Have you been to your local farmer’s market recently?  If not, you are missing out on some fabulous fresh food, fresher than your local supermarket produce department can offer, and probably for less money.  And it feels good to pay your local farmer directly for the food you enjoy. Super fresh food that’s less expensive.  What more could you ask for?

The refrigerator is not quite free of last week’s produce; there is still a little washed arugula & red leaf lettuce, 2 beets which I cooked yesterday, plus a bag of unwashed arugula.  I guess we did pretty good getting through most of it.  But today is Saturday, and Saturday is Market Day. . .always.  I used to go to the Upcountry Farmer’s Market in Pukalani, about 5 minutes from our house, but my husband has taken over that activity.  He is willing to leave the house before 6:30 am to get the good spinach & the best of everything else; I am not.  If you don’t get there early, someone else buys up all the good spinach and the cilantro.  So, I eat breakfast and head out on my morning walk around 7:00 am, and when I return, the dining table is filled with fruits and vegetables for me to prep and find room for in the refrigerator {which can be a challenge!}.  Here is a photo of this week’s bounty:

since you can’t really identify everything, here is what we have for this week:  eggs, cilantro with roots,

spinach {the good spinach!}, tomatoes, lilikoi {passion fruit}, sugar cane, 8 avocados, celery, 5 carrots, 2 big beets, radishes, red lettuce, 2 bunches arugula, 4 potatoes, 2 bunches Swiss chard, dandelion greens, 4 green peppers, 4 jalapenos, asparagus and 2 bunches green onions.  Yikes!  That is a lot of food, but this is the way we eat.  I will spend a good deal of time this week preparing healthy and delicious meals; my husband and I prepare many of our meals together, and eat most of them together.  I know that everyone doesn’t have the time or the inclination to make everything from scratch, but food is my passion: reading about it, writing about it, eating it and preparing it, so I am happy to spend time in the kitchen.  Today I made a pickled beet that uses the same dressing as the Japanese cucumber namasu recipe that I have been making for years.  I call it Beet Namasu and I must say it tastes pretty good; the fresh ginger really complements the beets’ sweetness.  I reduced the sugar from the original recipe, so if you want a sweeter pickle, you can increase the sugar.

Beet Namasu

2 large beets, steamed whole until tender
1 cup white wine vinegar {you can use unseasoned rice vinegar if you like}
2-4 tbsp sugar {I used 2 tbsp}
2 tbsp julienned {cut into fine strips} fresh ginger {do not substitute powdered ginger-it is not the same flavor}
¼ tsp salt

When the beets have cooled, peel them & cut  into ½” chunks.  Mix the vinegar, sugar, ginger and salt until the sugar dissolves and pour over the beets.  Marinate for at least a couple of hours before eating.

Japanese Cucumber Namasu
Recipe from Hawaii Cook Book {1973}

3 cups very thinly sliced cucumbers
½ tsp salt
1 tsp finely chopped ginger {I like a lot more than this!}
½ cup white wine vinegar
2 tbsp sugar
¼ tsp monosodium glutamate {I never use this.}
Partly peel the cucumbers leaving strips of green, and slice very thin.  Add salt to cucumbers and let stand for 15 minutes.  Combine remaining ingredients.  Press excess liquid from cucumbers and add to sauce.  Chill and serve as a relish or salad.  Sometimes small pieces of thinly sliced mushrooms, carrots or abalone are added to this dish.  I always shredded a carrot & put it in for color.