The Pure Joy Kitchen Door
This Saturday will be my 880th 7:30 am trip to Santa Barbara’s Farmer’s Market. We go in to the Pure Joy Kitchen at 7, get our carts and our list & walk down the brick parqueted park alley to the market.
The Farmers are all hustling around setting up their stands still, loading them with the freshest produce around, these are morning people like me, happy to start their day and contagiously friendly. My fiancé, Jeff Kincade, goes with me every Saturday rain or shine, lovingly standing by to help me gather, pull carts and carefully label each item for it’s use and intention. He deeply understands my process of creation. Inspiration seems an inadequate term for what I get from these mornings after all these years. Talking to the other early chefs, the farmers, it’s a special time before the market opens. Getting to see the first treasures of each season and buy them for my clients, the cheeses, the nuts, every possible organic fruit, herb and heirloom vegetable we can grow in this exceptional hothouse little pocket of the world, the freshest flavors of each week right from the men and woman who grew them with pride and integrity.
As the market comes to life we finish up, usually 2 to 4 hours and we leave taking some of the best the market has to offer, along with a great sense of community and love of goodness and the earth, outstanding food and the soul of Santa Barbara itself.
Hope to see you there!
Lynette La Mere, Pure Joy Catering Executive Chef
Santa Barbara pit fruit is ripened on the trees - that changes everything you do with it
the locally grown succulents from Chris at the Saturday Market are stunning
every Pure Joy Event starts with the first morning treasures from Farmer's Market
BD for Earthtrine farms has grown food for us as long as I can recall, we caterered his sons wedding