Farmers Market Fresh

It's your first week in Berkeley, California and you're surrounded by all the amazing food choices you could possibly imagine, and you're asked to cook dinner -- what do you do? Well, the reason those innumerable food choices exist in such abundance in the East Bay of San Francisco, is the availability of the freshest, hand-picked, organic produce around. So... why not give local restaurants a run for their money? It's easy.

Step 1: Head over to one of the many Farmer's Markets and pick up anything and everything that looks good to you. In my case it was Gourmet Ghetto's Thursday Farmer's Market that took the cake.

Step 2: Think of some fun dish and interesting pairing side-dishes you've never tried, using all of that fresh food you just bought. Tonight I made - (organic) basil mayo chicken sandwiches on (organic) ciabatta - a balsamic vinaigrette beet salad with walnuts and goat cheese - and beet greens, sauteed with garlic and onion.

~ Now eat... and enjoy. 

Note: I got - the onions, bread, basil, lettuce,  and beets (including greens) - from the market!

Step 3: After washing dinner down with Anchor Steam's: Anchor Summer Beer, (and letting some time pass..) go back to your Farmer's Market shopping basket and dish out a simple dessert. In my case, I just so happened to pick up some super sweet peaches and delectable strawberries, so stepping out of culinary complexity, I sliced them up, threw them (literally) together, and forked them out of the bowl... and into my mouth. Better even than a cherry on top, this fruit combo closed up the palatal shop perfectly.