Mecca (Part II)

Farmer's markets. They changed my life. When I was in the restaurant biz, I almost never cooked...well, actually, I would cook, but it usually consisted of re-heating whatever foods I had pilfered from the restaurant: burritos (and all sorts of Mexican "hand-foods"), burgers, ribs...stuff like that. I'd get a salad at work every now and then, but that was pretty much it for my veggie intake. I also liked a lot of fast food.
When you come home at 2:00 am and wake up at noon, your meal schedule gets all messed up and you just sort of eat what and when you can.
On the bright side, being on your feet and running around for 12 hours a day helps you really burn off a lot of extra calories. Plus, drinking black coffee all day long does wonders for your metabolism...but not for your stomach.

Fast forward a few years and I've finally quit the restaurant biz. I'm also out of work and collecting unemployment. Sounds bad, no? Well, the wife has a great, well-paying job, we live in a nice, cute apt. in SF, a couple of blocks from the bay, with shopping, restaurants and all the neighborhood necessities within short walking distance.

So, my "job" became house and wife maintenance. The house part was easy. At about noon, I'd get really fidgety (the was coffee really kicking in) and I'd grab the vacuum, the duster, and the lemon pledge and get to work on the house. And if I got really motivated, I'd re-organize a closet. It was quite tiring and took a lot of energy, but the wife really loved the results.
Cooking, on the other hand, relaxed me. I would head to the corner market, look at the fresh veggies and grab a head of broccoli, then I'd move to the meat dept and get some boneless skinless chicken breasts. Some days, I'd grab a head of lettuce and make a simple salad. Nothing to fancy, yet.

I think I forgot another piece in this puzzle. During this time, our cable company added the Food Network to our tv package. You cannot overestimate the impact this had on me. Now, I've had a love/hate relationship with this entity, some shows are great, others worthless, but for pure food porn, nothing at the time could beat it. I was hooked.
I started to collect recipes. I expanded my kitchen tools to include all the best pots, pans, utensils, appliances etc...the works. Within reason, of course. I didn't need the egg coddler or the avocado slicer. And I especially didn't need the bagel slicer. I'll slice my own bagels, thank you very much!

Just some good knives, great pots and pans, and a well stocked pantry and I was ready to "kick it up a notch" as someone once said (every night, 7 nights a week, 8pm pst)

My shopping habits started to change as well. Broccoli was still in the mix, but now so was cauliflower, brussels sprouts, asparagus, artichokes, squash, peas, carrots, onions, shallots, leeks, garlic, sweet potatoes, spinach, cabbage, and corn. (I'm sorry if I left you out, but just remember, all of you are winners)
All fresh and bought daily. I was also starting to notice that my food decisions were becoming based on the seasons, the farmers, and the methods to get these foods to the market.

Although the local market had a great variety of produce, and an organic/free range meat dept, I felt that something was missing from my shopping. Cooking and food shopping were starting to become more of a lifestyle and less of a daily task. I needed to make decisions that reflected my new-found philosophy of seasonal, organic, and sustainable foods. Something had to change. I had the time and energy to seek out new ways for my latest hobby to develop.

Now we can finally get to the farmer's market...and the Ferry Building.
But maybe tomorrow. I'm hungry and it's time for lunch.