Fruit, almonds, and orchards

Sean's back has finally healed enough to allow us to take daytrips again.  Saturday we decided to head up to Modesto to shop at the Farmers Market and Stewart & Jasper Orchards Company Store and have lunch at Chipotle (Sean misses having one in town).  The market was great, as always.  I'm having fun trying out fruit I haven't had before, at least not in its whole form.  We bought a different kind of persimmon from last time and some quince, which the farmer told me are great raw drizzled with lime juice, tequila and salt.  I will have to give that a try.  I'm also sprinkling pomegranate seeds on everything these days.  They are so delicious and nutritious at same time!

We also bought some mini guavas.  I have had guava juice and guava jam, and a friend from The Bahamas once made me guava duff, a delicious dessert, but I have never eaten them raw and whole, so I am anxious for them to ripen.

 

Unfortunately, the Stewart and Jasper Orchards company store is not yet open in Modesto, though we had been informed that it was.  We fell in love with their roasted, salted, in shell almonds when we bought them at their store in Monterey.  However, while looking for the store that is not yet open in Modesto, we did stumble upon the Royal Robbins outdoor clothing store where I bought a fabulous scarf and glove set (not sure when I will even need those... maybe when we head back to Minnesota in December).  Royal is a Modesto native who became famous as a rock climber, particularly in Yosemite, and who started an outdoor clothing company with his wife (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Robbins).  So we had to head to the S&J company store in Patterson, which gave us a chance to gawk at the gorgeous Coastal Range for most of the trip.  There we bought some of our favorite almond treats.

And speaking of almond orchards, today we decided to take the dogs for a nice stroll in one just down the road from our house in Merced.  It was lovely to walk down the straight path in the shade, with leaves crunching under our feet.