When we left Seattle we figured we would have to kiss our organic habits goodbye. And for a long while we did. Plus, our love of going to restaurants means we don’t have control over all the ingredients – same as anywhere else.
But in the past few months I’ve made a habit of going to the organic farmers market, that was literally steps away from my apartment yet unknown to me for a long time, every week. At first I only bought a few things, but now it has become my main source for fruit and vegetables. They are open Friday afternoons and Saturdays and I’ve become a walking advertisement for it because I’ve found so many unique goodies to share with friends there that they have started to remark about my relationship to this market. I often go by myself, but from time to time Lucy or Leo will accompany me. Leo in particular loves to pull the hand cart I got for my pedestrian shopping trips.
My friends in Seattle will recall my love of Trader Joe’s and how whenever I had something tasty to share I was famous for saying, “I got it from Trader Joe’s!”… Well, the same seems to be happenning with this farmers market. It’s a tiny market – less than 10 stalls. But almost every one has something uniquely tasty. I’ve sampled every stall and seem to be getting to know a couple of the farmers well. No meat (well, there’s fish) but you can buy eggs (fresh, salted, preserved), tofu (in at least 5 different forms), any fruit in season, vegetables of all kinds, sauces, jams, vinegars, sesame products (candy, health drinks, etc.), dried fruits, etc. etc…
Lately we have been eating a lot of cucumber and tomato salad. I have a favorite farmer – basically because everything I buy from him tastes amazing. So far nothing is mediocre from this guy. His grape tomatos are super sweet. I also buy a bunch of what we would call Japanese cucumbers in the states, toss with the tomatos, add mozzarella cheese I get from my milk delivery, splash on some dressing, and then the kids get tons of fresh vegetables into their system. Yes, I do have to remind Leo not to eat all the cheese right away but both kids have been pretty good about not doing that too much.
Our other recent habit is mangos. Mangos are in season now in Taiwan and the kids have been fighting over who must be getting more mango. Not only must one count the pieces each child gets, but they have also been commenting on the relative size of their pieces. I think this is called sibling rivalry.
Another thing the kids have been enjoying is black sesame candy. The term candy is used loosely here – I don’t think these treats have a lot of sugar in them. There is some to be sure, but they really are more fragrant than sweet. It’s just a soft ball of ground black sesame seeds – super healthy if a bit high in calorie. Versions of these can be bought (as all things found at the farmers market can be) elsewhere, but that are more like regular candy (lots of sugar and additives/preservatives) so I haven’t been as keen on offering them as a regular snack to the kids.
