Lively Evening Farmers Market in Chico

Chico is a charming, community minded, environmentally conscious college town near the western foothills of the Sierras north of Sacramento. It is surrounded by mile after mile of orchards and farmland. It's a town you'd think might have a good farmers market -- and it does.

Here's my report on my June 28, 2007, visit to the evening market in Chico, where the farmers selling their fruits and vegetables are part of a full-fledged street festival that fills several blocks downtown on Broadway until 9 p.m. every Thursday from April through October.

It was interesting to see that perhaps two-thirds or more of the farmers selling at the market are Southeast Asian, reflecting the influx of Hmong and other Indochinese immigrants into California's Central Valley, where many have taken up farming.

On the Road with Seasonal Chef

Just in time for the carefree (ha! I wish) days of summer, here's a new page -- Seasonal Chef on the Road -- with links to reports from some journeys to far-flung farmers market.

Why not add a trip to a local farmers market to your summer travel itinerary.

Heirloom tomatoes in Walnut Canyon, Arizona

I like to drop by the Flagstaff, Arizona farmers market every time I'm passing through Flagstaff on a summer Sunday. That last happened in the fall of 2005.

This time, I'm here near the start of the season, and the heirloom tomatoes from Crooked Sky Farm down in the desert near Glendale, are at their peak. After I visited the market, I headed for Walnut Canyon, five miles away, and hiked down to some of the ruins that fill many of the caves and niches in the canyon walls.

Here's a report on what I found at the Flagstaff Community Farmers Market on June 17, 2007.

A visit to the Venice Beach, Calif., farmers market

I came to the market today specifically to pick up some fixings for vegetarian sushi. The avocados, sprouts, and cucumbers that I found fit that bill. I picked up four varieties of avocados, including one of my favorites, the bacon avocado. Here's my report on what I bought at the Venice, Calif., farmers market on June 15, 2007.

The Friday morning market in Venice is just a few blocks from the beach. After doing my shopping, I went for a quick stroll on the beach, and photographed some of my market purchases on the sand.

Savory Ways to Use Sweet Cherries

Sweet cherries aren't just for dessert. To promote other uses of the fruit, associations representing cherry growers in California and Washington state have offered a wide array of recipes that use sweet cherries in savory salads, main dishes and spicy sauces and salsas.

From those sources, here is a sampling of eight savory recipes featuring sweet cherries. They include recipes for sweet cherries with pork, chicken and duck, a cherry slaw and another salad, a salsa and a couple of sauces, one with citrus flavors and another infused with mustard.

A Nifty Ice Cream Maker and other Chef Gadgets

The one I've ordered hasn't even arrived yet, but I'm already thrilled by this gadget, based on the testimonials of other users. It's a new-fangled, hand-cranked ice cream maker. You put it in the freezer the night before you plan to make ice cream (or sorbet or frozen yogurt) and a liquid substance in the device freezes hard, so you don't have to use crushed ice and salt to whip up a batch of old-fashioned homemade ice cream. I like the fact that it's hand cranked. My kitchen is already overloaded with electric appliances.

Mine will arrive shortly, just in time for summer fruit season. You can order one of your own. Or check out one of the other ice cream machines, along with dehydrators, juicers, woks, salad spinner, graters, knives and various and sundry other kitchen gadgets, that you'll find in the Seasonal Chef Culinary Supply Store.

Cooking with Apricots

In Southern California farmers markets, apricots appear in early May, the first of a succession stone fruits -- including peaches, nectarines, and plums, pluots, apriums, and other variations on the theme -- that will run well into the fall.


The apricots, however, won't be around much past June. So now's the time to get your fill of them.


Here are 10 recipes featuring apricots, ranging from a couple of apricot chicken dishes to an apricot vinaigrette and a cake, a cobbler and a scone topped off with a recipe for apricot ice cream.

A Bunch of Recipes Starring Flat-Leaf Parsley

When tomato season rolls around, I've always got to have a bunch of Italian flat-leafed parsley on hand. That's because there's no better -- and no prettier -- summer salad than a multi-colored platter of heirloom tomatoes sprinkled with salt, pepper, olive oil, vinegar and a handful of minced flat-leafed parsley. I also use parsley in a couple of other summertime staples: pesto and gazpacho.

An herb than can so effectively enhance the flavor of other ingredients deserves, it seems to me, an occasional opportunity to be the star of the show.

Here are four recipes featuring Italian flat-leafed parsley, ranging from an Argentine condiment to a Persian omelet.