At the Market Plus a Picture of Lindsay

On Saturday mornings, the Crescent City Farmer's Market transforms the W B Reily & Companies' Magazine Street warehouse into a scene straight out of the annotated works of Peter Mayle. Vendors sell everything from fresh flowers, herbs, and honey to chickens, shrimp, and just picked vegetables. Vivid colors of purple, yellow, red, and green overflow from ice chests and bins pile high with products. Right now, creoles, blueberries, squashes of all types, and more are just ripe for the eating.

At the market, you can overhear chef talk and culinary gossip. But if you want to partake in this, get there early. By 9:30a.m., the chefs or their sous chefs have departed for a busy day of prep. Another benefit of eavesdropping is that you can figure out how to cook the wonderful ingredients the vendors sell. Cause let's face it, when was the last time you were able to look at a cucuzza squash and do anything besides make lewd comments?

Many of the vendors sell prepared foods as well. We always have to grab one or two of Isabel's Tamales. Sometimes Paul's pesto, especially his early spring, spicy cilantro based blends find their way into our baskets. But recently we discovered these little sweet potato pies, which despite the spelling were not made by Dan Quayle.

No, they came from the weathered hands of the good folks from the B&B Farms/Indian Spring Cooperative. The biscuity, tender crust enveloped the sweet potato filling to create one hell of a good mid-morning snack. Plus look how good it made Lindsay's thumb look.

Get ye to the market.