Last week I visited the Thousand Oaks Farmers' Market at its temporary location. The market used to be in the parking lot at The Oaks mall but is now on the rooftop of the Conejo Recreation and Park District building, 403 W. Hillcrest Drive. A map showing its location is available at www.vccfarmersmarkets.com.

I had the opportunity to speak with Karen Wetzel Schott, the operations manager, who told me that the market will be at its current location for at least another year; it all depends on how long it takes to complete the construction at The Oaks.

On the positive side, parking at the new location is senior and handicap accessible, and the view is phenomenal. Parking is limited to 125 spaces, but if you get there before 3 p.m. or after 5 p.m. there are plenty of spaces. Shoppers who arrive after 5 p.m. receive a coupon for $1 off any purchase.

While I was there, I stopped by the Fife's Family Farm stand and spoke to Ryan Fife, owner of the farm. Fife told me that his farm had been participating in the Ventura County Certified Farmers' Markets since 1986 and his farm will be certified organic by August.

I was glad to see that he had apricots available. Fife told me that the apricots he had now were Castle Bright apricots and that they would be available for the next two or three weeks. After that he would have Modesto apricots. Castle Bright apricots are best for eating out of hand, while the Modestos are more suited for baking and preserving.

I like to make apricot crisp whenever apricots are in season. Usually I don't add any other fruit to my apricot crisp, but Fife had sulfur-free raisins made from red flame grapes, which were large and sweet, so I added them to this recipe. Apricot Crisp 6 cups apricots, pitted and quar tered, unpeeled ¼ cup apricot preserves ¼ cup raisins ¾ cup sugar ¼ teaspoon grated orange zest 1 1/3 cups flour 2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar ¼ teaspoon brown sugar ¼ teaspoon salt 6 tablespoons butter, cold, cut into ¼-inch cubes 1 large egg, beaten ¼ teaspoon almond extract 1/3 cup slivered almonds

Arrange oven racks so that there is one in the center of the oven. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large bowl, stir together the apricots, raisins, apricot preserves, sugar and orange zest until well mixed.

Using a food processor, pulse together the flour, brown sugar, almond slivers, cinnamon and salt. Add the butter, and pulse the mixture until the butter is mixed well into the flour and the mixture looks like crumbs.

In a small bowl, beat the egg with the vanilla extract. Add the egg to the flour and pulse four of five more times. Add ½ cup of the flour mixture to the apricot mixture and mix well.

Spread the apricot mixture in a 9-by-9-inch oven-safe dish. Sprinkle the flour mixture evenly over the apricot mixture. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until the topping is golden brown.

Let the apricot crisp cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes before serving.