Catch It While You Can

There must be some reason that, with all those Farmers Markets in the city, I keep on returning to River District Farmers Market (Read Back to River District).

I can actually think of many reasons to come back here:

the quality and friendliness of the vendors, the best Farmers Markets' pricing in the city, the beautiful scenery surrounding the market, the easy access and parking.

Well, it is going on every Saturday for one more month, catch it while you can and see what you can discover.

 

River District Farmers Market

8683 Kerr Street

Vancouver, BC

 

Every Saturday until October 26 - 10:00 am - 3:00 pm

Sea Adventure to An Exotic Market - The Crafts

The tour of the exotic Salt Spring Island's Saturday Market continues with the crafts (Read the Food Part HERE).

Endless selection of crafts that you may not need but you definitely want to check out.

Life must sure be wild at this Island when the market has two tents featuring artisan glass pipes.

Colours, designs and shapes to match both lifestyle and home decor.

Your home will also brighten up by those floor arts.

A variety of hand painted rugs and runners that were one of the few things I saw and stopped to consider buying.

Then I saw those charming hand painted dining mats.

I felt a buying frenzy on its way, but I restrained so not to overweight the little float plane bringing me home.

I'm glad I stopped the approaching shopping frenzy.

More items kept on popping up with each step you took around this market.

Crafted glass was definitely the most interesting and appealing.

On the other hand, iron work was the least interesting and unique.

And there was no age limit to vendors.

Children under 10 were selling lemonade, popcorn and those most intriguing hand made items (but what to do with them, I am not sure).

A worth-the-trip market running every Saturday from mid-March to end of October.

Sea Adventure to An Exotic Market - The Food

This sea adventure took off from the sea to land at Salt Spring Island's Saturday Market.

Exotic and huge are the two words that come to mind describing this market. 

The official word is that vendors must 'make it, bake it or grow it' to show it.

So let's start the tour with what those vendors grow. Later I will show you what those vendors make.

While many expect such a market to have lots of food, the ratio of food to arts and crafts was 20% food to 80% crafts.

But it remains fun to stroll through and see how well this community comes together.

What those vendors grow includes exotic mushrooms - something that we may not see a lot of at Vancouver's Farmers Markets.

I'm not sure all exotic mushrooms are displayed here; but I am sure there are many exotic mushrooms on this Island.

As for making things, the most exotic edible items were those hand made Japanese rice balls.

Not only each is made with different ingredients, but also using different kind of rice. 

Finding items vendors make or grow was easy. 

Finding items that vendors bake was more difficult. This display got me excited thinking it was a variety of breads, but alas, it was not baked, but made of wood.


Tune back tomorrow for the continuation of the exotic market tour.

Back to River District Market

I cannot seem to be able to resist the River District Framers Market (Read The New Farmers Market on The Block).

It is so friendly, easy to roam, easy to get to and park and cheaper produce than many of the other more popular markets.

Today, they were giving the most beautiful recyclable bags to the first 100 visitors - too bad I missed out on those (and I was there by 10:15).

But I cheered up very quickly over a freshly made strawberry shortbread plate as a fundraiser for some kids' sports team (and the kids picked up the strawberries).

I then sampled those Paté Pastiche 

Not bad at all. They look like paté, have similar texture, but they are meatless and much tastier.

I skipped for today, but the one I can never skip is my favourite bakeress at this market. She wakes up early and bakes everything fresh for the market; always with new goodies to discover (I bought one of those bags and yummy blueberry cinnamon buns too).

The mini greens caught my eye, but I was quickly distracted by those beautiful bouquets of greens and edible flowers so beautifully presented that I just could not resist buying (along with nice fresh farm eggs).

The produce was excellent as usual and glad to have caught cherries before the end of the season.

Then there were those colourful chocolate cups. Don't ask me to elaborate, the line-up for them was way too long to try.

River District Farmers Market

8683 Kerr Street

Vancouver, BC

Every Saturday until October 26 - 10:00 am - 3:00 pm

 

 

River District Farmers' Market Dinner

After discovering River District Farmers Market, I cannot seem to do anything else on Saturday's than go there (Read New Farmers Market on the Block).

