new taste

an experimental meal. let's call it "spaghetti nihon garlique".

it was simply shredded zucchini (from the farmer's market), tamari marniated garlic and seaweed salad. (both from tamura's deli) i added a little splash of soysauce and rice wine vinegar. the last ingredient may not have been an improvement. it was a little too sweet because the rice wine is "seasoned" which in this case means added sugar. so the zucchini ended up with a sweet/sour tast a little like apples. the garlic was strong and added some interest.

but i don't think i'll try this again.



This however, was a much tastier salad made from market ingredients

Kailua Farmer's Market

finally figured out where and when the farmers market is here. the good news is that it's all year round, but man, the hours they have it are a bit odd. i'm accustomed to markets being 6 hours or so in the middle of a saturday. but the market in my town is 5-7:30 on a thursday. i suppose it's nice for people who get off at 5, and since it's not friday they aren't rushing home to start their weekend... for me personally, i get off work at 3pm, so i just have to kill time until the market starts (but that's barely a problem.)


anyway, i went to the market which is in a covered parking lot downtown in a major shopping area. it was Bustling! there were a ton of people there. in fact i've read that you can even go there ahead of time and get the jump on the choicest items. you can pick out what you want early, but aren't allowed to actually purchase until the bell rings at 5pm. so it looked like about a third of the stalls were fresh produce from farms. another third was hot food, ready to eat (pizza, chicken, mexican food, bakery, abalone, ) the rest was flower stands and specialty items like roasted nuts, salsa, poi, dressings....)

my first time at the market i got a jicama, zucchini, some spinach (which turned out to be a bitter variety of "mountain spinach" )and a baguette for my man. i saw a bunch of items that i had heard of but have never tried, and then a handful that i have never seen or heard of before. and there were plenty of those apple bananas ( all under 1.50 a pound) Lots of leafy greens, bananas, papayas, avocados, summer squash

come, observe, see through my eyes:

a table from the farmer i seem to frequent most often. by the way, the farm tables are often set up in a U shape, and you shop while you wait in line (like i said, it was busy there). you slowly shuffle in the line past all of the produce and then by the time you get to the front , you are ready to pay.




???


this farm has a few select rarer items that are more native to the island.things i need to try : mountain apple, longan, breadfruit






is this a turnip? is it not?





some lovely herbs. everyone sells huge long bunches of green onions for a dollar and they last forever.


that's nice, everything gets a cubby