It's Sunday, time for another Market Matters from the Hollywood Farmers Market. Today I set my sights on green garlic, which is the immature bulb and stalk of the garlic you know and love. It only makes an appearance for a brief time in spring. I was determined to get my hands on some today. The market did not disappoint either. I came home with a couple of big bunches. How lucky is that?

Speaking of lucky, I don't know what's happening to me. I think I am on a roll!

Because the food I have been presenting lately has really inspired me. I think I have upped my game here at SippitySup. I am a pretty good cook. But I am what I consider a casual cook. But some of this fare lately; it seems downright fancy! What's gotten into me? I might get used to sacheying around the blogosphere like a real cook. Something's got to give though... there's a flop in my future. I can feel it.

But not today. I made soufflé, or rather soufflés– 8 perfect little individual-sized Green Garlic, Leek & Goat Cheese Soufflés. Not only were they not a flop, they weren't flat either. They rose right out of those little ramekins and held their volume long enough for me to snap a photo of them right at their peak. If you'll pardon the pun. So I hope you will click over or scroll down and take a look-see at how pretty they are.

And as if that weren't lucky enough. I was even able to get them to the table for lunch with friends; proudly towering and piping hot. I served them with a simple green salad, really good bread and a nice bottle of Sancere.

Yeah, it's a pretty good life!

So here we are on day 4 of mint.

We did a mint tea that highlights the simplest essence of the herb. Then we used it as part of a medley of bright notes in a fruity tomato salad. We continued coaxing its distinctive flavor out by infusing mint into a classically French Cherry soup.

But I never really discussed why it is I chose mint in the first place. There certainly are more glamorous herbs in this world. What about shiso? Everybody is talking about that exotic little leaf.

It seems I have had a French flair going on here lately. So why not feature the most classic of the Provençal herbs, rosemary?

But I chose mint.

Partly because I wanted to prove it’s not just for Tic-Tacs and toothpaste, but also because I have a deep and abiding respect for mint. It took me a lot of years to get there though.

Yes, we are still doing mint.

Because that amazing combination of flavors we had yesterday from Just Call Me Marta sparked something in my ancestral memory. Something from very long ago. Back when I was a snooty Francophile. Watch what you are thinking I said WAS!

There was a time when I sought out only the Frenchiest of taste sensations. Anything that would transport me back to my imaginary childhood in the south of France. Those lazy golden (and entirely made up) days when I sat under the chestnut tree... la boîte in hand with mes amis!

Those imaginary afternoons were always centered on food. These were the glittering days of spring when ma mère would be dancing about her wood burning stove concocting some petit amuse bouche for me to enjoy.  Something light and seasonal.

Inevitably during these pretend days of May we would have an overabundance of cherries freshly picked by Gaston (another character who only existed inside my head).

Ahhh, youth.

It’s happened again. I should have known it was going to happen again. It usually happens just this way. I am stuck on peas and can’t get off them.

Yesterday I posted a Pea Pasta dish with mint and lemon zest. I used frozen peas and it was delicious, healthy and easy to make. And what I said is true. I think frozen peas are a terrific vegetable. Especially in the type of hurried situation that I was faced with.

But it is spring. There are lots of reasons to be excited about spring. Fresh sweet peas of all varieties are certainly some of these reasons.

As much as I loved my minty orzo with peas, it did not really scratch that springtime itch I sometimes get. That itch can only be scratched with fresh peas.

And I do not just mean sweet English peas. I mean snow peas and sugar peas. Heck I even mean fava beans (which is technically a legume). But because of the favas bright green color I am making it an honorary pea in this recipe for Sweet Pea Ravioli with Rosemary Cream. Click for recipe.

“Hello? Yeah. No. Okay. Yes. Sure. Great. Yeah right! Ok, bye. It was nice talking to you too.”

That’s how this story starts, because that collection of very literate sentences was uttered by me and is just one side of a very brief phone call.

Do you have one of those friends who start every phone conversation as if they had been on the phone with you a half hour already? It’s like they just pick up where they left off when they last spoke to you a week ago.

They could spout off their SS# and give you the combination to the safe without first confirming with whom they are speaking.

But in this instance I was indeed the intended reservoir for the information being conveyed. And believe it or not, the information being conveyed was a party invitation.

After a week of mustard, I was so looking forward to today’s Market Matters trip to the Hollywood Farmers Market. It is the first blank canvas I have had in the last 10 posts.

I had a few very traditional spring choices in mind, but I tried to keep an open mind.

Boy howdy, am I glad I did.

I ended up choosing beets. Some very pretty golden beets tinged with the blush of magenta. They were so pretty and that’s why they initially caught my eye.

More on my thought process in a moment.

Because I am so excited about what I came up with I just have to tell you immediately, and get that out of the way.

I did a Beet Salad. Once I chose beets I knew I wanted to do a salad because I wanted to do a recipe that included both the beet and the beet greens. It does kill me when I hear people at the market ask to have their greens cut off the beets.

If there is one universally loved vegetable it seems to be asparagus. Even the fussy eaters in my life, or the “no vegetables for me please” freaks, will eat asparagus. I know people who eat it several times a week. Even when it’s off season, expensive and not that great.

So now that it is in season, cheap, and really great I thought the time was right to honor it with this weeks Market Matters post from the Hollywood Farmers Market.

I love asparagus. But not all asparagus is the same. There are the very thin types. Often called baby asparagus. Which is misnomer because the thin spears are usually from older plants and are produced further out from the center of the plant.

Thin asparagus is usually a bit stringier.  It has an earthier, more pronounced flavor in my opinion too. This does not mean it is not as good as fat asparagus. In fact many people prefer this type. I would say fat or thin are pretty much equally good. If handled properly.

Spring. Spring. Spring, spring, spring!

It’s almost here! You can feel it. It’s not just the change in the weather. We have been having spring-like weather off and on for weeks.

I can tell it’s nearly here by the changes I am seeing at the Hollywood Farmers Market. I saw the very first, super fat, really luscious looking asparagus spears today. I saw spring onions and ramps. I tasted some delicious baby celery.

I was hoping to find fresh green garlic. But those (like morels and favas) are still a week or more away. But I am getting excited knowing that, like spring, they will soon be here.

Another sure sign of “pre-spring” is pea tendrils. Soon they will mature and burst forth with lovely pea filled pods. But this week the pre-cursor is here in the form of tendrils.

I picked up some curly snow pea tendrils for this week’s Market Matters. A more delightful vegetable is hard to imagine. They have such cheery little personalities too. I swear I could hear them singing in my bag all the way home (heigh-ho heigh-ho, it's home from work we go)…