A morning at the market
This morning we took our first real trip to the market at Fontenay-le-Comte. I know, we’ve been here for 10 months and this was our first visit, but its a Saturday morning, and with 3 kids it’s a struggle to get them to do anything on a Saturday morning, never mind get dressed and go out!
Most markets we have ever seen in France are pretty much the same – a mix of beautiful fruit, vegetables, fish, cheese and bread, with some rather old-fashioned clothes, hats and lots and lots of pants! Fontenay market was certainly no different. However, there is something special about the atmosphere of a French market that is really worth sampling.
The fruit and vegetables are especially resplendent in their colour and size. Much nicer than their supermarket-bought cousins. The people are all friendly and happy to chat (not much chatting in your local Hyper U I can tell you!) and the road-side cafés make a welcome break where you can just stop for a coffee (or a pineau 
) and watch the world go by.
We picked up a fair selection of stuff to keep us going over the weekend…some mussels, oysters (yes, more oysters!), lots of bread, some roquefort cheese (to go in the sauce for the mussels)… and Molly bought a scarf, kindly reduced by the merchant skilfully negotiated down by me from €7 to €5. Yes, I know it’s still 22 degrees and sunny here, but you’re apparently nobody if you don;t have a scarf round your neck…
I think we may make a habit of a Saturday-morning trip to the market. The kids will be fine to run riot/sleep all morning on their own and Lisa and I can enjoy a pleasant morning perusing the fine produce, having a quiet coffee and generally enjoying this essential part of everyday french life.
Sounds good to me. What do you think?
on 27 September 2008 at 7:10 pm :
Cepes at €7.50 per kilo???? PLease get us a kilo, they are normally €17+ here!
on 27 September 2008 at 7:14 pm :
Wow, if we’d have known we’d have picked some up. We’ll nip out and get some next weekend when you come
on 28 September 2008 at 10:49 pm :
Richard,
I find oysters taste better if someone else opens them. I still find it a bit of a struggle, even using the right knife. A French friend rinses them under the tap to get rid of any bits of shell – they soon make more liquid.
We like Fontenay market on Saturdays – good fish stalls upstairs in the covered market. Also Coulonges market on Tuesdays – not too far from Foussais.
We stayed at our house in Foussais for 3 weeks in August – the weather was dissapointing. My daughter and our two grandchildren (Ruby 6 months and Lily 2 years) joined for the middle week.
Jon & Ros
on 29 September 2008 at 7:46 am :
Hi Jon and Ros.
Sorry we couldn’t summon up any better weather for you this summer. Everyone says its been a very bad year this year, which is a shame. But hopefully you still had a good time. I bet it was nice to have the girls with you for a while.
We really enjoyed the market. Lisa has been to Coulonges market before I think, but we should really visit more often. The fruit and veg etc is really top notch.
on 29 September 2008 at 12:51 pm :
Glad to see the girls have mastered the art of being French already…l’écharpe is one accessory a French girl does not go without! What about the oysters? did you like them? very impressed
on 29 September 2008 at 12:57 pm :
Ah yes, they are really into the swing of it now. Managed to wrestle scarves off the girls before they went in the sea thankfully…
The oysters went down very well with Lisa’s sister. Her mum tried them and wasn’t so impressed though. We thought they were okay…not wild about them to be honest, but happy to eat them if the need arose! Had moules au roquefort yesterday – yum
on 29 September 2008 at 12:59 pm :
Sound perfect to me atleast. You have some colourful and chaos free markets there. We have a mad house here in India, I mean it. I shudder at the thought of going to a vegetable market.
on 29 September 2008 at 1:01 pm :
LOL yes I can imagine. My sister visited India a few years back and was rather taken aback by it all I think. Much more sedate over here
Thanks for dropping by Scratch Bags…make yourself comfortable
on 1 October 2008 at 1:06 pm :
OMG now I have no scope of lying anything about India.
Do you mind if I add you on my blogroll?
on 1 October 2008 at 2:23 pm :
LOL! Of course, feel free to add me, thanks
I’ll do likewise
on 3 October 2008 at 2:43 pm :
I welcome you on my Scratch Roll Richard.
http://scratchbags.wordpress.com/scratch-roll/
on 3 October 2008 at 2:56 pm :
Thanks Scratch-Bags. Likewise, find yourself over there on the right-hand column