Garland Making

This weekend at the Hillcrest Farmers Market, we were getting ready for the holidays! We had garland making over at the info booth! We welcomed market patrons to come over and make garlands to either put them up on their Christmas tree at home or wear them as jewelry! Kids filled the table with holiday spirit as yarn and beads were everywhere. We saw some beautiful creations made from our market patrons. We had both kids and adults in the holiday spirit making garlands at our booth

One of our pretty vendor's daughters, Layla, decided to make a colorful necklace to wear around the market. Her necklace definitely had some beautiful patterns on it.

A new interesting addition we had at the market this week was a street performer. A man dressed and painted in gold stood and posed as a

statue in the heart of the market! You only see something like this in downtown, so it was cool seeing it at the market! People walked by and took pictures with the statue. It was quite the festive week here at the Hillcrest Farmers Market

Check back here and on hillcrestfarmersmarket.com for all of your market updates! Stay fresh and fabulous! We’ll see you next week! The Hillcrest Farmers Market WILL BE CLOSED DECEMBER 25TH AND JANUARY 1ST! It will return January 8th

Visiting Chef Series

This weekend at the Hillcrest Farmers Market we had our Visiting Chef Series! It was quite the treat to have these chefs come by and whip up some delicious foods! We were joined by Chef Bernard Guillas and Chef Ron Oliver from the Marine Room in La Jolla. The two prepared a scrumptious dessert called Hibiscus Lemon Tart. Because the dessert required some baking and overnight refrigeration, in addition to the cooking lesson, the chefs brought some of their pre-made Hibisbus Lemon Tart!

Chef Bernard started off demonstrating how to make the

Hibiscus Lemon Curd. He whisked some eggs and sugar in a mixing bowl which was followed by the addition of some flour and baking powder. He added some fresh lemon juice, zest and some hibiscus flowers. He then placed the bowl over a pot of simmering water without letting it touch the water. He added some butter and Lemoncello and whisked it until it was thick.

Chef Ron taught us how to make the Almond Cumin Crunch. He started off by buttering the tart pan, and then he creamed some butter, sugar and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Then came in the almond meal, cumin seeds, flour and some eggs. He combined everything to make it into dough and kneaded it into the sides of the pan. We were told to bake it. He had an already made Almond Cumin Crunch, which Chef Bernard poured the tart into it. They informed it would be best to refrigerate it overnight.

When it was all done he cut some slices of the Hibiscus Lemon Tart and passed it off to B who topped it with some whip creme. YUM! It was the perfect sweet goodie for the afternoon.

Check back here and on hillcrestfarmersmarket.com for all of your market updates! Stay fresh and fabulous! We’ll see you next week! The Hillcrest Farmers Market WILL BE CLOSED DECEMBER 25TH AND JANUARY 1ST! It will return January 8th

Spooky Halloween

This weekend at the Hillcrest Farmers Market we had our Market Trick-or-Treat! It was quite the spooky afternoon with all the ghost, goblins, and witches roaming the market. We were joined by our artistic face painter, Sarah Runyan, who added an extra spark to people’s costumes.

Sarah hung out at the Info Booth with us as market people stopped by to get their face painted throughout the day. On many occasions, Sarah painted on masks for everyone to match their costume.

One of our adorable market regulars, Amanda, came as a wicked witch, and Sarah painted on a spider web and a black widow on her cheek. She definitely left our booth looking spookier!

Other costumes we saw lurking around including Bob the Builder, witches, ninjas, batmans, bumble bees, fairies, and supermans.

At participating market booths, the vendors, who also dressed up, were giving out various candies, treats and goodies. Also at our info booth, we had spider basket making for everyone to keep their goodies in, as they were trick-or-treating around the market!

Next week at the farmers market we will be having an Apple Bobbing activity! You like apples? Like them so much you can eat them without your hands? Come check out the Apple Bobbing at our next market!

Check back here and on hillcrestfarmersmarket.com for all of your market updates! Stay fresh and fabulous! We’ll see you next week!

