Today was the last day for Dates at the Mar Vista Farmer’s Market, but don’t worry, Date Lovers, they’ll be back in the Fall.
I spied some purple peppers at Givens’ Farm.
And Alejandra Schrader and Tracy Kontos, the dynamic duo from Cucina Cocina and Master Chef fame, did a fabulous cooking demo today, making salads with ingredients they purchased at the Market. So pretty and so delicious!
Today I set out to write a post about cherries, which are plentiful and gorgeous right now. 
Best of intentions, right? Chelsea and I staked out the cherry stand and waited for someone to come by planning to make a pie. But after a while it became clear that no one would be doing that today. They’re so delish, I guess everyone’s just eating them as is. (One woman told me “BAKE” was a four-letter-word to her, which technically, it is, but I have never thought of it that way. That’s just me.)
Anyway, I then set off in search of vegetable chefs, and I found Philippa, 
who’s going to do quite a lot of cooking this week. She hasn’t given us recipes so much as inspiration for what to do with what we buy this week.
She bought Chinese broccoli and chilies to make fried rice. She also bought eggplant,
which she’s going to either grill and toss with feta cheese or scoop out the flesh and mix it with yogurt to make a lovely dip. And then she got some asparagus she’s going to use for risotto. (And she pronounced it just the way Gordon Ramsay does in his show, Hell’s Kitchen: “ree-soht-to”.) Love it! Thanks, Philippa!
An original post by Sarah Auerswald. With original photos by Chelsea Magdaleno.