Christy's Palate: Davis Farmers' Market

Foodies dream about having fresh ingredients at their fingertips. They gawk at golden beets, heirloom tomatoes, and honeydew melons like college boys at a Hooters Restaurant, or me in a Christian Louboutin store. The uncontrollable urge to touch, smell and feel the produce can be overwhelming, leading to thoughts of abandoning the Southern California lifestyle and moving to a farm, or at the very least starting a container garden at home. Ideas rush through your head about what you can make with this luscious produce, crowding out every other thought in your head. Or if you are traveling like I was, you ponder what you can get through TSA without causing a full body check.

I've been to many farmers markets, but was definitely not prepared for the bounty I beheld at the Farmers’ Market in Davis, CA. It was quaint, quite neighborly, and filled to the brim with fresh produce screaming "Take me home!" When traveling, I am generally limited to visualizing how I can use wonderful, unique, local produce. But during this trip I was actually able to test drive the local produce as part of my culinary experience at Georgeanne Brennan's “Provence in California” cooking class.

Our weekend class started at the Farmers’ Market where seven students were eagerly waiting, armed with totes to carry out selected vegetables and fruits. We were each given a shopping list and market money, and the freedom to select a limited number of produce items for our own dishes. It was a bit of a challenge to limit my shopping list to the three items, so I had to settle for photos.