Seth Budick from the Highland Park Certified Farmers Market writes:

It's not hard to draw an analogy between the early summer farmers market and a Hollywood blockbuster. Instead of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie on the marquee, just imagine peaches and tomatoes and you've got the market stars. With the first beefsteaks of the season arriving last week from Tamai farms, it's no mystery why these fruits bring in the crowds. But no farmers market would be possible without the less glamorous vegetables, the Steve Buscemis of the produce world, like broccoli, spinach and, not least, the humble potato.

Gama Farms reliably brings 4 or 5 varieties of potatoes to the market each week, but faced with all those options, how can you know which one to choose? Well potatoes break down into two main classes, starchy and waxy, with some varieties falling somewhere in between. Gama has one variety of starchy potato, the russet (often called Idaho), which is large, rough skinned and brown. The other varieties, Yukon gold, white round and red round, all have smoother skins and fall towards the waxy end of the spectrum.

Russets, being higher in starch, tend to get rather dry and crumbly on cooking and so are usually recommended for baking, mashing and frying. Waxy varieties are firmer when cooked and hold their shape better, making them a good choice for boiling or roasting. I tested all four varieties in roasting and mashing tests and found that mashed russets did have a much smoother consistency than any of the other three.

Russets also have the very distinctive "potatoey" flavor that you're familiar with from restaurant baked potatoes. The waxy varieties all made good mashed potatoes as well however, particularly if you don't mind a few lumps. Among the waxies, the white round has the least assertive flavor, while the Yukon gold and red round are slightly stronger, with the flesh of the Yukons having the particularly pretty color of their namesake metal. For roasting, you can't go wrong with any of the waxy varieties, though I found the Yukon to have the fluffiest interior to complement its crispy crust. You might be surprised to learn that potatoes are very high in vitamin C, dietary fiber and potassium, so don't ignore these important supporting players.

New fruits and vegetables are appearing weekly at the market, including jalapeno and serrano peppers. Take a look at http: //www.friends4oldlafarmersmarket.org for a complete list as well as recipe ideas. And pick up fresh breads, cheeses and honey while you're at the market, along with rotisseried chicken, fresh tamales and roasted corn and potatoes for dinner.

Please stop by the market for fresh, field-ripened, high quality produce from local farmers and spend time with your friends, neighbors and other community members.

The Highland Park Certified Farmers Market is located adjacent to the Highland Park Gold Line station at Marmion Way between Ave. 57 & 58 and operates Tuesdays from 3-8PM.

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Report on the Southwest Museum:

Southwest Museum Coalition: CM Huizar's Meeting with Leadership

This week the Friends of the Southwest Museum Coalition proved our effectiveness as a true coalition and we are stronger than ever. A brief report back to the community about the meeting that was convened by Councilmember Huizar concerning the Southwest Museum:

Councilmember Huizar invited the various organizations that comprise the Friends of the Southwest Museum Coalition to a meeting this past Wednesday evening so that he could hear directly from the leadership of each individual organization, their concerns, views, and vision concerning the future of the Southwest Museum.

The Coalition would like to acknowledge and thank the Councilmember for his leadership and for reaching out to see and hear first-hand the united stance our communities (both local and nationwide) have concerning this issue. I was humbled by the sheer presence of community and city leadership gathered in one place to which all the credit goes to the Councilmember and his hard working staff for orchestrating. Please take the time to thank the Councilmember!

Over 50 (fifty) organizations sent leaders to the meeting which certainly dispels any notion that this coalition might be a "paper tiger." Each organization representative stood and gave their organization's perspective for about 2 minutes. Support was unwavering for continued use as a museum to display and interpret the Southwest Collection. The Coalition's positive vision for an historically sensitive rehabilitation/ expansion and better economic utilization of the Southwest Museum site was overwhelmingly preferred to Autry's diminished, vague change-of-use plans that are currently unfunded. This Coalition vision, dubbed the "Alternative Plan," is a win- win solution. Take a look at a new color illustration that was developed after the Alternative Plan was unanimously endorsed at our last public Coalition meeting (http://www.friendsofthesouthwest museum.com/newsite/vision.html).

Many organizations expressed their encouragement for the Councilmember and the Mayor to take an even more active and aggressive role in securing the goals articulated by this plan - creating an enhanced and viable museum destination for Los Angeles. The eloquence and support shown by each of the individual organizations was a powerful statement of what the collective Coalition represents.

The only point of departure was when individuals representing three of the organizations presented positions that appeared to be at odds with the currently adopted positions of their respective organizations. I am sure this situation will be clarified and corrected in the near future.

This confusion might be due to the nature of the conceptual plan. The Coalition has not changed our original and long-held position. We created a vision that would accommodate and address Autry's stated needs for a cultural/education center merged with the uses that our Coalition members voiced overwhelming support for as a viable museum destination. It's a starting point not the ending point for a proactive and positive solution.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Councilmember Huizar vowed to continue and increase his efforts on this high priority issue. He indicated that he will be meeting with the Autry in the next few weeks. The Councilmember's meeting created a renewed energy of collaboration and support from each organization to working for a dynamic and vibrant Southwest Museum in Northeast Los Angeles. Charles Lummis' vision for a museum of and for history, art and cultures of the diverse people's of the Southwest is alive and well.

A few other major updates of note outside of this very productive meeting:

-- We've added a slew of new organizations in the recent weeks that are committed to the issue. We continue to grow as the story of the Southwest Museum's peril gets out to a wider and wider audience.

-- The Los Angeles Conservancy sent a letter (dated June 12th) to Autry, "We have always seen room for additional development on the historic museum site and find that Garavaglia's proposal [the Coalition's] sensitively addresses many of the deficiencies found there today."

-- Assembly member Anthony Portantino's June 7th letter to the Autry Board asks: "I respectfully urge your sincere consideration for the alternate expansion plans of the Southwest Museum, retaining the museum in its original Northeast Los Angeles location."

We've done and will continue to do everything we can -- respond positively to Autry and other critics on the merits of the issue, support Autry's substantial efforts to address the Southwest Collection's needs, support Autry in securing much of the public money now being used to study/stabilize either the Collection or the historic buildings, create a positive vision that provides a win-win solution that invests in Northeast Los Angeles.

Nicole, Chair, Friends of SWM Coalition