Amping up for CityFest 2011

This weekend at the market we pumped ourselves up with a fun filled afternoon before heading over to the 27th annual Hillcrest CityFest! We were joined by our balloon guy, Tyler Sterling of Pretend Inc, who is totally amazing.

Tyler hung out with us at the Info Booth and market patrons came over to get awesome balloon creations and tattoos throughout the course of the day.

We were joined at the info booth by new and old faces- our #1 fan came by in the dress that she tie-dyed with us last weekend and had Tyler create a puppy for her to walk around the market.

We also saw Mario and Princess Peach at the market, as well as an assortment of turtles, flower rings, lady bugs, and aliens!

After the market on Sunday we packed up and headed on over to Hillcrest's biggest annual event- CityFest! We hung out with The Spirt of Hillcrest, and Tempo and watched the brand new Hillcrest sign light up the intersection of 5th and University while enjoying awesome bands and tasty food and drinks throughout the course of the festival.

Next week at the farmers market we will be hanging out at the heart of the market at 1pm for our monthly Visiting Chef Series with Chef Johnny Durant from San Diego's very own Top of the Market. He'll be preparing togoroshi seared ahi tuna with heirloom tomatoes & mixed greens finished with micro arugula and a koo ju jang vinaigrette!

Check back here and on hillcrestfarmersmarket.com for all of your market updates! Stay fresh and fabulous! We'll see you next week!

Getting groovy at the Hillcrest Farmers Market

This weekend at the Hillcrest Farmers Market we tie-dyed! It was as awesome in August as it was in March when we did it the first time. We had kids and adults tie-dying and helping each other out.

It was quite the sight, really, because we had more adults participate this time around than kids. At one point we only had adults in the booth tie-dying! It was amusing to get everyone down on the ground, and especially because they had never done it before. Everyone helped each other out, and we got some groovy designs out of the whole thing. We even kept most of the dye on the t-shirts and not on ourselves!

Next Sunday we'll be celebrating CityFest on 5th & University Avenue's from Noon - 9pm. There will be a brand new Hillcrest sign and we're relighting it at 8pm. We WILL be at the farmers market this weekend and there will be face painting and a balloon guy to get in the CityFest spirit. Stop by and hang out with us first and then take the free shuttle straight over to CityFest from the DMV lot.

Check back here and on hillcrestfarmersmarket.com for all of your market updates! We look forward to seeing you this weekend! Stay fresh and fabulous!

We had all kinds of fun at our Info Booth Luau at the Farmers Market this weekend! It was a beautiful sunny and warm day in Hillcrest, and the market was packed!

At our luau we had games- bean bag tic-tac-toe. We had leis to welcome market patrons, and an awesome monkey photo banner that luau-ers got to put their faces in for a fun photo-op! We had kids and adults trying to get their photo taken, and everyone had a really awesome time.

Next weekend we are tie-dying again! After a super successful tie-dye event in March we decided to bring it back for some middle of the summer fun. Sign up for a session at the Info Booth starting at 9:30a with the last one at 1:30pm before the market closes at 2pm. BYO shirt/dye-able item or make a donation and get one from us! Come early 'cause last time we sold out!

We look forward to seeing everyone at the farmers market this weekend! Don't forget to save the dates: August 7th Tie-Dye, August 14th CityFest Face Painting, and our monthly Visiting Chef Series August 21st! Check back here and on hillcrestfarmersmarket.com for all of your market updates!

July Visiting Chef Series - Chef Hanis Cavin of Kensington Grill

This Sunday at the Hillcrest Farmers Market we were joined by Chef Hanis Cavin of Kensington Grill and his sidekick sous chef, "B", for our monthly Visiting Chef Series. The two prepared a delicious gazpacho topped with blackened shrimp, jicama, and micro cilantro.

