Burlingame Farmers Market

On Sunday, August 24, 2008, I rode my bike to the Burlingame Farmers Market. The weather was typically perfect California. The two-mile ride was a nice length for a pre-breakfast excursion, though it was through city streets and thus not very pretty.

Although a small market, I'd be happy if it were my local market. First, there was a better band than the usual musician at the San Mateo farmers market. Second, despite the size, there were at least two vendors for most everything, and usually every item that I'd expect to be available in organic form was available. For some food products, the market was even larger than the markets I regularly attend. For instance, there were two bakeries (Bay Bread and Brioche Bakery, which is also at the San Mateo farmers market) and two stuffed Indian bread stands (Sukhi's and East West Gourmet Afghan Food, which is also at the San Mateo farmers market). Also, though most markets have a stand selling the usual Asian vegetables like gai lon and bok choy, the stand at this one had additional, more exotic items such as Chinese long beans, bitter melon, and "bitter okra leaves." However, I didn't see a sign at this stand certifying the vegetables were grown in California, so I'm skeptical that they didn't simply come from the same source as an Asian supermarket. Other distinguishing characteristics (that I don't actually care about) of this market: there were more flower vendors than I usually see at markets, and there were some craftpeople (e.g., selling jewelry).

For breakfast, I had a cinnamon-orange morning bun from Bay Bread. It was okay, covered with too much powdered sugar. I decided to have more breakfast and retreated back to Brioche Bakery (the bakery that I know and like at the San Mateo market) and had a tasty, moist poppyseed muffin.

While deciding what to buy for other meals, I explored downtown Burlingame. It's pleasant, just as cute and large as downtown San Mateo. I wasn't aware it was so sizable. I'm jealous it has a good quality bookstore. (San Mateo does not.) I browsed.

I returned to the market, bought a stuffed Indian bread (stuffed with a mash of carrots, potatoes, and peas; apparently I got the last one of this type) from the vendor I don't normally see, a chicken empanada from El Porteno (getting lucky once again and getting the last empanada that had chicken), some organic blueberries, three organic pluots, an organic white peach, and an ear of corn. I was smart; unlike the time I biked to the San Mateo market in July and had a heck of a time coming home because I bought more than could fit in my backpack, I planned, conscious of my space limitations.