**** The Morena District Certified Farmer's Market is no longer
About two weeks ago, I received a flier in the mail announcing the new Morena District Farmer's Market. My good friends PeterL and his lovely wife Ange, had mentioned something about this to me a few months back. Well, today was the premier...grand opening...opening day, I'm not quite sure what to call it. I just made sure to check it out.
The market occupies the space between Toys 'r Us and Petco on Morena Boulevard and takes place on every Tuesday from 3pm to 7pm. You can see the set-up from the street and if you've never been here, the parking lot is huge so I don't think parking will be a problem.
It really didn't look like much from the parking lot, but there were more stands than I anticipated. I was surprised at all the prepared food stands, which I think outnumbered all the other stands put together. Here's a sampling.
Quite a selection, huh?
I'm thinking that the range of produce vendors could be a little better, but that didn't stop me from buying a few items.
But a lot of what was available was quite nice......
In the end I picked up some beets, avocados, and some of that lovely broccoli.
And of course I made sure to grab some produce from these folks.
If there's anyone I'd like to support, it would be them.
I also picked a bottle of unfiltered extra virgin olive oil.....just to try out.
Walking through the market, I tried to think of some fast items for a light, but satisfying dinner for the evening.
There's one booth that I didn't photograph.....by the time I decided to purchase something from them, my hands were full of produce. It seems that since I first picked some up at the Little Italy Mercato in 2009, I've noticed one of these booths at every farmer's market. Yes, I bought an uni of my very own......
It was quite active....in fact, while I tried to figure out what I'd make for dinner, I'd open my fridge every so often and "pet my uni". Man, that does sound kinda wrong.....
Anyway, no time to roast beets, so I trimmed off the greens and did a nice saute.
I really had to think of what to do with the uni....as much as I enjoyed it, I couldn't keep petting it all night long. All the pigment was also starting to stain my hands. I love eggs with uni, but didn't want to take this lovely fresh uni and mix it into scrambled eggs, so I went with 8 minute boiled eggs topped with uni, drizzled with a generous amount of olive oil. Again, I won't win style points on this one, but with some kaiware on the side, this was delici-yoso!!!
Even though the Linda Vista Farmer's Market is almost the same distance, Bay Park is our neighborhood and it's good to have a farmer's market of our own. I'm hoping it does well and grows......so that I can keep on having uni for my Tuesday dinner!
Morena District Certified Farmer's Market
1210 Morena Blvd (Between Toys-R-Us and Petco).
San Diego, CA 92110
Every Tuesday 3pm - 7pm
great selection!
Posted by: kat | Tuesday, 19 June 2012 at 09:59 PM
Uni and olive oil together is so good. Looking forward to checking out the Morena farmers market the next go.
Posted by: Dennis | Tuesday, 19 June 2012 at 10:33 PM
Yes, pretty good Kat!
Hi Dennis - I'd like a better variety of produce, but it looks like a good start. Uni with a nice olive oil is quite tasty.
Posted by: Kirk | Wednesday, 20 June 2012 at 06:11 AM
Eggs and Uni?? Sounds interesting! What vendor did you get the uni from? I'm starting to really enjoy live uni - I guess it was only a matter of time :)
Posted by: Faye | Wednesday, 20 June 2012 at 09:43 AM
Petting your uni? Whoa Kirk, there are children reading...
Posted by: Hangzhou Hero | Wednesday, 20 June 2012 at 09:48 AM
Uni and eggs?! That combo looks amazing. No one here in NYC sells live uni (we only get the packaged one in trays) ^_^
Posted by: Kathy | Wednesday, 20 June 2012 at 06:33 PM
It would have been funny if you wrapped some seaweed around those uni eggs and did a play on uni nigiri. Although that might be a clash of east meets west flavor combination. We share your love of uni+eggs, we get the big bag of vana uni from Catalina OP and use that when we want an indulgent breakfast egg scramble. Mmmmmm...
Posted by: Jason | Wednesday, 20 June 2012 at 07:20 PM
Hi Faye - It's kind of sad...getting old, can't remember the vendor, but every farmer's market has one now it seems. A classic French dish is sea urchin, scrambled eggs, and caviar....really good stuff.
I guess I should have made sure to rate this as PG-14 HH!
Hi Kathy - Uni and eggs just seem to go together well! You'll need to get down here...some of the best uni in the world comes from San Diego.
Hi Jason - Man, I shoulda thought of that! For some reason eggs and uni just go together so well.
Posted by: Kirk | Wednesday, 20 June 2012 at 08:57 PM
I should point out that technically, those aren't the eggs of the sea urchin...
And I should say that I'm a bit of a traditionalist.
Nothing beats Uni on a bed of rice for me with some shredded nori and maybe some cucumber.
Posted by: Peter | Thursday, 21 June 2012 at 08:53 AM
Hi Peter - Thanks for taking the time out to comment....though I have to ask, where did I say that that was the eggs of the sea urchin?
Posted by: Kirk | Thursday, 21 June 2012 at 10:34 AM