I have been in bed most of this week with a cold that turned into a respiratory infection. Yuck. But I’m feeling much better and decided it was time to get some fresh air and hit the Irvine Farmers’ Market before the rain started here in The OC. 

The market opens at 8 am so I left at 7:45 this morning. Skies were mostly cloudy but you could catch a glimpse of blue here and there. While there are several farmers’ markets in the area, Irvine is host to one of the largest in Orange County. In addition to the various farmers and purveyors in the area, the market is host to vendors that sell dairy, breads and even seafood. There is an arts & crafts section of the market as well.

For 8:10 am, the market was kinda crowded already. I could tell on the number of cars in the parking lot. When I got out of my car, I could hear the market buzzing with excitement. 

First stop was Blackmarket Bakery in search of a brioche loaf. This will be for french toast on Sunday. The bakery usually has a one to three each Saturday and I will not leave empty handed this time!

As I walked around I noticed that a lot more people are being more conscious and bringing their own bags to the market. Good for them! I brought mine along today. I have about 6 of them from my local grocer. When I buy something I bring it home, empty the reusable bag and put it back in my car the next morning. That way I always have them with me. It turns out that the Irvine Farmers’ Market has banned all non-biodegradeable plastic bags from the market and now encourages everyone to bring their own bags. That’s awesome!

I was walking to a vendor that sells flowers and came across these curious things. They were still unloading their truck so I didn’t want to bother them. Does anyone know what these are? They look like pumpkins or persimmons, but they also look like tomatoes. They are hard to the touch and seemed hollow. They are small about 1 to 1.5 inches in diameter.

I went to a farmer and picked up some wonderful Japanese eggplant and some Chinese Bittermelon as well as some fresh ginger. I’ll stir-fry the eggplant in some hoisin sace and serve with fresh rice. The bittermelon will go into a chicken soup/stew I’ll make later this week. Recipe to follow later.

I also went to my favorite vendor in the market. I call here the Mushroom lady. She didn’t have a large selection this week. She had some large white mushrooms, baby portabella mushrooms (cremini) and some wonderful Oyster mushrooms. However it was the shiitake mushrooms I was after! I stood there patiently as an Asian elderly couple as in front of me asking lots of questions about how to cook the Oyster mushrooms. Then they asked about cleaning. The mushroom lady explained that in the case of the Oyster and Shiitake, you don’t really need to wsh them since they are not grown in dirt.

The white and Cremini mushrooms should just be bushed off. They asked about washing them in water and she corrected them by saying to just dry wash them. Another fellow in front of me, cute by the way, was asking if he needed to soak the shiitake mushrooms he just bought. The mushroom lady smiled and told him you only need to do that with dried mushrooms. However, she did offer that if you come across shiitake mushrooms that have shriveled in your fridge and have dried out, that rehydrating them in some liquid will most likely bring them back.  I got about 1 lb of large Shiitake mushrooms. I will use some of them in the stir fry with the Japanese eggplant i bought earlier. The rest I will use to try to recreate a dish I had at a local sushi bar. Fried strips of Shiitake mushrooms. I’ve never heard of it before, but they taste sooo good. The sushi place serves it with a small side of truffle butter. If I’m successful you’ll be the first to know. Well…the second! :)

I also picked up some asparagus, onions and some garlic.

The Irvine Farmers’ Market is held every Saturday, rain or shine, from 8am to 12 noon and located in the University Town Center Parking lot.
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