Farm Stands in Southern Maryland

Although the Amish places were closed on Sundays, there were still some heathens around willing to sell their produce on Sundays.

The kid running this stand was having teenage problems. We very carefully avoided getting into a conversation with him about them.

We bought a dozen ears of corn, peaches, watermelon, and a whole bunch of other stuff I can't remember. The peaches were amazing, but the watermelon was the best.

Chris froze it and used it for frozen, watermelon cocktails. He made them with triple sec and brandy. They were amazing. And the watermelon lasted us like a week. Highly recommended.

Giant Paella at Dupont Farmers Market

Last Sunday, Jaleo restaurant kicked off their paella month at the Dupont Circle farmers market. They made a giant paella outside at the market. You're looking at maybe a third of the pan here.

The guy throwing fresh herbs in the paella is Jose Andres. He is the artist behind some of DCs best restaurants - Jaleo, Oyamel, Zaytinya, and Cafe Atlantico.

Also helping out was Jaleo's head chef, Rodolfo Guzman, a visiting chef from Spain, and a slew of Jaleo staff and their families.

I think watching them make the giant paella was even better than eating it (although eating it was pretty damn good ). I can't imagine the amount of time and money they put into their little demonstration. But it definitely made me want to make another visit to Jaleo.

Florida Avenue Market Tour

Another Cultural Tourism DC tour that I started and then ditched this weekend was of the Florida Market.

That's the gargantuan group wandering around. Our tour guide was a mumbler. Not good when about 70 people show up.

No matter, I had a blast. The Florida Market is my new favorite thing in DC.

Want to know where all the area Asians, Latinos, Africans, and West Indians are on the weekend? They're at the Florida Market. And they've got every kind of food you can think of. Need some pig ears? Cow hoofs? Mexican pastries? Chinese rice noodles? No problem!

The warehouses at the Florida Market contain wholesale businesses that sell to area restaurants and ethnic food stores. Many of them also sell retail. There is also a flea market, a farmer's market, a few restaurants, and a handful of random people just selling things. I bought the most delicious pork and cheese pupusa from the back of some woman's van. It was perfection.

The market is right off of the New York Avenue metro station. You should hurry up and get out there. The area is gentrifying fast and it probably won't be around much longer.

Dupont Farmers Market Tomatoes

The Dupont Circle Farmers Market is getting so good now that summer is close. They finally had strawberries. They also had the most amazing tomatoes.

We've been eating caprese with these tomatoes and some of the Blue Ridge Dairy Company fresh mozzarella. It is soooooooo good.

They also had someone there from Hello Cupcake handing out samples of their strawberry buttercream. I could have eaten a vat of that. I would have had to throw up afterwards, but it would have been worth it.