Of croissants, yogurt, pluots and trolley dances

I always have fun going to farmer's markets. There is a sense of community and I also get to taste various things for free—namely, a lot of fresh fruit and homemade goodies. Last Saturday, I was at the farmer’s market at the Ferry building in SF with my friend Mark. As usual, whether I am at the farmer’s market either at Davis or SF, I had my morning fix a cup of joe and croissant. I had one and a half croissants…the first one tasted like cardboard (I bought it from one of the small stalls at the farmer’s market) and the other one, the one from ACME bakery, was superb!. It has a nutty flaky crust and the bread itself was moist and buttery. The ACME croissant saved the day for me! I thought that the rest of the day will be my typical farmer’s market day of tasting and people watching but it ended much more interesting.

This particular weekend I tasted a number of things.First, I tasted San Benoit yogurt(very yummy), I loved the texture and the balance between the sweetness and the tartness. I also tasted some very good tasting pluots(pronounced as plu-ots as opposed to pronouncing it as pluts). Pluots are actually a cross between a plum and an apricot. They have dark purple skin like plums and orange flesh like apricots.They’re not too sweet , more importantly they have a very good texture--not as soft as plums.I also had some blood oranges, personally, I think oranges are best in the spring. I also tasted olive oil from Stone house olive oil and consequently bought one of my favorite flavored oils there, the Lisbon Olive oil—it’s infused with lemon oil. I used it as a dipping oil (try it with the cranberry and walnut levain from ACME!) and for baked or steamed fish dishes. Needless to say, my Saturday experience at the farmers market was eclectic, fun and satisfying. I thought the highlight of my Saturday morning was the farmer’s market but as Mark and I walked back to his place, we got mixed up with a bunch of people going to the Trolley Dances! I’ve read about it at ‘The California Aggie’ and thought that it was an opportune time to get lost with a mob.

As we got ‘mixed up’ with the group of people –which I thought was a pretty substantial number of audience, I wondered what kind of dances would they be showing. I was excited because this was my first time to see the performances on the trolley dance and also because I thought the venue was unusual. Honestly, as we went around streets and by-ways, I got sort of lost and didn’t know where we were. At any rate, the first performance which also becomes my favorite one is the particular dance choreographed by Janice Garrett. It was very entertaining and I thought the movements of the dance were fresh and un-inhibited. I particularly liked the playful nature of the dance and the way the dancers moved their hips. I don’t think a normal person can do their moves as graceful as the dancers did—I know I can’t. Mark tried to imitate the moves later in the day but it was a disaster (and don’t deny it Mark).