The pancakes, the tortilla chips, and pink!

As I work in San Francisco and live outside the city, I try to avoid coming in on the weekends unless I have a specific need to be in the city over the weekend. When I do come in, especially if I am in early on a Saturday, my favorite thing to do is to stop by and see my friends at the amazing Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market. This past Saturday I had the chance to do just that and it was a pleasure.

I started my day with coffee accompanied by Prather Ranch Griddlecakes with Whiskey maple sausage topped with yellow Kashiwase peaches. My buddy from the San Rafael market, whom I have written briefly about before, Scott, manages the grill operations for Prather Ranch Meat Co. at the ferry building. While I was eating I chatted with Scott and his cronies as well as with Thomas of RoliRoti. Thomas had just been to the Ritz Carlton Dining Room for dinner and had glowing remarks. Thomas' wife is Japanese and he said that she almost broke down in tears as this meal was the first time she has had a certain fish since she left Japan. Here is a picture of Scott at the grill.

On my way out, I stopped by to see Steve of Rancho Gordo.

Steve is a New World food activist. He is personally saving heirloom bean and pepper varieties from going out of extinction. We are lucky that he grows some of these varieties in enough quantity to sell to the general public. He also makes traditional corn tortillas. These tortillas are amazing. The corn is coarsely ground and has only lime and water added. Of course, he is a great guy, too. He stopped coming to the Sunday San Rafael Civic Center market in December of 2005 and I remind him how much we miss him everytime I get the chance. His beans are amazing and he is a lot of fun to get to know. So I picked up some tortillas, tortilla chips, and a couple of bags of beans, as I do whenever I get the chance. One of the beans I bought was new to me, the Borlotti, which Steve tells me cook more quickly than most varieties. I have a pot of them on the stove right now. They will feed us all week.


On the advice of another fan of farmers' markets, I swung by the Sebastopol-based apple and flower grower, Devoto Gardens for their Pink Pearl apples. The Pink Pearl is an unusual apple with a muted beige-light green skin and a reddish pink interior. The apple is tart and quite to my liking. (Sorry the pictures do not really do the apple justice.) I have been having a blast sharing the apple with unsuspecting apple eaters, as the first bite reveals a shocking bright reddish-pink interior.