Farmer's Market Thursdays

Every Thursday morning I wake up and have a cup of tea on the patio, admire the jungle palms and ocean breeze. Really, this is what I do every morning, but on Thursdays I wander down our street to the local farmer's market. We've been excited in the past to discover a sourdough bakery that has a stand at the market. So far on this journey we've been bereft our our beloved Northwest sourdough breads. We have also been purchasing handmade ravioli, last week we tried the pumpkin + sage variety.

This week was especially exciting because there are new fruits/veggies I haven't seen there before. A basket of fresh figs for $6, star fruit for $2, and exotic dragon fruits - these will be next week's adventure if they're still at the market. This week I excitedly purchase a large bag of fresh passion fruit for just $5. I don't know what I'll do with them, but I'm excited to learn. I get home and unpack my collected goods - this is my favorite part of every Thursday, sharing my purchases with Chris and planning a menu for upcoming days. We dive into the passion fruit, which are small and purple with a surprisingly hard shell. We cut them in half and discover a yellow goo with seeds in the middle. Honestly it doesn't look like anything you'd want to eat, but it smells amazing and we know it'll be a tasty treat. They are tangy and sweet at the same time, and loads of fun to eat. It reminds me of eating fresh Dungeness crab, where it's a lot of work with only a small amount of "the good stuff" once you break through the shell, but ultimately well worth the effort.

spicyicecream.com.au

We find a recipe online for Passion Fruit Cheesecake Brownies (from a graphic designer who loves to bake and blog! I have some work to do :) and set to work gutting no less than 8 passion fruits to obtain 1/4 cup of fresh juice. We saved the pulp and seeds for topping the ice cream once the brownies are done. Note: I actually wanted to make Coconut Cream Passion Fruit Cheesecake, but decided we were too impatient for such a dessert. Perhaps it's a good alternative if you're feeling adventurous.

Other ways we've enjoyed the passion fruit: eating on its own as a snack, as a yogurt topping, and in smoothies with greek yogurt, banana, mango and honey. Thanks to all our family and friends for jumping in with ideas on what to make with this yummy fruit! Next week's adventure: the dragon fruit.