Tableau Vivante

Hope everyone has had a safe and celebratory holiday weekend so far. We banged it out – pardon the pun – with family down the bay way where the fireworks aren’t illegal. My word, who knew Hawthorne was the home of the neighborhood block party fireworks extravaganza? It put some of the professional shows I’ve seen to shame. But the late night plus a flat tire in the morning meant the Pasadena market was not in the cards on Saturday. And, darn it all, it meant that I had to go to Hollywood on Sunday.

I do love summertime harvests. The fragrance wafting off dozens of tables piled high with stone fruits, fresh summer herbs, and corn makes me want to either fire up a grill or get out the jam pots and jars.

Go to the market hungry during summer. I kid you not, every stand has fruit samples out. Take your time. Marvel in the yum. And then pick your prey. By the time you go from one end of the market to the other, you will have eaten your FDA recommended allotment of fruit. I zeroed in one some gorgeous floral white nectarines and “mango tasting” peaches. I didn’t believe the sign, but I tried some and was pleasantly surprised.

Occasionally the Hollywood market is graced with the presence of the Carlsbad Aquafarm. GORGEOUS shellfish. Crisp and fresh red seaweed for poke. Live scallops. Sweet Sunburst clams. They farm out of a lagoon down south and supply a few of the local restaurants with their menu items. Their website is just a splash page right now, but I look forward to them going into more detail about their harvests. Here’s a quickie recipe for you shellfish eaters:

Mmm.

And then there is the sprout guy. My favorites from him are his onion seed and radish sprouts.

Weiser Farms had their melon selection out and sliced to tempt wanderers into stopping. This is the Ogen melon, a green heirloom cantaloupe from Israel that smells like musky, sweet summertime.

Baby corn. So cute. So tasty.

Baby squash. Also cute. Also tasty. And in more varieties than I had patience to count.

There are more shots at the flickr site, I just don’t have time to go through them all for posting. I do love this market though. Yes, the produce is fantastic, but this is Hollywood, and while I was walking over to Groundwork for a pound of Angel City, I crossed paths with Charlie Chaplin, bowler hat and bicycle included, crossing Sunset Blvd. with a latte in his hand. Silly photographer that I am, I completely forgot to get a shot, so tickled was I by the sight of him casually meandering through the neighborhood.