So dinner tonight was exclusively from the market. The fresh local peas, squash and peppers ganged up together to form the base of a stir fry.

The organic local meat from the market was the right touch to wrap up the stir fry.

Add some noodles and dinner was ready.

I also discovered those delicious fresh market biscuits - who said stir fry cannot be served with biscuits?

And let's not forget dessert - fresh Osoyoos cherries to die for (the farmer wanted to sell me raspberries and strawberries but told him my jardin provides those).

All of those goodies at the best price in the city, free parking and beautiful scenery at the River District Farmers Market.

The New Farmers Market on The Block

Just when I thought I visited and reviewed most of the famers' markets in the city, a new one pops up - River District Farmers Market.

Not only you feel very welcomed with Marley Coffee's Bike Café, you can put all your worries behind by enjoying the beautiful Fraser River scenery as you shop.

Also, it is less crowded than other markets yet still have close to 50 vendors rotating over the summer and, whether imagined or real, better prices than other Farmers Markets.

And with less crowds, you end up having a chance to chat to the vendors. I just loved the two ladies from one of the Abbotsford farms. And not to mention the lovely bakeress with delicious goodies, with or without gluten, but all baked with organic ingredients and free range eggs.

It is here I discovered Lifebites snacks. They are simply dehydrated bananas (but soft) dipped in dark chocolate and rolled into either hemp seed or coconut. I will be picking up a few bags next time I see them there.

And the discoveries go on. I cannot wait to go back and you my readers are sure to hear about River District Farmers' Market again.

River District Farmers Market

8683 Kerr Street

Vancouver, BC

Every Saturday until October 26 - 10:00 am - 3:00 pm

 



 

Sundays @ Kits Farmers Market

My typical Sunday (read Sunday Ritual) does not include a trip to Kitsilano Farmers Market at 10th and Larch.

But given the recent spree of discovering Farmers Markets around the city and knowing a couple of vendors that I want to check out are there, I took the plunge and crossed Main Street into the wild wild west.

There I found one of the largest, busiest, most varied and most expensive Farmers Markets that I discovered to-date. If you do not live in the neighbourhood to be able to walk there, don't count on finding parking - there is a church, hockey arena and farmers market in the same block.

But all this effort was worth it in the end, given some special finds.

I have tasted Christopher Brown's artisan bread last weekend when I picked up a loaf at sweet e's.

Love at first bite made me trace Rise Artisan Bakery's breads to Kitsilano Farmers' Market.

I stocked up on bread for tonight's dinner, his famous grape bread (bread with rosemary and grapes - a piece of art), a delicious breakfast muffin and some chilli and chocolate cookies for someone special.

Definitely worth tracing this baker's whereabouts (he will be at Kitsilano Farmers Market this coming Sunday again).

The other special find at this market is Jennifer's Jiffies beautifully pre-packaged soup mixes, salad mixes, baking mixes and rubs. 

4 for $25 is definitely a great deal, so I walked out with Loads of Lentils Soup, Minestrone Soup, Sunflower Seed & Current Quinoa Salad and a Curry Rice Pilaf.

Jennifer is back at Kitsilano Farmers Market next Sunday, so catch her before she disappears to prepare for a series of craft fairs throughout November and December where she will be appearing again with those beautiful healthy natural gifts.

The rest of the vendors were many of the same ones you find in other markets, except there are many many more of them.

A memorable one was the apples' lady; very sweet and pleasant, making shopping easy by pricing all the different apples and pears the same price - so go wild; mix and match.

Another one that stood out was the only potatoes vendor with endless selection of new potatoes - I bought the French Red that look amazing. 

But the real surprise was this platter roaming the market.

No, those are not pineapples. 

They are yellow watermelons, a creation I have never heard of nor tasted before. Worth trying but make sure you pick a ripe one - the one I bought was not as yellow nor tasty inside.



A fun stroll indeed, despite the crowds. Will I go back? We shall see.