Au marché

I have been waiting patiently for market day to arrive. This morning when I opened my bedroom shutters, the square was buzzing with people doing their weekly shop. I didn’t make it out the door until after 11 by which time their were far too many tourists for my liking. I was horrified to hear Australian English from the people next to me as I bought some mackerel for dinner. Turned out my distraction meant I didn’t realise they were not cleaned, so I learnt how to gut a fish at dinner time. They were quite tasty in the end. I was also somewhat horrified by the pale, flabby pile of fish livers on display. What do you even do with fish livers? And couldn’t quite face the grizzly faces of the merlin.

I came home from the first excursion with a basket full of bright red tomatoes, crusty bread, and some dark buckwheat bread, goat’s cheese, saucisson, paté de campagne and a bunch of enormous asparagus. 

The kids were keen for a nibble!

I had to wait for a good 10 minutes at the charcuterie van as the lady in front me ordered a bit of this and bit of that and three slices of the other, oh, and I’ll just get a couple of those lamb roasts that need smashing and maybe some …  I do understand, though, as everything looked quite delicious.

I had to go back for a second trip and red potatoes, veggies, and a punnet of lettuce that I’ve put in a pot in the courtyard. Can’t wait for them to be big enough to eat!

I’ve been eating and drinking with my lovely friends Helen and Guillaume who live around the corner. The weather has been gloriously sunny, so we’ve had lots of lunches in the garden. I am wondering if I’ll get a reputation for being the crazy lady who walks around town with a saucepan full of food. It’s easy to cook and my place and take it around to theirs for dinner, but have been attracting a few curious glances on the walk. They’ve stocked me up on wine and delicious olive oil from Ostal Cazes, one of the Lynch-Bages wineries.