Field Notes: Coastside Farmers Market

So, earlier this week I had a troupe o’ Tucson troubadours staying ala mi casa for a layover on a summer long tour that included a spin through Canada, a slingshot back to Seattle followed by a jag out to Wisconsin, a subsequent haulass back to the Left Coast arriving just in time to do some laundry, then jump on a flight to the UK for the next go-round.  Great fun was had by all as 3 large men with larger hats and substantial boots piled into the Market Van along with a minimum of 15 instruments, and suitcases stuffed with the requisite amount now clean socks and other dude-ly unmentionables, parts of a banjo and a mic as big as a canary melon.

Having been on the road for months and roaring through places without decent tortillas and stuff to put in them, and with a month of travels through Holland, England, Ireland and Wales directly ahead, the mandolin player was desperate for something, anything resembling a real taco. The Guapango maestro and the Big Man with the Penny Whistle are so smitten with tortillas that they sing a love song to them. I am not kidding.  I have proof.  Anyway, the gents in question here are from Tucson, where they know from tacos.  Lucky for them I am from the Coast, know a thing or two about the stuff that goes in a taco , knows who grows and catches same, and know where to get it, so happiness and great satisfaction was achieved.  Cause let me tell ya something. You simply cannot get a decent taco in Wales.

Plus, taco’s are terrific Company Food.  There is simply no way to make tacos without having a great time.  There’ a lot to do, and a job for everyone.  And as soon as you start cooking the onions, everyone is going to end up in the kitchen anyway so they might as well have something to do while you discuss the state of the world, the vagaries of the human condition, the progress of a romance down the road and what everyone is reading this summer. Tacos cheer you up.  You get to get a little messy, improvise like crazy, have them exactly the way you like them and plus, you get to eat with your hands and with your elbows on the table.  There is no way not to do this and keep your shirt clean.  I had not thought to make up a batch of tacos in a long time, and so at this moment, I am feeling grateful to the gents of the Santa Cruz River Band, especially the mandolin player, for creating the occasion to make a batch o’ tacos, a jug of Sangria and a delightfully huge mess of my clothing and kitchen.  And for straightening me out on the differences between a requinto and a vihuela.

Most folks have their secret traditional recipes for the fillings, so I won’t go all nutty there, but this week the two toppings to follow made the difference between a good taco and a great one, and sent a band of Arizona men off into the culinary hinterlands of Wales with a satisfied mind.  Give it a rip the next time you have things of great importance to discuss among friends like the problem of men wearing black socks with their sandals, how to manage a guapango in three part harmony or the difficulty of ever finding shorts that actually fit. . Aaron Dinwoodie grows amazing cabbages. They are perfect, tender, sweet even.  Pick up one of these wonders, shave it really thin, tear up some of Eda’s cilantro, dice up a few of Orlando’s scallions and one of Joon’s Pasilla chiles and toss it all together with a good splash of juice from a couple of Santiago’s limes, some sea salt and cracked black pepper.

Get someone else to make a fresh salsa with some of Ed’s dry farmed tomatoes, Orlando’s chiles, Aarons onions, Eda’s cilantro and one more of those limes.  You already know that this salsa is called Pico de Gallo because you are supposed to cut the bits of everything in it to the size of a Rooster’s beak, don’t you?

Pile a nice bunch of either or both of these on your next batch o’ tacos, and I am here to tell you, delight is in hand, as it were.

Nick’s melons are really good right now, and big thick slices of canary and orange honeydew are a really satisfying dessert- roughly the same shape as a taco, and you can eat them with your hands too.

Plus, when you slice up a few peaches, nectarines and plums, soak them in some decent red wine with a blast of Port tossed in for effect , it makes for a pretty neat twist to a traditional sangria that will induce even the most reticent cowboy to and go all gushy about tacos and how much they remind him of home.

Muchas Gracias to all of the musicians who play at the Market, and to all our sponsors who help us support our local musicians and performers by making sure there is a little bit of cash to help us insure and compensate the myriad talented performers who play for hours for next to nothing.  Y Muchas, Muchas gracias to those of you shoppers that know what to do when faced with ridiculously talented musician singing next to an open guitar case.

BTW - we are still working to transition to a plastic-free market. Please help us by re-using your bags, especially the Biobags we have been able to purchase with the help of Reece Computer systems, and contributions from folks like you.

See you at the Market-

Erin

Erin Tormey
Coastside Farmers Markets

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

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