it working."

Ferry Plaza - Indoors

Three days a week, the outdoor farmers market at Ferry Plaza in San Francisco draws locals and tourists alike.  What about the other four days?  On those 'off' times, well, it's just a great indoor market well worth seeing on its own.
The Plaza hosts an impressive collection of long-time vendors of food and food-related items.  A few notable shops include:

• Farwest Fungi
• Prather Ranch (pasture-raised pigs and chickens)
• Stonehouse Olive Oil
• Sur La Table
• Cowgirl Creamery
• San Francisco Fish Company
• Imperial Tea Court
• Boccalone (Tasty Salted Pig Parts)

If you've made the Plaza your destination and reserved well in advance, you can also dine at the Slanted Door.  If not, there are a handful of excellent cafes, as well as a Peet's Coffee and Blue Bottle Coffee shops for a hot cup or a pound of beans to take home.

Ferry Plaza Farmers Market

Is the Saturday farmers market at Ferry Plaza in San Francisco the best in the world? The US? The west coast?

The answer, of course, is completely subjective.  This market, which includes an impressive indoor component every day and vendor stalls outdoors on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, stands up to some of the best anywhere.  On Saturdays, when both locals and tourists have time to wander the Embarcadero, the market pulls out all the stops.  Multiple buskers play for the crowds, on fiddles, saxaphones, guitars, and more.  Hot food vendors offer a portable feast, best eaten on a bench looking up at the Bay Bridge or out at a flock of pelicans skimming the Bay.

Besides the remarkable atmosphere, the culinary ingredients on offer are nearly overwhelming.  Any produce in season can be found, from every-color carrots and potatoes to purple bell peppers and white eggplants.  With over 100 stalls, gorgeous produce is only the beginning.  Fresh shrimp, crab and fish can be found a few feet from goat milk, cage-free eggs, pastured animal meat, honey and preserves, and even herb and vegetable starts for the home garden.

Not until I overheard the words, "Thank you, Chef" from a vendor handing over a large pile of goods did the truly cosmopolitan nature of this market sink in.  If you are serious about always having access to the freshest, highest quality seasonal ingredients, Ferry Plaza provides a one-stop cornucopia.

Strawberry Love

It's hard to pick a favorite farm at most farmer's markets.  And at this time of year, it's hard to pick a favorite strawberry. 

But for strawberries, my all-time favorite vendor is Watsonville's Tomatero Farm.  Last week they offered three varieties: Seascape, Albion, and Chandler. Naturally I had to conduct a thorough taste test.  As always, the Seascape were lovely, a little on the tart side.  Albion were mellower. But the Chandler - oh my!  Super sweet.
This week the Albion were all sold out, but the other two tested out the same again.  So another three baskets of the organic beauties came home.
How, we asked, does this farm manage to produce the most luscious strawberries around? 

• Great organic soil
• A beautiful setting just past Mt. Madonna
• Picking varieties that thrive in this micro-climate

And, last but not least, the love.  It shines through in every bite.