DOWN BY THE BAY

WHERE THE WATERMELONS GROW

In the summertime, when the sun is shining and you have a beautiful view of the bay, your thoughts turn to picnics and watermelon. That's right, the watermelon's have made their debut at the Little Italy Farmers' Market! These sweet and juicy melons herald in the season of eating outdoors, where it's perfectly acceptable, encouraged even, to eat with your hands and get messy. Find them at JR Organics in shades of pink and yellow, but you better come early, these guys disappear fast.

Sliced into triangles and eaten plain. Sprinkled with Tajin - a seasoning mixture of salt, chile and lime for fruit and vegetables - found at Gourmet Tamales. Cubed and tossed with slivers of fresh mint leaves from Maciel & Family. Blended with a bit of lime juice and water to make an agua fresca. Watermelon, we love you so.

While there are no shortage of ways to eat this summertime staple, I find myself daydreaming about a watermelon salad I had in San Francisco last summer. A darling of restaurant's summer salad menus, this one was like no other I've ever had - it was a plate of summer's best offerings. Chunks of heirloom tomatoes, crisp cool watermelon, green and fragrant basil, slightly pickled onions and pops of nicoise olives. I've waited patiently for almost a year for the watermelons to return to the markets, and now that they're here it would be a shame not to make this salad again. JR Organics has your melons and basil, Suzie's Farms has a gorgeous rainbow of heirloom tomatoes, Vang Farms has onions of all kinds (I use sweet onions, but red onions that have been rinsed with cool water to take away some of the sting and then pickled would be great too), the nicoise olives are at Lisko Imports and the recipe to put it all together is right over here.