somerville kitchen: Escapade to Squamish

Saturday 11 August 2012

Escapade to Squamish - The Market

The Empress, the Lady and the Blogger ventured to Squamish today, with one specific destination in mind...

While in general it is very similar to the Vancouver Farmers' Markets, some unique features made the visit special and the shopping more pleasurable.

The Chinese farmer on the sidewalk outside the market area was the most fun to buy from.

He wouldn't let me buy those tomatoes until I tasted them first (excellent), had excellent fresh green peas, threw in a zucchini for free and gave me 4 cucumbers for a $1 instead of the advertised 3 for $1.

The very nice and chatty lady selling potatoes explained the art of picking potatoes very quickly to keep them small given how fast they grow.

Her daughter is at the Trout Lake Vancouver Farmers' Market with the same potatoes if anyone is interested. I picked up lots and can't wait to try them.

The fun guy selling Thelma's goodies was good at his job. "If you are going to write about those you should at least try what you will be writing about".

Overwhelmed by options (cucumbers, beats, carrots, asparagus), I settled for the regular dill pickled (and the large economy sized jar).

Never seen or heard of those before (told you this market is unique), lemon cucumbers caught my eye.

The young girl selling them explained that they are simply cucumbers that look different. Irresistible, I bought a carton and tasted them on the spot - they do taste like very good and very juicy cucumbers with no trace of lemony flavour.

There were at least half a dozen baked goods stands. But this stand was the most popular with the longest line up.

There were at least a dozen flavours of breads from the regular Italian breads to the more interesting ginger and cranberry, for example.

The sweets looked decadent. I tried a Nutella croissant with coconut that was divine. However, four sweets and one lemon lavender loaf added up to $42. Those bakers are sure making a killing.

But all the other (and not much cheaper) alternatives were all missing some basic baking ingredients as you'd note in the picture below.

Another unique discovery are the Simply Delish Soup & Salad Co. beautifully rolled up soups and pilafs.

At 3 for $20, I picked up Vegetarian Country soup, Quinoa Vegetable soup and the one I cannot wait to try, Coconut Curry Lentil.

Not available at the Vancouver Farmers' markets, but click on link above to find out markets and stores that carry them.

And the list goes on with many nice farmers. The Indian lady selling the corn was extremely sweet and a good merchant, reducing the price of 1/2 a dozen corn to less than any other corn farmer around.

Six full bags of all sorts of discoveries were transported back to Vancouver - a sign of a successful market visit.