Why Cali is better, Part II

I left off having just acquired the Farmers Market job. It turns out, the job is bomb! And my boss, the owner of Catalan Family Farms, is pretty amazing, too. She is generous and kind (even though she makes me work hard), and at the end of each market, she donates food to Food Not Bombs without hesitation. I worked both markets this weekend, one in downtown Berkeley, the other in Temescal, and both left me with wonderful gifts of produce, breads, homemade kimchi from Cultured, a local fermenter, and clabbered cottage cheese from Cowgirl Creamery.

I have a fridge filled with more veggies than I can handle, so I've been on a steady diet of organic zucchini, crookneck squash, onions, garlic, cherries, tomatoes (first of the season!), leeks, carrots, cabbage, lettuces... and more. I also salvaged an entire box of summer squash that were being tossed out because harvest is this week, and there will be many many many squash if these were kept around.

So I've been trying to act quickly and use what I have while I can. If it looks like my goal is unattainable, I'll donate them to friends, but I'd like to see if it is achievable. So far I've made a light salad of mandolined squash, mint leaves, salt, pepper, olive oil, and lemon juice. Next time I'll add French feta. I've added it to pasta, tortellini, and chicken dishes. This morning I mandolined a skinny zucchini and one clove garlic into a 4x2" baking dish (very small), thinly sliced in tomatoes, tossed in about 1 tsp olive oil, salt, and pepper, and added two unbeaten raw eggs. I baked this mini casserole in an oven set to 350 for 20 minutes, and out came zucchini-tomato baked eggs for one. I dare you to try it.