Sunday Shopping at the Farmers' Market and Nature's Basket

Between you and me, I just needed to smoke in peace and as that as my main excuse, I headed out to Bandra for my bi-weekly trip to the Farmers' Market and Nature's Basket. This week the new additions were fresh figs, bananas, and papayas - apart from the usual stuff. I also snagged some green tomatoes, inspired by Kevin's green tomato and jalepeno chutney recipe. Beet leaves are so hard to find elsewhere, but here, the beets are so sexy with their leaves intact. I'm going to use up all those leaves in a recipe using just the leaves and my red rice.

I also had a healthy breakfast at the market with some Guju dhokla and fresh organic carrot juice. At Rs. 50 for seven pieces of dhokla, its not the cheapest. But, by word, it tastes great and has a tangy mustardy taste.

At Nature's Basket, I always find myself in the salad dressing isle and scrutinizing the various dressings available. I'm always disappointed. Today was no different. Not just because of the price, mind you. There is just so much crap in store bought salad dressings - corn syrup being a universal culprit. No thank you. I'll survive with my humble lime dressings.

But I did get my hands on some hoisin sauce, sumac powder, and garlic powder. I'd seen Nigella Lawson looking positively orgasmic as she played around with some sumac, and I just had to have it - screw the price tag! The garlic powder, on the other hand, was a bargain, and it smells divine. I can so see myself toasting a piece of bread with olive oil and garlic powder for breakfast sometime soon.

And for the first time, I saw arugula on the produce isle, so I quickly snagged some of that. And for Rs. 12 a pop, I just couldnt resist buying some fresh rosemary and sage. No idea where I'll use them, but we'll figure that out when the time comes.

Finally, I got myself some silken tofu. I mindlessly added it to my basket, and balked at the hefty Rs 180 price tag - I get a cheaper, and not so good, version for Rs. 60 from Reliance. It had better be good.

And finally, found some aam papdi -which is just mango candy. I used to have a big box of chocolates or candies with me at work for the last two years. Might as well substitute the habit with something a little healthier.