Field Notes: Coastside Farmers’ Markets

By Erin Tormey, organizer of the Coastside Farmer’s Market. In Half Moon Bay, the market is at Shoreline Station (at Kelly and Highway 1), Saturdays, 9am to 1pm

I don’t know about the rest of you Marketeers, but I am a little miffed at these changing weather patterns. It is wreaking havoc on my wardrobe and temperament.

Really, as a general rule I am all about the fall.  I love the colors, the crisp air, the parade of pumpkin pluckers and the excuses to make all kinds of soup, wrap up in beautiful blankets and wear excellent sweaters. I just like it better when it rolls around a little later in the year.

I know , I know, I should not gripe.  The beginning of the week was glorious, it’s true. Just the other night I was sitting on my front stoop until almost midnight talking on the phone with nothing but a kimono between me, the indigo skies and the bright full moon.

I admit I was not delighted to wake up to a dense chilly mist and a brisk wind from the north.  I was needing just a soupcon more sunshine before soup season.

So when I got home the following night to a dark cold house and wet cold critters I was just a little blue until I got an idea to perk myself up, and it worked really well. I made a soup of roasted pumpkin, carrots, red peppers and toasted paprika.  Oh my goodness, people.  You cannot believe the color. Seriously cheerful. Kinda like the sunsets we we enjoying earlier in the week, only warmer.  I scooped it up with one of Dieter’s pretzels while indulging in a revisit of "Chef’s House". No better way to truly get the most out of a cold night than a bowl of soup and a good short story. Oh, and a foot massage of you can arrange it, let’s not forget that part.

Little bowls of liquid sunshine, pumpkin and squash soups can aesthetically and scientifically brighten your day. It’s true.  Most red, yellow, or orange vegetables and fruits arespiked with carotenoids that are proven to reduce your risk of certain cancers, arthritis and ease depression. Plus they enhance your libido.  Throw a little dollop of yoghurt that you have mixed with a little bit of Steve’s fresh ground curry on the top for your bones. If this does not warm your cockles my friend, well I don’t know what will short of a defibrilllator.

So perk yourself up people!  Make this soup, and serve it in a hand made blue bowl.  Serve it with a nice chunk of whole grain bread or one of those unreal pretzels.  Get the pumpkins from Eda, the onions from Aaron , the spices from Steve and the onions from Orlando.  If you don’t know a potter, introduce yourself to Ken or Catherine this week. They are nice folks.  Ken makes gorgeous tea pots and Catherine is the only potter I know this side of the pond that knows what a Salt Pig is, and is smart enough to make them.  In fact, it is safe to say she has cornered the market.

I’ll have the recipe at the Market this week for any or all of you who just need a little cheering up.  And for those of us who are cheerful anyway, but just like soup and really amazing colors.

Hope to see you and your fabulous fall colors at the Market this weekend - We’ll have as much there as we can manage to prepare you for the cool weather ahead.  Jayne has some really lovely foot balm, but you’ll have to supply your own massage therapist.

Ellen Silva will entertain this week with her brand of music and tropical flair, which should only enhance the whole fantasy.

Thanks as ever to all our sponsors, neighbors and dancing partners, and to you, the Market Faithful.  We really appreciate your support, especially at this time of year.

Thanks so much -

Erin

Erin Tormey
Coastside Farmers Markets
In Half Moon Bay
Shoreline Station ( at Kelly and Highway 1)
Saturdays, 9 am to 1pm

In Pacifica
Rockaway Beach
Wednesdays, 2:30 -6:30pm

650/726-4895

Erin Tormey
Coastside Farmers Markets

In Half Moon Bay
Shoreline Station ( at Kelly and Highway 1)
Saturdays, 9 am to 1pm

In Pacifica
Rockaway Beach
Wednesdays, 2:30 -6:30pm