Checked out both the Windward Mall Farmer's Market on Wednesday right outside of Macy's and the Kailua Farmer's Market on Thursday in the Long's Kailua parking lot. The Windward Mall event just started late last year and it was the first time I ventured there right after work - it starts at 3pm and ends at 8pm so there's a possibility of sell-outs by the time I'm back in K-Town at 6pm or so. The Kailua event has been ongoing for several years and though I previously worked right down the street, I never made it out there since Thursdays was one of my after work bike-days (cardio time).
The Windward Mall Market offers mainly produce with several vendors selling the same products (I wonder if they're all related) with a few independents like Bale Bakery - the Mrs picked up their pickled carrot/daikon for banh mi along with a bag of rolls (you have to refrigerate them as they mold within 24 hours at room temperature - no preservatives) and a load of beet greens (I prefer the tops to the roots and the vendor filled her bag). One vendor also sells slipper lobster tails - 10 for $20 - which are about the size of U15 shrimp... maybe a wee bit larger, another sells premade Thai curries, pad thai and pancit and a bakery based in Waipahu sells typical Filipino pastries along with baked manapua and manju. I purchased a couple of bunches of fresh cilantro (Chinese parsley) for my cilantro pesto, wing bean and bittermelon ($1.79 a lb)!
At the Kailua Market, there also are vendors selling cooked items - steak plates, Middle Eastern plates, Southeast Asian plates along with pasteles and gandule rice and the typical green grocers with all types of produce. Even the folks raising local abalone are there (if the Mrs didn't work this weekend I would have attempted the lime juice abalone "ceviche" we had at La Mer several years ago). I purchased a couple of pastele and gandule rice for Thursday evening's dinner along with a huge bag of young kale and Swiss chard.
For the upcoming work week (since the Mrs works this weekend), I made a Broccoli and Tomato Salad with Quinoa Pasta tossed in a Sesame Honey Mustard Dressing - the tomato might have come from the Farmer's Market but it didn't, it was egg tomatoes on sale at Safeway. Plus I feel that vine ripened heirloom tomatoes are best enjoyed simply sliced or diced with coarse sea salt, fresh cracked black pepper and extra virgin olive oil... nothing else. Okay maybe with a fresh baked baguette and burrata... and maybe some vino...
With the kale and Swiss chard, I made an Italian Kale, Chard and Mushroom Bake. Again the mushrooms weren't from the Farmer's Market (they were on sale at Safeway) but the greens were locally grown and sold. And instead of canned cream of mushroom, I made my own mushroom sauce and tossed everything with some grated Grana Padano - yes , I know that's probably a waste of good Grana Padano but it was beginning to dry out and I did enjoy it "fresh" with Balsamico, fig preserves and San Danielle Proscuitto.
Lastly, I also made a Shoyu Chicken Champuru with great bittermelon or nigagori purchased from the Farmer's Market. Safeway did have that large family tray of chicken breasts on sale so I simmered it for about 2 hours with shoyu, brown/white sugar, ginger, garlic, Shochu, water and a touch of rice wine vinegar. Since I only purchased 4 large nigagori and usually add some tofu to my Champuru, the protein to veggie ratio was larger than usual.
Well, enough kibbles for the work week (and maybe enough for lunch too) so I'll get back to the yard work, cardio and other stuff usually done on the last week end day tomorrow. Until then, a voitre sante!
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