The next time you hear someone complain of jury duty, just ask, "Yeah, but who else gets 90 minutes for lunch?" At least that's the way it was in Department 1 at the Sacramento County Courthouse this week. Wednesday was the best, because that's when the noontime farmers market was under way at nearby Cesar Chavez Plaza.

Still, there's only so much time you can kill wandering among the vendors. I wasn't in the mood for any of the dishes being sold by concessionaires, so I drifted over to the branch of La Bou at the Central Library. The green-curry chicken was just dandy, but the dish that really blew me away was the big, moist and fresh apple cake, loaded with walnuts and with so much fruit it saved me the annual trek to Apple Hill, and at only $2.80 the piece.

I ordinarily don't eat dessert at lunch, but when you have 90 minutes to fill you might as well enjoy it lingering over cake and coffee. The next time some scholar looks for reasons behind the nation's "obesity epidemic," they might want to consider jury duty.