Cucumbers!

Today I got the first pickling cucumbers of the season at the farmers market. Contrary to what a guy told me last week, tomatoes have not appeared yet. A more reliable source I spoke with today told me that we have about a month to go before tomatoes and peppers.

But cucumbers are here and I’m so delighted. Cucumbers are one food that I buy off-season knowing that its imported (or hopefully from a local greenhouse) because there are times when I just feel like I need them, often near the end of the day when they are very soothing.

The cherries right now are excellent. The apricots I got today were not as nice as last week but that is only from one particular vendor. I should have probably gotten some from the store where they are a little more but still local and more delicious.

One thing I love about the farmers market: so many essential vegetables like broccoli, onions, lettuce, kale, etc. are so incredibly fresh and so inexpensive. There’s no reason not to have amazing veggie stir-frys and salads every day with this abundance of veggies.

Increasingly I like to have a stir-fry of just veggies. Forget the tofu or rice or whatever. A really good stir-fry with green beans or snow peas, broccoli, onions, and whatever other veggies is just really good.

I do make brown rice and things like chana dal on the side but the veggies have become the main thing.

One thing I’ve been thinking about often when I come home in the afternoon and cook these amazing meals is how unfortunate it is for people who work in offices and do not have an opportunity to cook during the day. Workplaces should have ample cooking facilities including rice cookers, electric water kettles, and woks for employees.

Preparing a fast meal like a stir-fry and a salad can be a relaxing and rejuvenating activity for someone who’s been working in front of a computer for hours.

Its sad: many people are at work all day and miss farmers markets and are not able to cook or prepare a moderately reasonable healthy meal, then they get off work and come home and are often too tired to want to prepare something and my be inclined to order food or make some instant food.

I really think workplaces should have ample cooking facilities with rice cookers – which can be used for making other things like chana dal – water kettles, and woks. Those are the three basic cooking vessels that should be available in every kitchen facility.

Woks are low-maintenance in terms of cleaning. They actually do better when they are not washed. Rice cookers are amazing because they can be used for everything from oatmeal to millet, amaranth, quinoa, lentils, chana dal, and of course brown rice (best to avoid white rice and eat it only occasionally). Veggies can also be steamed in them. One can use them to not even cook grains and just make a meal out of steamed veggies like swiss chard, yukon or red potatoes, cauliflower, snow peas, etc.