Easy & Delicious Farmer's Market Salad

Last Friday I stopped by the Whittier Farmer's Market and was reacquainted with one of my favorite salads. When I worked for Taguchi Farms back in the '80s, one of the vendors at the market would make this salad and have a bowl of toothpicks next to it to make it available for tasting. The ingredients are simple--pick several summer veggies--and the preparation is easy--chop into bite-sized pieces and dress with lemon/lime juice and sea salt.

This salad is perfect for the hot, hot, HOT weather we've been having here in Southern California--I've been keeping a big bowl of salad in the refrigerator, so it's nice and cold.

Some of my family members like it with a little shoyu on-the-side, or with some chopped jalapeños sprinkled on top. It's also good with a drizzle of olive oil.

Ingredients:

2 large tomatoes

1 red pepper (I ended up not using the green pepper)

1 small yellow pepper

1 small red onion

6 cucumbers

8 curly peppers (they're mild)

1 bunch cilantro leaves

juice of 1/2 lemon and/or 1 lime

sea salt & pepper to taste

The key to making this salad good is to use vegetable you like. I really like cucumbers, so I use a lot of them. Homegrown tomatoes or ones from a farmer's market will make the salad better since those tomatoes will have a lot of flavor. I like the curly peppers because they're mild and everyone in my family can eat them, I'll serve jalapeños on the side. Red onion gives the salad a little bite of spiciness. The lemon and/or lime juice with a little sea salt keeps the salad light, tasting fresh and mellows out the red onion a bit.

Chop all vegetables into bite-sized pieces.

I used 3 different kinds of cucumbers because I saw them at the market--Persian, pickling and Japanese--they all looked so good.

Put all the chopped vegetables in a large bowl, add juice of 1/2 lemon and/or 1 lime, salt and pepper to taste and toss gently. I take the leaves off the cilantro--chopping them is a lot faster, but I don't think the stems look as nice as the leaves. Is that a little OCD? 

Chill thoroughly and serve.

Itadakimasu!

***

Remember Isamu? You first met him in the Gail's Stew post.

He's keeping cool in this heat.

 A few months ago he had a birthday! He's growing so fast!

 Isamu LOVES trucks and LARGE vehicles.

The whole family gathered not too long ago for his baptism.

Proud parents, Eugene and Maria.

Isamu loves Obaachan. Absolutely LOVES her! Obaachan is Isamu's best friend. She teaches him a lot of Japanese words--his parents call it "Bachanese". He says "Yanna." "Yanna go see Mommy." He talks a lot, but can also be quiet. Early on he learned "Dude" and "Sweet" from his cousins Tyler and Colin (who are in their twenties). Isamu is learning Spanish, too. He loves trucks, Duplos and playing with water. He's smart and has a good sense of humor--he likes to be funny and make us laugh. Sometimes he calls his dad "Eugene," but mostly he calls him "Poppy." He can do impressions of Obaachan, Eugene and Rufina, his babysitter. Isamu loves guacamole--and eats it like a main dish. I love to hear him shout, "Guacamole!" when he comes over. 

Isamu brings a lot of joy to our family.

***

Ingredients:

2 large tomatoes

1 red pepper (I ended up not using the green pepper)

1 small yellow pepper

1 small red onion

6 cucumbers

8 curly peppers (they're mild)

1 bunch cilantro leaves

juice of 1/2 lemon and/or 1 lime

sea salt & pepper to taste

optional: drizzle of olive oil

chopped jalapeños

Chop all vegetables into bite-sized pieces. 

Put all the chopped vegetables in a large bowl, add juice of 1/2 lemon and/or 1 lime, salt and pepper to taste and toss gently.

Chill thoroughly before serving.

Grilled Salmon with Tomato-Avocado Relish

Cooking Light Fresh Food Fast Special Edition had a photo of their Grilled Salmon with Tomato-Red Onion Relish on the cover that caught my eye. I couldn't find a picture of that edition to link to, but that photo inspired me to make this Grilled Salmon with Tomato-Avocado Relish when we went camping.

To make the Tomato-Avocado Relish, simply slice cherry tomatoes--both red and yellow--in half, dice an avocado, thinly slice some green onions & half a bunch of cilantro, toss with some lime and/or lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. The citrus juices go well with the fish and the avocado adds a nice creaminess.

Scroll down to the end of this post for a recipe if you'd like to skip the details of our camping trip. I don't mind.

For years, we have been camping in the Eastern Sierra, but this year, with my new granddaughter only several weeks old, my son-in-law Mitchell found us a campground on the Western Sierra side, closer to them.

Mitchell spent a lot of time researching campgrounds to find us one that met our requirements at Dinkey Creek--we appreciate your hard work, Mitchell! As it turned out, they had to suddenly fly to Florida and were unable to join us. 

