Farmers Market Time!

I love fresh fruit. I love farmer's markets. Therefore, I love the Central Coast because they have great fruit stands everywhere and Farmer's Markets every day. Because of my work schedule I could only go the San Luis Obispo (SLO) Farmer's Market (all the other one's are too far away or are during the day while I'm at work). But in light of my adventure , I figured I'd talking about the great produce out here.

My favorite adventure-Blueberry picking! There's U-Pick blueberry farm between Buellton and Santa Barbara. If you've never done one of these, it's pretty fun. I picked strawberries years ago (I think in San Diego).

So I went with a friend in tow, and together we picked a fair amount of blueberries. What happens is they give you a 32oz bucket and you fill it as much as you want. If you fill the whole thing it's $15. If you fill it 1/3 to 1/2 (like I did) it's about $4. K, so I got a good 12 oz of fresh blueberries for $4.00!!!! Love it!!!
And yes, I ate a good 2 cups worth while picking. I knew this place would be my lunch. But you know what, it doesn't matter. It's not stealing cos they will go bad if I don't munch on a few of them.

Orcutt Farmer's Market- It's really small, just a few stands and it's not nearly as fantastic as the one in SLO. But I what I really wanted to mention was the amazing Sweet Wine Jam I bought. There was a woman there selling various jams. Most of them had chipolte in it (I'm not in to that). There was also Jalapeno Jelly and Mint Jelly. But the Sweet Wine caught my eye. There is legit Cabernet in it (yeah I read the ingredients). So I had to give this place an honorable mention.

San Luis Obispo Farmer's Market- Everyone on the Central Coast knows that SLO's Farmer's Market is the best around. Thursday night that is the place to be! There's food, music, sales, and what-not.

First off, the produce. So goood and so cheap!! Avocados for 50 cents a pop, 2.50 for the best peaches ever (Cal Poly), $2 for local strawberries that are actually ripe

(NB: the way to know if a strawberry is fresh is when you bite into it, it's red. Check next time you go to Walmart and buy strawberries. Bite into those and it's all white. Also, ! It certainly pays to eat local in California. Also, the package should smell of strawberries! That means they're good! yes, they won't last as long as store-bought, but it may not matter if they're good.)

Second, the prepared food. There's some bad food (I had a not-so-good taco salad once). But there's a BBQ line that lasts forever! (I think it's McClintocks) There's also an amazing dip stand that has great amazing dips: spinach dip, pesto, artichoke dip, garlic cream cheese. I love this place!! And there's also a fab Meditterean place with awesome hummus, great baba ganoush, and blocks of feta cheese. I die!!!
My favorite find here is the Nectarine Jam from Mt. Olive. It was (cos I ate it all) delicious, perfectly sweet w/o feeling sugary. and decently priced too.
And they sell amazing cherries here, which are now out of seasons, but I just had to say it!!!

You know you're hungry now!