Wendy B.
Yelp
The small tent city is set up in the parking lot next to the Barnes & Noble Bookstore, a separate structure in the most southeast corner of the mall property. And they only sell on Sundays. But that's ok. We were just looking to kill a little time, and really only spent less than an hour. We made some great discoveries.
We found ourselves walking down one and a half aisles total. Small, nothing as compared to a lot of farmers markets these days. Maybe it being February had something to do with it. But the fruit and vegetables were lovely, much nicer than the groceries we frequent.
There is always the benefit of getting to taste before you buy. Winter is a great time for citrus, a nice variety of mandarins, oranges, grapefruit. I would not have bought the tangerines I did, except I got to taste them first. The vendor at Tilden Farms (from Riverside) was a great salesman, and made sure we were aware of the who, what and where of all his goods. Very impressive. We bought two bags of a lesser known newcomer (introduced by retailers in 2009), a seedless tangerine called Tango. Great flavor. I think I will need to go back for more, if he still carries them. I may have to find room in my garden for a tree. Hmmm.
Raphael Cardenas from San Luis Obispo was our second stop. Healthy, healthy produce. Mr. B found huge bundles of beautifully trimmed, healthy kale for $1, something he pays $2 for at Sprouts (which has a lot of unusable stems). Another vendor at this farmer's market had much smaller bundles for the same price.
We also found a little bakery stand, Sweet Caroline's, based in Corona CA. They did not have much, but what they did have had a buttery homemade taste. We got several things, a brownie (a wonderful, deep chocolate morsel with a soft fudgy middle and crunchy crust that inadvertently caused me to swear), a magic cookie bar (one of those 1970's vintage layered bars made with chocolate, nuts, coconut), and some sugar cookies shaped like hearts with lots of pink and white sprinkles. Valentines Day treats. Her prices are commensurate with bakery store fronts, i.e. not cheap, but I think much better tasting.
Last but not least was the "hummus guy" from Brothers in Garden Grove. There was a substantial crowd around his booth, with people buying lots of containers of his Mediterranean goodies. I had read earlier about his rosemary ginger garlic spread (whipped into a mayonnaise consistency with olive oil and lemon juice), and so without hesitation picked one up, without sampling. Now, I am pretty sure he does not do this for everyone, but he, out of the blue, told me to put my money away, and he handed me my container. That is how confident he was of his product. And yes, I have since tasted it, and it is wonderful. I hope I am not getting him in trouble, but I also think his generosity has gotten him a new, repeat customer.
There were a lot of other vendors selling honey, jewelry, crafts, not capturing my interest this time. But honestly, I would return and spend more time next visit. Keeping our small local businesses alive is important. Glad I went.