Until just a few years ago, I thought of heirloom items as Grandma’s lace doilies and tomatoes.  So imagine my delight when I discovered heirloom seeds (auctioned off at Sotheby’s no less) for heirloom vegetables, and heritage breeds of farm animals that are truly a part of our national history. So when I learned about the new Beekman 1802 Heirloom Cookbook (Sterling Epicure, October 2011) from my friends at SchoolHouse Kitchen, I was very excited to see it.  Sure enough,

My mother and my sister Leslie live in San Diego, CA, and I’m presently visiting to help Mom settle into her new apartment.  Late in the day on Wednesday, Leslie decided it was time to take a break from all the moving and sorting.  She correctly assumed that I’d like to pay a visit the evening Farmers Market at Ocean Beach to help me get through missing two weekends of markets in NYC.  We arrived in the heart of this surfer haven about half an hour before sundown, and the mar