Oakland's Grand Lake Farmers Market

I always love visiting the farmers market in my neighborhood for fresh produce, but it's especially fun when that produce starts to change with the seasons.

Because our weather here has been very warm (I would say "unseasonably warm" but it's been like this in October for as long as I can remember), the bounty you'll see at a Bay Area farmers market is a bit different than what you'll find at markets located elsewhere around the country. In fact, we still have dry-farmed early girl tomatoes available for purchase! But as our days have become shorter, and we've started to experience a slight chill in the air, we're starting to see a shift away from stone fruit and summer BBQ fare. Now it's all about leafy greens and as many apple varieties as grow in this climate. Oh, and persimmons! So many beautiful fuyu persimmons on display. It's interesting because the Whole Foods down the road from us sells persimmons as if they're a luxury good but at this week's farmers market they were anywhere from $2 to $2.50 a pound (depending on which vendor you got them from) and they were at the peak of their ripeness. You want to know delicious? Wrap a perfect persimmon in a piece of prosciutto and put a dab of balsamic glaze on it and you will soon.

We didn't go too overboard on our purchases because we have a lot of dinner plans in the coming week, but we did pick up come fresh onions to incorporate into a sauce with a handful of chanterelles for some fresh einkhorn pasta we're going to make.