Farmers Market Friday -- Strawberries

Watsonville, California.  It's the very same place my Multi-Cultural Education in the Classroom textbook that I used back in college said is also known as "Little Mexico".  I laughed.  Not because it wasn't true, but because I knew it to be very true, as a place where several of my teenage years were spent very close by.  I knew of the fiestas that took place on Cinco de Mayo (NOT Mexican Independence Day as many think) and more importantly -- September 16th (the actual Independence Day for Mexico).  I saw the cowboy hats and boots as I walked through the downtown.  I practiced my Spanish all day long while I worked at Target.   So when I read this in the textbook, I laughed.  At the truth of it and how cool it was that some place I knew so well would show up in my studying one night.

But Watsonville is more than "Little Mexico", as the book described it.  It is a town that is located in a fertile valley close to the beach, keeping the climate pleasant and the produce delicious.  Strawberry fields abound, as do artichokes, apples, and mushrooms.  And a trip to the Farmers Market in Watsonville provides you with all this fruit, plus SO MUCH MORE...

Stalls of food line the market.  From papusas (what you see above), a typical food from El Salvador to chunks of barbecued meat, fresh corn on the cob to horchata, a cinnamon-rice drink popular throughout Latin America, and of course every type of homemade Mexican food you can think of... it's all there, the smells beckoning you to drop a few dollars here or there.  

It is totally worth it.

And then, to the sounds of Mariachi bands playing in the background, you can pick up the produce you need for the coming week.  Or, if you are like me, you can bump into family friends of yours who saw you go through those awkward teenage years... 

End the end, I wound up with cauliflower, an artichoke, some excellent apricots, fresh peas, and some garlic.  Plus a belly full of deliciousness. 

Another successful day exploring farmers markets!

Being Watsonville, with its miles and miles of strawberry fields, I thought it is only fitting to have strawberries as our find of the week.  Link up your strawberry recipes below so we can share in the juicy-red-goodness that these sweet 'berries' provide.  (Yeah, they aren't berries.  Did you know that?  Fun fact of the day, Friends!)

And then go hit up your local farmers market and let us know what you got :)

The 'link-up' tool isn't working, but if you drop your strawberry recipes in the comments I will come visit, for sure! :)