Cooking local isn't always easy. I talk a good game, but honestly, I'm craving carrots so badly these days that when I walk by the carrot display in the supermarket I can feel it pulling me closer and closer and closer. And don't even get me started on asparagus. I cross my fingers every weekend that this will be the weekend that asparagus will come back to the market.

In order to truly cook local, you need to be prepared to tailor your menu to what you can find at the farmers markets or fruit and vegetable stands in and around Seattle. To help you plan out your menu before you head out to the markets this weekend, I've got a handful of resources for you.

The first place I suggest you look is the Seattle Farmers Markets website. Not only will you find information about each of the various markets, you'll also find a listing of what is fresh now at the markets. This week, it looks like my hopes will actually result in asparagus as well as celery, radishes, and snow peas.

Also found on the Seattle Farmers Markets website is an announcement for the Spring Celebration at the West Seattle Farmers Market THIS WEEKEND!

Not all of Seattle's great farmers markets are listed on the Seattle Farmers Markets website. The Ballard Farmers Market, for example, is part of the Fremont Market organization. While they have a link to their own fresh sheet, it hasn't been updated this year.

Puget Sound Fresh is another excellent resource. You can search King and surrounding counties for all markets or markets on a specific day of the week. For a list of all the markets in King County, see this link. I can thank Wesa, of Seattle MetBlogs for exposing me to this site, which also lets you search for a specific fruit or vegetable and find a list of all farms that sell that specific fruit or vegetable. Puget Sound Fresh also has information on a variety of the CSA's available in our local area. Stay tuned for more information on CSA's in a future post.

But wait... there's more! For no extra fee (other than another few minutes of Internet access), you can also check out Seasonal Cornucopia. This resource allows you to search by month or product type and see a list of all products grown or harvested in the Pacific Northwest that month. Cornucopia will even give you helpful tips, like the fact that fava beans might be available well in to August, but they will grow increasingly starchy as the season progresses.

Get out there and enjoy the markets this weekend. The weather is supposed to be nice and I'm sure the fruits and vegetables will be amazing, as usual!