Gazpacho is a chilled soup typically made with a tomato base and a variety of vegetables and herbs. Chef Hanis used tomatoes, red and green bell peppers, red onion, jalepeno, and worcestershire sauce. He advised the crowd not to use salt because gazpacho is typically a sweeter soup, and while salt is a very important ingredient to many recipes, this is the first part of the meal and sets the stage for everything else.

We also talked a lot about the peppers- jalapeno's are just little bell peppers, and their heat is in their seeds. Depending on the level of spicy-ness that you're looking for will depend on how much of the peppers you add to your soup. If you love it, then load it up! Chef Hanis let us know that when chopping up your peppers you want to remove the white part on the inside of the pepper- it's bitter and won't add good flavor to your dish.

After prepping the soup Chef Hanis tossed the shrimp and some secret house seasoning (we could tell you but then we'd have to kill you) into a pan for just a couple of minutes. It's important when cooking seafood that you don't let them cook for longer than necessary- they don't need much time and overcooking will remove the tenderness of the fish.

When it was all done he scooped some soup into little cups and passed it off to B who topped it with diced jicama, shrimp, and micro cilantro. YUM! It was the perfect meal for a hot afternoon.

Join us next week for our Info Booth Luau, and Tie-Dye on August 7th! BYO dyeable item or make a donation to get a t-shirt from us! Check back here and hillcrestfarmersmarket.com for all of your market updates!

Stay Fresh & Fabulous, we'll see you next week!

Watermelon Eating Competition @ the Hillcrest Farmers Market!

This weekend at the market we had a watermelon eating competition between participating market patrons! We welcomed guests to sign up at the Info Booth for a little competition every half hour and sliced up approximately 1/4 of a watermelon for each competitor to devour. Whoever did it the fastest won bragging rights. At the end of the day, the winner took home an entire watermelon! A little ironic, but totally fun. We had parents competing against their kids, and kids under 10 against others their age, as well as the most polite competition between the first competitors of the day! Watermelons are at the beginning of their season right now and are available at various vendors throughout the Hillcrest Farmers Market!

Check out all of the competition photos on our flickr photostream, or on our facebook! And check back for all of your market updates here or at hillcrestfarmersmarket.com

Stay fresh & fabulous, we'll see you next weekend!

Cooling off at the Hillcrest Farmers Market

This weekend at the Hillcrest Farmers Market we cooled off with some pretty hand-fans that were decorated by market patrons. We got the idea from another market patron who visited us from Omaha, Nebraska a few months ago. Bill was decorating a fan for his granddaughter using markers and a paper fan that he bought offline, and was creating a Disney princess theme for her. We loved the idea so much we bought 40 of our own fans!

Parents and children alike collaborated on their fans, and we got some beautiful and eclectic designs out of the whole thing. We welcomed new friendly faces, as well as many of our market regulars.

Next week we're welcoming the heat of the summer by throwing a watermelon eating competition. Think you have what it takes? Come sign up at the Info Booth and compete over the course of the day to be the watermelon eating champ!

July 24th we'll be hosting our monthly Visiting Chef Series, followed by an Info Booth Luau on July 31st filled with Hawaiian lei's and a pinata ('cause why not?!)

Check back here as well as hillcrestfarmersmarket.com for all of your market updates. We'll see you next week!

4th of July at the Market

This past Sunday at the Hillcrest Farmers market we celebrated the Fourth of July a little early. We had a gorgeous 3 day weekend laid out for us and plenty of fun planned at the market.

Market patrons came to the Info Booth and we created patriotic pinwheels using paper, crayons and markers, thumbtacks, and wooden bbq skewers. We used an easy template that we found online at kaboose and set to work. Lucky for us, it was a windy day and our pinwheels were spinning like crazy!

Check our website for all of our fabulous market updates: hillcrestfarmersmarket.com and our calendar of upcoming events! In July we'll be decorating Chinese style paper fans, having a watermelon eating competition, and of course, our monthly Visiting Chef Series!

Stay Fresh & Fabulous! We'll see you next week!