Today was the market’s 3rd birthday — and there was plenty of celebrating going on. Bands playing, free ice cream, new booths on display, new waste management systems, and special guests! Happy Birthday, Mar Vista Farmer’s Market!! Mar Vista loves you!
The special guests were the good people representing allrecipes.com, a recipe site that’s interactive and user-driven, which is very cool. I’m new to the site, but I’m already a convert. The site offers an ingredient search tool that lets you find recipes using the thing you have in your pantry, or in our case, something you find at the market. Not only that, but they have this awesome iPhone app called Dinner Spinner, which you can use to pick recipes and cooking methods based on your available ingredients. Love this app!
Sara Breuer, of allrecipes, was our market shopper today, and she is a fan of figs,
which are at the height of their season right now. We found these beautiful Mission figs
and then searched allrecipes for something to make.
Sara picked this Fresh Fig Cake, which looks pretty easy, and very delicious. Yum!
The new waste management system at the market includes these new trash, recycling and composting collection bins, here being shown off by Jeanne Kuntz, of the Mar Vista Green Committee, City Councilman Bill Rosendahl, Joseph Treves of the Farmer’s Market board, Elise Derby of Elise’s Ramblings, her daughter and her mother.
It’s kind of exciting, even though that might seem weird to say, because the market actually generates a lot of waste — and it’s always a problem of how to deal with it all. So this is a great first step solution towards a zero-waste situation, where the market wouldn’t generate more than it could take care of. 
There will be a little learning curve, because both the compost and the trash bins are green, but I know we can figure it out, Mar Vista. Just read the signs carefully!
Note: photo of Jeanne Kuntz, Bill Rosendahl, Joseph Treves, Elise Derby and her daughter and Mother was taken by Sherri Akers, of the Mar Vista Green Committee, and used with permission.
After one session with the trio of bins, I am ready to ditch the “trash” bin and just have the Compostables and Recycleables. The only items that truly belong in the trash section are chewing gum, soy sauce packets and drinking straws. Everyone is trying so hard to do the right thing. Why not make it easy for them?
The tub of Snapple in front of the allrecipes.com booth and the clever matching tees gave me pause, but I just downloaded the iphone app which looks great and I’ll be planting some basil seeds from their giveaway later today. Yay for resources to help us cook good seasonal food!
.-= Annie Barnes´s last blog ..Catch the WAVE! =-.
I agree, Jeanne — the “other green bin” must change — it’s too confusing.
And I downloaded it, too, Annie — isn’t it the coolest app?