Saturday Busy-ness

This morning's bounty

We are all impatiently awaiting spring's arrival--for good.  She (is spring a she?  I think most definitely) has been teasing us with little glimpses of nice weather, but then drenches us in more rain.  Last Sunday was particularly wet--a day I haven't seen the likes of since leaving Oregon.  I was a little dismayed to see that today, Saturday market day was drippy.  However, I didn't live all those years on the Oregon coast and not learn how to cope with a little drizzle, so I grabbed my basket and headed out to the markets--starting with the "Arab" market to get some sliced almonds.

I hadn't been to this market in a while.  It's mostly clothing and 1 euro flea market offering  kitchen gadgets, and purses.  You can, however, score a mattress or a terra cotta tagine or some knock-off perfume for about 3 euros a bottle....and I am not too proud to say I have purchased some from time to time.  What I do love to buy at the Arab market are spices---the cinnamon and ginger are intense.  I also like to use this one guy in particular for almonds, especially sliced ones.  While not cheap, his prices per unit are much less than what you'd find in the supermarket.  Alas, he was out of them this morning, so I was out of luck, but I did score an Old El Paso hard shell taco kit.  I won't use the spices, or the packet of salsa, but hard shell corn tortillas are nearly impossible to find here, and I prefer them for the 3 times a year that taco are on my menu.

Now it's time to get busy

From there, it was a stop for some chicken livers at a little store that sells roast chicken and parts of poultry--turkey, chicken, guinea hen, and some different kinds of sausages.  It's a family business...the middle and younger generations handle the cooking and waiting on the customers and Grandma mans the cash register.  Nobody else handles any money!

Plants need to be potted

Then on to the produce stands--because of the rain, this market, like the Arab market, was a little smaller today, but everything I needed or wanted was readily available, except for the mussel vendor.  I was thinking of mussels for tomorrow's supper, but salad Nicoise will do instead.  Even after nearly three years here, I occasionally fall under the spell of all that beautiful fresh produce and over-buy.  I sort of flirted with that today, coming home with radishes, carrots, a zucchini, an eggplant, fresh mushrooms, string beans, and my splurge of the week--fresh peas.  This was accompanied by a little balsa wood basket of fresh strawberries, and the teeniest pineapple I have ever seen.

Strawberries can be hit or miss here, I have found.  I prefer the ones grown in the Aude, but sometimes they can be a little watery.  The berries I bought today taste like the ones I remember plucked from our patch in Creagerstown when I was a child some 60 years ago.  I bought these from the man who grew them and told him that my family, back in the United States, when I was a child, also raised berries.  We swapped stories about varieties, and how much work goes into a strawberry field.  He was delightful.  

Upon coming home, some real work needed to happen.  Peas needed to be shelled.  I snapped and cooked the string beans.  The bunch of radishes are cleaned and trimmed.  I made guacamole from an avocado I bought earlier in the week--it was at the perfect state of readiness.  I made chicken stock.  I picked the carcass that I used for the stock and made chicken salad.  I cleaned the strawberries and sliced them.  Some of the carrots from the bunch are now sticks ready for hummus. What I have learned is that overcast Saturday afternoons are perfect for cleaning and preparing all the food I have brought home from the morning's market.  Now it's ready for the snacking and I will have no excuse not to eat healthily.  And I can rest from food prep, at least for the remainder of the weekend.

Alcobaca Portugal porcelain pot--ugliest in the world

I bought the ugliest pot in the world at the "junk" store (where I get my greatest treasures). It's so ugly that I had to have it,.  It does help that it is the perfect size for re-potting my jade plant.  I also found earlier this week, the greatest garden supply store ever and bought a pot of mint and a pot of basil for my window garden.  And I got some new little red geranium plants for the street side windows.  I had planned to do some plant-potting this afternoon, but the day has gotten away from me--it was all that food prep (and a 90 minute Skype chat with my sister).  I hear the bells of Saint Vincent ringing en chaine, so it must be nearly 6 in the evening.  I should go out into the kitchen and start dinner, but funny thing---I am not in the least bit hungry.  Later, when the pangs start pinching the walls of my stomach, I will be able to quell them with plenty of vegetables that I have already worked on.  Good plan!  All of today's busy-ness will pay off.