He's back!

Today we had a nice surprise. Paul of Nana Mae's Organic Foods who grows apple and berries in Sonoma County returned to the market with his early black berries and plums. It is always nice to see a friendly and familiar face, especially when this means that the start of apple season is only a few weeks away. Paul said the heavy Spring rains delayed the season a few weeks. He expects to have his first few boxes of Gravensteins to sell within the month.

Here is a great picture of Paul with his wife and son planting a tree. His hat is perhaps a bit too Davy Crockett. Regardless, he grows wonderful fruit and presses excellent juice. His knowledge about the produce he grows and the handling of fruit is also impressive. Welcome back!

I also had a nice visit with Kathy of Juliet Mae. Kathy goes by the moniker "the spice lady" around my house. She sells an amazing variety of spices, spice blends, peppers, and salts. She is extremely well-informed about food and spices. She helped me with my rather unusual recipe for Devil's Lemonade by suggesting a new pepper. My Devil's Lemonade or Limeade (most recently) is a mixture of lime juice, squeezed fresh by Paul of Extreme Juice (I will get around to writing you about Paul soon), maple syrup, and cayenne pepper to which sparkling water is added. Now cayenne works nicely in this recipe, but I wanted something a little different. So Kathy suggested the Peruvian pepper Aji Amarillo. I do not know much about peppers and the little that I do know I have learned from Kathy, so I am very excited to give this a try. In addition to using it in my Devil's Limeade, I am also going to throw some into the seasoning mix for grilled shrimp tonight.

It was another beautiful Sunday. The market was in full force. Unfortunately, I cannot make it next week due to a professional development seminar I am attending. Thomas of RoliRoti was appalled to hear this. He really understands me. He knows it is not a coincidence for me that this market is on Sunday. Thomas' suggestion was that I tell people I had to leave the seminar early to go to Church. I told him I would see him in two weeks -- at Church.