My summer food adventures

I'm going easy with my post today. A melange of food-related pictures I took in recent weeks for you to ward off that mid-week slump. Hold on for just a couple more days for the weekend!

SF's Civic Center farmers' market with the City Hall as backdrop

This farmers' market in San Francisco's Civic Center is my favorite in the city. You can find a wide variety of produce - Asian, organic, heirloom - at very affordable prices. You get a real flavor of San Francisco's diversity because the clientele really come in all stripes. I think it's much better than the more famous but ridiculously overpriced Ferry Plaza farmers' market.

Ultimate instant gratification: cheap Cantonese, vegetarian dim-sums from SF's Chinatown (I need to take better food pictures!)

Staying true to my Hong Kong upbringing, I crave Cantonese dim-sums every now and then. They are not what I can make at home easily, so I am thrilled to find a great place in San Francisco's Chinatown for them: Good Mong Kok Bakery. You know it's good when you see Chinese housewives squeezing into the small store and coming out with boxes of their freshly made dim-sums. Be prepared to be decisive AND aggressive when getting what you want though as neither the counter-lady nor other customers will hesitate to yell at you if you are in their way. These are good, cheap dim-sums indeed. Ten pieces including vegetarian steamed buns, dumplings, scallion flatbread, sesame ball, pastries, all for under $6, transported me to carb heaven instantly.

Focaccia topped with black olives and peppers, served with marinated pepper salad and tortilla chips

There's a gentleman who sells homemade focaccia and other Italian breads and pastries at the Millbrae farmers' market in the Peninsula. He often sells out pretty early, but I got to snatch a piece topped with black olives and sliced peppers last weekend. I warmed it up in the oven and ate it along with homemade marinated pepper salad and lime-flavored tortilla chips from my favorite brand, FoodShouldTasteGood. The focaccia was chewy and fragrant (and without cheese!), and a good value at $4 apiece that's good for two big meals.

Low-fat banana bread for breakfast to satisfy my sweet tooth

Finally, something more healthful, but not quite. I had to use up a bunch of almost rotten bananas so I made banana bread by adapting the Blueberry-Banana Bread recipe from the blog Fat Free Vegan. I left out the blueberries, but followed the recipe by using mostly applesauce in place of oil to make it lower in fat. It satisfied my sweet tooth as I try to stay away from desserts during the week, and was still incredibly moist and yummy.