HEY P(r)ESTO !

Yeah yeah yeah its Friday.

Tomorrow is market day at St Michel for me... St Michel is the most amazing experience, especially to a foreigner. Its a huge market every Saturday morning underneath the spire of St Michel which is the second largest spire in France ( that's a fact!!). If you are a reader from out of Bordeaux I'm sure you can inform us about other fab markets. Please do...

So why is this market so special...well its just different from all the others..Yes I LOVE strolling along the riverside at the Chartrons Sunday market, and I always take tourists there but its rather pricey...not much change out of 10 euro for a handful of hard cherry tomatos and a kg of rather ordinary apples.

I take the tram among the "quais" to the St Michel stop and walk through the dark alleys, not yet privy to the municipality's clean up programme, into the interior of the Place St Michel and am instantly in another world...cloth and shoe vendors yelling out bargains, 2 meters for 1, buy one pair get one free...I go over to the fruit and vegetable section.The difference here is that with 10 euros I can barely pull my caddy as it will be quickly filled - overflowing with fresh peaches for 2 euros a kg, barquettes of fresh fleshy figs, bags of red red tomatoes which smell like heaven, 3 huge lettuces for 1 euro, bright green round corgettes to stuff, bags of walnuts & hazelnuts, sachets of blanched almonds and pinenuts, viscous lavendar honey,enormous bunches of herbs for a song...

There's another reason I love this market so much - its the epicentre of the Bordeaux Maghreb community. Here there are more women dressed in long traditional Maghreb dress and scarves than bobbed Bordelaise in navy blue cardigans and pearls!! And yes they are all screaming, laughing and bargaining with the vendors...."2 for the price of one...no, I want 4 for the price of one!!" I LOVE this. My poor french husband hates it when I barter and bargain...its really not the "done thing" in France...but hey, I'm a kiwi and I started young. He just walks away and sits down with the papers and a moroccan mint tea...something in itself to savour.

 Anyway September here means herbs for me. For the next 2 weekends I'll be on " pesto duty"...my aim is to make enough pesto to get me through to at least next spring. I buy bunches and bunches of fresh flat parsley, kilos of walnuts to make Walnut and Parsley pesto. Then its onto the Basil and Pinenut pesto.. Try out my pesto recipes....such a diddle you'll wonder why you ever bought ready-made!

Comments

  1. Maryjane3 October 2009 at 18:28

    Loving watching you make the pesto, definitely worth visiting Bordeaux

    ReplyDelete
  2. Susie5 October 2009 at 11:26

    ....and you can test out and taste the pesto on pasta with fresh cream and grated parmy tomorrow!!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

We so look forward to reading your comments.....

Popular posts from this blog

PULLING OUT MY HAIR, again!

Image
What makes this Desperate Anglo Housewife rant, rave, stomp, pull out her hair...? You guessed it, more bad customer service. Just how hard is it to train shop staff in this country to be polite, respectful, to leave their condescending attitudes at home! End of sales, picture the left over stock, all marked right down to clear.  I walk into a shop in Bordeaux looking for summer trousers. Find a couple of quite ordinary ones, good for work, marked down by 70%...this was not haute couture. I'm talking BASIC pants! Roll up to checkout... Shopgirl ( herein, SG)," We have some lovely little summer tops that would go with these ." Moi, " No thanks" (smile politely) SG, " There's some great shirts that would match too " Moi, " No thanks " ( smile slightly) SG , "Do you need some blazers? Accessories...?" Moi, " No thanks " ( smile dissipates....) 10 second pause. SG, " You are just so
Read more

OLYMPIC SOB

Image
As the Olympics draw to their end,  this DesperateAngloHousewife is wondering where her next wee buzz will be coming from.... I know I should be having a good old rant about sportsmanship, international cooperation and team spirit but instead I am going to be completely honest. ...All those bodies beautiful! Am I the only 40-something who has been blowing bubbles into her Chardonnay during the  men's diving?  Was I the only creature on the planet who was reaching for the smelling salts as the men swimmers came out announced and pranced across to their starting block whilst unzipping their sweatshirts to reveal not just the most heavenly of six packs but also shoulders to  weep over? Of course one can wax lyric over the grace of the pole vaulting, the panther speed of Mr Bolt, the incredible concentration of the archers, the tenacity of the walkers... Did anyone else notice the female athletes, their tone and all of that in their " undies?" I did have a momen
Read more

THE GRACIOUS ART OF MEDITATION

Image
How relaxed are you..? My year has started off with a couple of explosions.  The kind of explosions which create major stress and inner anguish. I won't bore you with the details...suffice to say that I have turned to my iPad for support. I love my iPad. Not usually a gadget oriented gal, this wee beauty and I have become inseparable.  The iPhone has NOTHING on it..to start, now that I am 40-something I need to get out my glasses everytime I use my iPhone or stretch my arms as long as possible and squint to read those all-important texts from girlfriends.. meet you at wine bar at 6pm...anyone for a gin and tonic...Spanks on sale at underwear lady down Cour Clemenceau. .. Even though the iPhone has all the "apps," the "style-plus" ingredient etc etc it just doesn't measure up. I love the way the iPad gets called " a tablet"...so ROMAN! Imagine myself in floaty toga with elaborate hair, down at the local forum..although I would pro
Read more