Dinky Creek was really nice and shady, a nice change from the hot sun of our campsites at Convict Lake.

We arrived in the late afternoon and started to make dinner after setting up camp.

Rick grilled the salmon.

Jessica made the tomato-avocado relish. You may remember her from her Thai Chicken Salad.

After dinner we sat around the campfire and made S'mores. 

This is our first time trying the JUMBO marshmallows.

See that look of love on Jessica's face?

Jessica LOVES marshmallows.

Jessica roasts the marshmallow and Rick melts the chocolate for her.

That is a JUMBO marshmallow!

It makes the graham cracker look tiny!

Gary had to add another graham cracker, and it oozed out the sides--the sign of a good S'more. He likes them best with mint chocolate.

Jessica loves S'mores! We made them every night and she never got tired of them.

The next day we made a hash with the leftovers from dinner. Simple and delicious!

Shaver Lake is not too far from the campground, about 13 miles or so. It seemed like there was mostly swimming and boating there, we didn't see anyone fishing.

There was nice hiking at Dinkey Creek.

We went on an early morning hike.

Dixie's cooling off in the water.

Back at the campsite, we played Ticket to Ride. It's a fun game--I didn't think so at first, but now I'm hooked.

Our last dinner camping, we had surf and turf.

Sliced tomatoes from my dad's garden, yellow squash & green beans and brown long grain rice made the meal complete.

After every meal, Rick & Jessica did the clean-up. Thanks for working so hard!

I liked Dinkey Creek! A BIG thank you to Mitchell for finding us another nice place for camping. We missed them this year, but I'm sure we'll go again.

***

This is Mitchell's grandmother, Nana.

My daughter describes her as a lovely Southern lady with impeccable manners, a graceful dignity, sparkle in her eyes and a quick wit.

 Our condolences go out to our family in Florida over the sudden loss of their precious Nana.

***

Grilled Salmon with Tomato Avocado Relish

adapted from Cooking Light Fresh Food Fast Special Edition


Ingredients:

salmon fillets, seasoned

2 cups red cherry tomatoes, halved
2 cups yellow cherry tomatoes, halved
1 large avocado, diced
juice of 1 small lime and/or lemon
3 thinly sliced green onions
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

optional: serve on a bed of arugula

Season salmon fillets with salt, pepper, paprika and/or lemon pepper. Grill.

While the salmon is grilling, chop the vegetables and toss lightly in a medium-sized bowl. Season with lime and/or lemon juice, salt & pepper.

Serve over a bed of arugula.

Summer's Bounty

I stopped by my parents' home this morning and look what they had for me!

Tomatoes, corn and a few pasilla chiles.

My dad grows them at the Hurst Ranch in West Covina. You may have seen him in my Curly Endive post.

Look who came over to check everything out?!

Dixie!

If you have tomatoes and corn in abundance like we do, here are a few recipes you might like to try:

Tomato Corn Chowder

Marinated Tomato Salad

Corn Potage--Creamy Corn Soup

Grilled Corn Salsa

Do you have a favorite family recipe using corn or tomatoes?

If you'd like, leave me a link in the comments section so I can try a favorite recipe of yours.

Itadakimasu!

***

Over the weekend we visited our friend Rick selling his vintage bike stuff at a small swap meet in Whittier.

Rick loves vintage bikes, especially Schwinns.

You may remember him from his wife Sue's guest post Grandma Kimbro's 2 Layer Cheesecake. 

He loves talking about his bikes. There aren't any prices on anything because he wants you to ask--so he can talk to you about the parts and bikes.

Rick also loves vintage Tonka trucks--especially anything from the 1950s and 1960s.

 I like the ones that look like they were played with a lot. Rick restores the really junky ones.

 It's so much fun to listen to him talk about his latest find or project, and when you go visit him in his garage, he can spend hours showing you his paint box with heat lamp, the Tonka reproduction decals he found on eBay, or, if you get him talking about chrome--his eyes light up.

This is the same kind of truck as in the photo above, yes. I've learned that you can never have too many Tonkas--even the same ones. You see, each is in a different state--some need repairs or have various missing parts, some need a new paint job, some simply need a good cleaning with a caring, loving hand. When they have missing parts, Rick begins a quest to find them--and he does, all over the country!

This is Rick's brother, Alex. He loves bikes and Tonkas too. If you've seen the History channel show, American Pickers, Alex is like them, only he's the Mexican-American Picker. Alex is also deft at woodworking.

Gary was happy to go see his friend this morning at the swap meet--he didn't buy anything, but had a good time. When we were leaving, Rick said, "I want to see those pictures up soon on your blog!"

Here you go, Rick.

***

Follow the links under each photo above for a printable recipe.