Go to it Matilde!
Market day in Castres and a parking place opens up after a single tour–thanks to our Parking Fairy–who has been kind these last two weeks after the ticket.
Teeming today–du monde–too many people, making it difficult to move along.
I resolve to make the effort next week and get there before 9am.
Queues at each stall.
I have to stand and watch one punter filling her bag with those sweet Spanish lemons I’d driven in to buy.
Not all of them–please!
She left a few and then the vendor magicked more lemons from under the table!
This is a new-ish stall—a breakaway from the neighbouring stall selling organic vegetables.
Seems she has a source south of the border supplying her with said lemons, the odd grapefruit and almonds that taste like almonds.
Until last week she had rosy red apples but warned that there’d be no more next week–the tree was bare—until next season. I like seasonal– it makes sense.
Last week she handed me a sheet of paper dense with text about a new idea she’s hatched: Adopt a Chicken!
You pay 12 euros. She looks after the chicken, which lays eggs for you which you buy after getting your first 12 euros worth. She includes a photo of your little dear one, so you can prop it up at the breakfast table while eating your boiled egg.
Merci infiniment ma cherie—je me regale!
We are buying into the idea–and I handed over 12 euros.
Meredith translated the dense text and found a sweet drawing illustrating the special kind of chicken, La Flèche–a rare French breed.
Our stall holder—yet to know her name—was delighted!
Go to it, Matilde*!
(*I christened her–sight unseen!)
Filed under: Food, other sides to this life
