I had to take a picture of this peach that Lina gave me this morning to add to my steel-cut oatmeal along with our fresh strawberries and blueberries, for breakfast (her produce stand is across the tiles from Lowell’s in the main arcade, we love her) because really, look at it, this peach is enormous!

For size context, I put a quarter next to it on top of one of our posters. Unreal, and the juicy taste of summertime drips off your chin, these are 5 napkin peaches! Hurry, the OMG peaches in the market (OMG=Oh my God!) are only in season a short time longer, and they make the typical supermarket peaches look like babies. That, and the fact that the supermarket fruits are picked way under-ripe, sprayed with chemicals to preserve their color and shelf life, and more expensive. Totally lame.

Lina’s Produce across from us, Manzo Brother’s Produce next to her or Sossio’s Produce next door to us (Sossio’s has the BEST produce in Pike Place Market (not to take away from the other’s, Lina is still the nicest & sweetest person in the market), the best selection, the ripest and their colorful array of diverse seasonal availabilities… beautiful!

From fresh Oregon truffles to big juicy Rainier cherries and nectarines and all the fresh Northwest berries (we’re using a load of their incredible Huckleberries to infuse a new vodka flavor starting tomorrow for more unique, hand-crafted fresh market cocktails & “mocktails” (no alcohol in the mocktail) to experiment with, why?, because we can! Oh yeah, and check out THEIR heirloom tomatoes versus any others you’ve ever seen.

Grab 5 heirloom tomatoes from Sossio’s next door, squeeze the juice and seeds out of them into a cocktail mixing shaker with ice, along with 5 shots of good white tequila, the juice of two limes and 2 shots of agave syrup. Shake the heck out of it for a full minute, then strain into 4 martini glasses that you’ve dipped into a mix of kosher salt and cayenne pepper (rub the rims with the left over lime innards to get the mix to stick on the rim). That, my friends, is Mario Batali’s recipe for his “Tomato Rita” which is a spicy taste of summer with a kick! (Featured in today’s New York Times Sunday Magazine)

Like our “Peaches & Mint Muddled Mojitos” it’s all about using the freshest produce available and hand squeezed fresh juices for mixers. Come to Lowell’s second floor “Bar at the Market Hide-Away” and we’ll do all of the work for you so you can talk with your neighbors and friends watching the ferries on the water and the seagulls trying to dive bomb our windows for French fries, like they used to do when our windows slid open. (Is this French fry history passed down through generations of seagulls? Pike Place Market switched out our windows 10 years ago!)

Anyway, another beautiful day in Seattle, in Pike Place Market, and in our wonderful home away from home; Lowell’s. Now get in here (and please give me a break on my punctuation and over-use of exclamation marks) to try all the fresh items we make with all the fresh items at our fingertips in the
market!

Cheers always, ~Mark & the friendliest crew you’ll find anywhere!

Lina’s Big Ripe Peach!