Weekend Snap Shots

My Saturday lunch of radishes, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, baby avocados, Mary's Gone Herb gluten-free crackers and Whole Foods hummus:

My (favorite!) Sunday morning breakfast of toasted brown rice bread, soft goat cheese, slivered red onions, smoked wild salmon and fresh chopped dill:

Eating Out(side): Downtown Farmer's Market

Every Wednesday, the farmers leave their green pastures, clean air and pure running springs to come to the concrete jungle that is downtown Los Angeles. They bring with them an abundance of plump fruit, vitamin-rich vegetables, fresh cheeses and flavorful tacos al pastor. Huh?

OK, so maybe not all of the vendors at the Wednesday farmer's market in downtown LA come from far-off greener pastures, but the produce and food they provide are very fresh and lovely. Some coworkers and I decided to venture out of our 7th floor offices and check out the white tents of the 5th Street farmer's market. We were pleasantly surprised to find one can buy a good portion of groceries there plus a tasty and relatively inexpensive lunch.

Baguettes - my complete and total weakness

Unfortunately I did my grocery shopping over the weekend, so all I needed was lunch. But coworker Bri purchased a good variety of fruits and veggies so at least one of us got to support the farmers today. And I think Joe bought some apples and bananas, so I guess that makes two of us. Oh...actually, Alex bought some mini pecan pies and cinnamon-roasted pecans (the guy likes pecans), so that just leaves me as the lone, non-shopper. Sorry, farmers. But I did take pictures!

This beats Ralph's any day!You can even get cheese from Laurent Bonjour!

After my farmer-supporting coworkers were done making me look bad, we headed toward the prepared food stands to grab some lunch grub. Talk about a tough decision...just the various smells alone were enough to cause utter confusion over what to get. After perusing stand after stand and tasting many samples, we all settled on different things.

Alex went for the ethnically-confused Mexican Thai stand offerings. Mexican Thai? Those Thais will pair up with just about anything! There is a Thai Italian place near me in Pasadena, and Bri said she's seen lots of Thai Chinese places. What's next? Thai Sushi? Greek Thai? Thai Starbucks? Anyway, Alex's meal consisted of a Mexican Thai BBQ chicken with seasoned rice and lettuce. He gave his lunch a big thumbs-up.

Alex's ethnically-confused lunch

Bri decided to get a bag of pita bread and a container of hummus for her lunch. But not just any hummus, oh no. She got herself a tub of pesto hummus, and happily dipped her freshly-baked pita into her Italian-inspired hummus. Wait...can we call this Greek Italian?

Bri's ethnically-confused lunch

Being a hapa (half-Japanese, half-white), I don't need any more ethnical confusion in my life, so I opted for the straight-up street tacos from the Mexican stand.

Cooking up corn tortillas at the Mexi stand

I got one chicken, one pork and one beef taco and sprinkled a good amount of onion/cilantro mix on each one. They came with a side of rice and beans. Sadly, these tacos were just OK. I honestly couldn't tell the difference between the chicken, pork or beef in flavor or texture, and the rice and beans were decent but somewhat bland. Guess it serves me right for not being more adventurous!

Trio of tacos

Joe, who is a very picky eater and hardly ever ventures outside his comfort zone, decided to...stick within his comfort zone and get his usual hot dog. Before our offices moved to downtown, his favorite dog was at the stand in the parking lot of the Home Depot in Burbank. BUT, this wasn't just any ol' hot dog: It was wrapped in bacon (gasps and applause fills the air)! Much to our dismay, he decided against the pile of grilled onions they offered with the dog (did I say he's a picky eater?). However, Joe liked it...in fact, he used the word "awesome" to describe the hot dog. Take that, Home Depot parking lot hot dog stand! With his bag of salt & pepper Kettle chips and a paper cone of candied pecans, he was a happy luncher.

Joe's bacon wrapped hot dog

All in all it was a very good way to spend our lunch hour, and everyone is grateful that we have this resource so close to the office. I think next week I might try something from the Japanese stand (they have croquette, my favorite!) or the Peruvian stand. Now if they only had a Japanese Peruvian stand...

Flowers on the way out

LA Farmer's Market

Wednesdays

Located at 5th and Flower streets in downtown LA in front of the library