the market is doing that very confusing late summer thing where i’m schvitzing through my shirt while apples and quince are appearing and trying to convince me it’s fall. absolutely not. i’m still eating plums and figs til i can’t anymore!!! 4ever summer.
tiger stripe figs. honey figs. rouge de bordeaux. also known as the holy trinity of figs.
these are all grown by laura ramirez. we always joke that she waters her crops with evian because they are so insanely delicious. i’m sure i’ve written that before, but it’s been 20 years of truth from one of the greatest farmers in california.
all three are teardrop-shaped with the most stunning leaves. i wash the leaves and use them on cheeseboards, tucked underneath cheese and crackers for a little added texture and drama.
when you find a juicy, jammy fig, there is nothing quite like it. maybe these were the adam and eve fruit? from the outside, you would never know there is this luscious, juicy, jammy situation waiting for you inside.
i made a greek yogurt dessert with figs and plums, drizzled it with grassy olive oil and finished it with flaky sea salt. i’m still thinking about it. most people would probably go sweeter with the dairy — maybe a crème anglaise situation — but it was perfect to me.
tiger stripe figs are light green with dark green stripes and the most gorgeous deep crimson, strawberry-raspberry-jam center. eat them plain, please. they need nothing.
honey figs. everything is in the name. yellowish-green skin with translucent, honey-amber flesh that tastes intensely sweet, nectar-like and, well, honeyed. they’re #2 on my personal fig scale.
rouge de bordeaux. i cannot imagine learning english as a second language and then being asked to spell/read words like bordeaux. rude.
these have the most stunning dark purple to violet-black skin with rich garnet-red pulp that is ever so sweeeeeet. consequently, rouge de bordeaux is also the name of a delicious grain i bake with. these are some of the figs i see most often at the market, alongside brown turkey figs.
the sugar kiss melon!!!! let’s make out.
the inside is this pale orange/light peach color that somehow feels even more glorious to me than the bright orange of a traditional cantaloupe. less vibrant, more beautiful.
the flavor is almost pillowy-soft with a super honey-sweet and very high sugar content. i slice one open and eat it directly with a spoon. i’ve done it twice in the last week.
if it’s not just me eating it (sorry, kosher friends), i’ll wrap slices in prosciutto and give them a little drizzle of olive oil. salty + sweet perfection. they are the top right hand corner in the photo below.
these are all of the samples i ate below.
my friend korina took this photo above. she’s a legend.
one of the most stunning and unexpected insides of any apple.
to me, this signifies fall. apples mean fall. the changing of the seasons and mike cirone arriving with apples are fall to me. mike is the weather. when his blenheim apricots arrive, it means summer. when his apples and pears arrive, he is personally informing me that fall is coming. he dry-farms his fruit, which makes everything even more special with his connection to god, earth, and seasons.
i have to say: the flavor of a pink pearl isn’t quite as legendary as its appearance. i ate a braeburn yesterday that was the crispiest, most apple-tasting apple. incredible. the perfect combination of sweet and tart.
if you’re going for flavor, have a braeburn. if you’re going for aesthetics, have a pink pearl.
there are usually only a limited number, so when you see them, grab one and cut it open.
the outside! the bloom!
a nearly black pluot to continue my obsession with black fruits and the tragically limited quantity of them that exist.
dark skin, firm firm flesh and that incredible crisp sound when you bite into one. the sound and the feeling of the texture breaking is so satisfying like stepping on those little seaweed pods at the beach and hearing and feeling the pop. a sensory experience.
sweet, rich flavor with just a little tartness from the skin. so dreamyyyyyy.
i add them to my fig + greek yogurt situation from above. highly recommend.
this feels like an ethereal fruit to me.
it looks like some sort of larger, lumpier, plumper pear-apple hybrid, often with the most stunning leaf still attached. you look at it and want to take a bite, except: you cannot eat quince raw.
i love quince paste (membrillo) on a cheeseboard. most people purchase membrillo because making it yourself is a true exercise in patience and, quite frankly, not worth your time.
once cooked, quince becomes floral, sweet and tangy. i’ve also poached them with vanilla and served them over ice cream. as they cook, they transform into the most beautiful rosy color.
my clients weren’t particularly interested in eating them.
i was.
if you purchase quince, purchase patience too.
thank you for hanging out with me at the market. i could have shared 30 things! i’ll leave you with these.
when i find something great, i stick to it. and then i share it with you over and over again because i love to spread the good gospel of things that actually work.
these are the things i’m buying, wearing, using and putting in my coffee right now.
the lip plumping serum.
the lip plumping serum that doubles the volume of your lips!!! it’s from one of my favorite skincare brands that i post about all the time. i keep buying it because it works. just look at the results above!!!
marine collagen + pearl protein.
this is the new one i switched to and put in my coffee every single morning. i swear by collagen for healthy hair. my hair has never been thicker at 40, and i attribute a lot of that to consistently using it.
red light converting screens for my iphone + laptop.
these screens are designed to filter blue light and convert portions of it into red wavelengths. mostly: my eyes hurt terribly from staring at screens and blue light all day, so anything that makes screen time feel gentler on my eyes, i’m trying.
protein powder + bone broth hot chocolate.
these are still coming in hot for both my morning and evening routines. protein powder in the morning, bone broth hot chocolate at night. repeat repeat repeat.
blue light glasses.
i get more compliments on these brown frames and these dexter-y ones than almost anything else i wear. the truth is, i have very light green, sensitive eyes and they have never been more sensitive to light. i hear this is also something that happens with aging!!!! i wear them over my contact lenses and live in them.
my new favorite t-shirt.
madewell stopped selling my favorite t-shirt. :(!!!!!! devastating. i’ve been wearing this one instead. :) crisis averted. everything is 40% off right now. and the perfect bra to wear for a see through ish shirt
stripes, forever.
while all the ladies in my family, including my grandmothers, have had a variety of personalities, there is one thing we all have in common: stripes. somehow, we all show up wearing striped t-shirts.
white denim.
i read that white denim is very in, which is excellent news because these are the white jeans i already wear and love. they’re especially great for my fellow long-legged gals. also my favorite denim that i have in every color, including white. obvi
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