For this we needed cilantro, poblano peppers, small hot peppers, avacado, and beans.
In France this is not so easy. I started by taking our glass recycling down the street - there is a glass receptacle on the street corner just a half a block away, on my way to the Jardinier.
There I find tomatoes, and lime, but no cilantro and no peppers. He has avacado, but he asked if I would use it today and I said yes. Apparently his are not quite ripe, so he would not sell one to me. It is good to know he will let me know these things, but now I have to go somewhere else as we do want to use the avacado tonight.
I went around the block to Leader Price and found some peppers I thought might be poblano, and bought some paper products as well. On the way home I stopped at the pharmacy close to the house and found vitamins.
I unloaded my purchases and headed off toward centre ville or center of town. I know there is a north african grocery on the way to the main covered market, so I stop there. They have only dried peppers, in a large bag. I pass on that and go on. I have been looking everywhere for canned beans and find lots of white beans, but no black or even red.
I eventually find a small shop that has dried black beans, and select those. I stop at the ourdoor market and ask a woman who is selling bell peppers if she has small "piments fort" or hot peppers. She directs me to the last vendor on the left and he DOES have some small hot peppers.
He also has some herbs, so I ask if one is cilantro - he says it is coriandre and lets me sniff it - I believe it is cilantro, so make my purchase. All of this conversation has been in French, so I am getting better at understanding very quickly.
I go on to the enclosed market to check out the vendors there. We would like to plan this same for guests, but need to know where to get the ingredients before we do.
Then I go on to another shop I found in the yellow pages and they have "exotic" foods - meaning specialty asian, african, and indian ingredients. I wonder around and select some hummus for our indian meal. By this time it is noon and I am hungry, so stop for a "salade de chevre chaude" or green salad topped with heated goat cheese on little toasts - we have had this before and love it.
Then I walk home, still carrying my purchases. I put on the black beans to boil and soak while I go on my next adventure.
I read in the newspaper that in a neighboring town, there is pedal vehicle race today, and it looks like the "vehicles" are decorated, so I take the city bus to the site. They really are decorated recumbent bicycles, pedaled by teams, all in costume. This is an annual event and apparently a serious competition. I have read that the entries are judged on both speed and on costumes and decor of the bike. I get there in time for the introduction of the teams, which is a spectacle and takes 20 minutes longer than scheduled.
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| Chamalieres, France |
I stay to watch part of the race. It turns out the race is actually 2 hours long, in a circle around city blocks. I will try to post some photos of the event.
Then I ride the bus home where Fred has started dinner. We wait for the beans to get done, then cook the fish with a sauce of tomato, green olive, capers, onions, garlic. We serve this with thinly sliced zucchini sauteed to limp and just beginning to brown, with butter and onions. Fred thinks the taste of the fish and sauce is not "authentic" but I think the meal is wonderful.
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