Attack of the Heirloom Tomatoes (this weekend's run around)

This weekend was spent searching for the best stuff we could find at some of our local farmers markets. Saturday was our local Upper Eastside market. The usual suspects were there (Chef Michael Schwartz with a box of mozzarella and ricotta, the cookie guy, the brownie woman, etc.) and the pickings are getting better and better. For us the winner was baby bok choy at the Market Company booth. They looked fresh and crisp and were 4 for $1. Can't beat that.


Sunday we headed over to the Gardner's farmers market in Pinecrest. Tomatoes, tomatoes everywhere. We stocked up on regular sized heirlooms from Teena's Pride for $5 a box, mini-heirlooms from Redland Organics for $4.25 a pint, then we went a bit crazy at the Redland Organics booth where we got mizuna, canistels, and purple beans (like the green ones, but purple and much cooler looking).


Last stop was la viejita (the old lady). It's a patch of land just south of the Costco in Kendall which has u-pick tomatoes, strawberries and herbs. In a frenzy there we picked up strawberries, arugula (large and baby bunches), thyme, purple basil and cilantro.

Considering that a just few years ago I was buying the vast majority of my (inferior) produce at Publix, I can't believe how far we've come to getting local produce into everyone's hands. Granted, I'm running around town like an idiot wasting gas and spewing ozone-depleting emissions, but it's such a difference come dinnertime to know that what I'm having has come (predominantly) from a few miles away. But our choices are getting better, our restaurants are sourcing locally (with Chef Schwartz leading the charge), the CSA is doing bang up business and the popularity of the brand new UES farmers market shows that people in the area are caring more about what they eat and where it comes from. Granted, I still think that people are being duped by vendors that basically sell wholesale imported produce at these markets (not that there's anything wrong with that) or maybe these people don't really care where their food comes from and just want to buy their produce in the outdoors. Fine with me as long as locals keep coming with their produce so that someday I won't have to write about running around South Florida to procure my fruits and veggies.

Now, I'm wondering how long someone could go making meals using primarily locally sourced ingredients from South Florida? I started last night (I'll post later on what I made) so let's see how far I can take it.

Weekend run around town

This weekend I took advantage of the research and recs from fellow bloggers to run around town and stock my pantry. Here's what I found:

- The Upper Eastside Greenmarket is growing. Even though farmers remain non-existent, it's turned into a meeting place for locals living off Biscayne. The cookie guy sold out fairly early and, according to Danny at Daily Cocaine, local UES chefs made appearences to either cook or buy. I'm still holding out hope that farmers will show up, but it seems unlikely according to a few posts on Chowhound which the Chow police deleted.

- This year's first Coral Gables Farmers Market happened on Saturday (great review and pics from mango & lime). Some of last year's participants were there (the guy who buys wholesale and packages everything to look "farmer-like", the bakeries, the honey guy, the citrus family, etc.). What was exciting were the new vendors: Le Boudoir (which forgot to bring their tent, resulting in very unhappy workers and melting macaroons), a tea and spice vendor and, the biggest surprise of all, Paradise Farms, the Homestead farm that supplies many of Miami's top restaurants with fresh produce, was doing a trial run at the Gables market. The produce was pristeen but ridiculously expensive. Greens were sold by the ounce! There were a lot of takers which will hopefully mean they'll return but one employee I heard said they had to actually convince Paradise's owner, Gabriele Marewski, to allow them to come to the market. Now for someone who extolls organic produce and allows people to pay $150 a pop to come to her farm to have dinner prepared by some of Miami's best chefs you figure she'd want to get her product to as much of the public as possible. Hopefully this experiment will go well and Paradise Farms will continue to sell to the public.


- The Homestead Farmers Market brought to our attention by Critical Miami is just as described. It's a barnlike building with fruits and vegetables next to a flea market selling 5 pairs of white socks for $5. The vast majority of the vendors and customers were Mexican or Central American. There were, however, the occassional bikers on their way to the keys, and me. The produce is insanely cheap and there were tons of things not found at your local Publix (or most markets around you for that matter) including: fresh garbanzo beans in their pods, fresh squash blossoms, epazote, dried chiles and bitter melon. More common produce looked better than what I get at my BiBo Publix and much cheaper (onions and beets $0.60 a lb!). It's worth a trip when your crisper is bare.

-My last stop was the fruit stand at Knaus Berry Farm. The cinnamon rolls seem to have grown from last year, and so have the lines. Still, it's a great excuse to drive to the country.

Thanks all for the finds. Next time I'll have a camera in tow.