Last August, I posted about my first visit to, and a bit of history about, the wonderful Alemany Farmers Market here in SF. I visited again today (with Rob and Jay) and wanted to share some of the interesting and beautiful things I experienced on this gorgeously sunny April day!


First: I love learning new things!

  

A stall with Vietnamese ingredients had Fish Mints and Chicken Mints! We asked innocently "why is it called fish mint?" And she looked at us like, hello, OBVIOUSLY because it tastes like FISH. None of us had ever heard of such a thing. She kindly let us try a leaf. Ripping one open, it smelled exactly like rotting fish carcasses, and not in a good way. She encouraged us to eat it. After the smell I was not keen but everyone else was doing it and YES if all my friends jumped off a bridge, I would too, so I tried it. ABHORRENT. Immediate regret. Thank goodness for free samples of strawberries and oranges to get the flavor out. Jay considered himself "traumatized" by the experience for the rest of the day. Oddly  the chicken mint doesn't taste like chicken... ironic, since, you know, everything ELSE tastes like chicken :0




Luscious fresh dates on the vine... or is it a stalk? A stem? How the heck does a date grow? Oh, right, on a palm... so is it on the frond?




Spring is in the air with loads of asparagus. I bought a whole bunch of bunches to roast in the oven with olive oil and sea salt.




Lovely ranunculus flowers in a plethora of fiery, super-saturated colors.




Suggestive, snakelike Japanese pickle cucumbers- I have the urge to draw faces on some of them.


  
And, of course, an SUV modded to look like a hippo... now THAT is not something I've ever seen before.


Yay I love the market!