Belmont Farmers Market and Much More

Because I had the urge to go a farmers market and didn't get a chance to go to one yesterday, I researched what Sunday farmers markets existed and chose to head a little south to the Belmont one. I didn't have anything in mind that I wanted to buy. I just wanted to browse a market.

The Belmont farmers market would probably be considered a reasonable size by many. I, however, didn't like it because there were only two organic stands, one for some vegetables and one for some fruits.

One nice thing about going to a farmers market close to closing is that the vendors drop their prices. The many purveyors of peaches and grapes dropped their prices from $2/lb to $1/lb. The one organic peach vendor did not reduce her prices, leaving them around $3/lb.

I left the market with two ears of corn, two organic tomatoes, a bunch of organic green beans, and two organic yellow-fleshed pluots ("flavor queen"). I would've bought more of the last but none of the rest looked good. No, I don't know what I'm going to cook with this stuff.

Next I went to Ranch 99, a local Asian supermarket. They didn't have what I wanted, but instead I got some lychee and loganberries. I tried loganberries for the first time in years two weeks ago in Singapore and liked them well enough (though not as much as lychee).

Hungry by this point--I'd hoped to buy a pastry or something for lunch at the farmers market, but no such luck--, I drove to a local Malaysian restaurant that I generally like, Langkawi, and had a dish that reminded me of, but was a sad reflection of, one I had in Singapore.

I walked across the complex to Marina Market, another Asian supermarket. This one had what I was looking for: kaya spread. Kaya is a coconut-egg jam spread on toast in Singapore. (I tried it there and liked it.) Incidentally, although Ranch 99 had it as well, I didn't buy it there because both of Ranch 99's brands had added food coloring. One of Marina's brands did not.

I stuck my head in a Chinese bakery in the same complex and picked up a red bean bun for later.

My final stop was Safeway, mainly for general household needs. Then I happened to spot organic grapes. I've been looking for organic grapes for the past two months, ever since I recalled how great grapes are frozen. Although I'd seen grapes constantly at farmers markets, they were never organic. Here, Safeway had organic grapes, and they were on sale for half-price. Perhaps I went a little overboard, but I bought six pounds. I picked up some bananas too.