So, not much to report over here in sunny San Clemente other than I’ve now been to two more farmers’ markets, one in Carlsbad and one in Oceanside. The picture above shows the goodies Ben and I picked up on Wednesday in Carlsbad, minus the four tamales (pictured below) we picked up from Juanita Fukuda’s stand. Mrs. Fukudu sells an array of both sweet and savory handmade tamales 6 days a week at various farmers’ markets in the area — I spotted her in Oceanside yesterday as well.

Wednesday evening, Cousin Jay joined Ben and me for a small farmers’-market-bounty feast, featuring microwaved (we could not devise a steamer with our limited kitchen equipment) tamales, sautéed Swiss chard, and a salad of greens and tomatoes. I think we all agreed that the tamales, while fun to eat, were not the best we’d ever tasted, though a good dousing of the salsa verde, also purchased at the market, made them far tastier. The Swiss chard and the greens, however, fresh and delectable, inspired me to buy several more bags of each yesterday in Oceanside, enough, I hope, to last through the weekend.