Getting a little backed up on blog updates. Which is a good sign I guess…
Last Saturday my plan was to get up early and go to the open air market. I ended up sleeping in (11 hours of sleep!!) and woke up around noon. I got ready quickly as the market is only open until 2pm and headed down. It was really hot Saturday afternoon (82 F) and quite humid. I wanted to take my time at the market but I ended up hurrying because I needed to get the food I bought home and in the fridge quickly. The market is open all week long but on Saturdays there are a lot more vendors and its a popular morning outing. The amount and variety of food is incredible! I am in absolute heaven and am so excited to get back to cooking meals instead of eating out so often.
There are fruit and produce vendors filling the entire square and all the prices are pretty reasonable. Then there are some specialty vendors selling things like local honey, cured meats, mushrooms, nuts, etc. There was even a whole section of clothing, shoes, and handbags. Once you get through the produce there are two buildings to go through. One is filled with fresh meat, eggs, dairy, pastas, and baked goods. The other building has more of that and in the downstairs a fish market, which was probably my favorite part. Deciding on what to buy was difficult with so many choices. I ended up with some lettuce, tomatoes, some kind of leafy green, white carrots? (smaller than a parsnip), broccoli, ground meat, fresh eggs, a meat that looked closest to bacon, and fresh salmon. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves. I will say that I’ve since eaten the salmon and it ranks at the top as the best I’ve ever had.
After going home and making a giant salad and a burger I spent the rest of the day relaxing before meeting up with some friends for a concert. I met Anne and some of her friends at Le Petite Cafe for a glass of wine before heading to the venue. The night was still warm and it was pretty humid out. Anne’s friends were great and in the fashion of everyone I’ve met so far it wasn’t long before I had offers to travel with one of them to Prague or Budapest when she goes. If that works out it will be great! The concert was a French singer called Zaz who I had never heard of before. There are a few French artists I like so I wasn’t worried about not being able to understand the lyrics. The show was highly enjoyable. The energy on the stage was incredible and the songs and her voice were pretty amazing! You could hear some French influence to the music but it also often had a jazzy feel to it. She really had quite a range and I’ve since found myself listening to her on youtube a bit.
Lots of great looking fruit. This is one of probably 30 or so fruit vendors.
Fresh berries!
Some cured meats. This man was kind enough to pose for the photo. 🙂
Clothing, shoes, and handbags...
Squid, Octopus, Fish, Shrimp...YUM
Scallops
Fish and prawns
Greeted by Kitty again today. He's getting friendlier each time I see him. Lucky day for him...he scored some salmon fresh from the market. 🙂
My delicious salad and burger that I made IMMEDIATELY when I got home
Zaz concert!
It dropped about 30 degrees during the concert and began to downpour. I started to run home but halfway there was drenched and decided it was pointless. Still loving this city in the rain!