I went to a street market this morning with Catherine and Holly-the-director, and it was a lot of fun. They have it every Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday, and I guess Catherine gets all her food for the week there, except bread and milk and such. There were all kinds of merchants there: a ton of different food vendors (bread, cheese, fruit, vegetables, pastries, meat, fish…everything), some clothes, jewelry, newspapers, and lots of other stuff. I didn’t get anything, but followed Holly around as she explained everything to be. A lot of food vendors also sell homemade meals, some of which we got to sample. They were really good. I plan to get most of my food there in the future.
There are also lots of groups that hang around the market, especially political groups. I signed a petition for one of them, who turned out to be Holly’s friend. The French people had voted against a recent E.U. thing but Sarkozy is now trying to ignore that vote and make
Speaking of revolutions…most people know of my deep affection for uprisings, and also that the French tend to do that a lot. This is part of the reason I love the French. Anyway, just as an example of how present the revolutionary mindset is here: last night I had dinner with the family and for dessert we had a gateaux de rois, which is a yummy little almond cake that has a figurine cooked into it. Whoever gets the figurine in their piece gets to be the “king”. So last night Aurélien got the figurine and immediately after he was crowned with the paper crown Alain goes, “Faisons une revolution!” [Let’s have a revolution!] Then when I was declared queen there was another uprising. Not fair, as we were just rulers.
Anyway, Aurélien is apparently sick. I didn’t notice last night but his mother says he is not eating or sleeping well and is too tired. I suspect this might be because he just had a week of exams, but perhaps he is sick. So Catherine’s approach to making him get better? Feed him horse meat! She bought a big chunk of it while we were at the market. I was really confused at first when I saw that stall, as all the meat looked as if it were taken from the animal about a minute ago – it was all very, very red but didn’t seem bloody. Then Holly told me many more old-fashioned French believe horse meat is the best source of nutrients, especially iron, and many make sick people eat it. I’m supposed to try it someday, but that might be the only thing I’m squeamish about…I don’t really want to eat horse.
And finally, my dilemma: I’m trying to decide what concert to go to next Saturday and Sunday nights and am flummoxed. For Saturday, there is a “Musique Anglaise” [English music] night at the Basilique Ste. Clothilde featuring Renaissance English vocal chamber music; a soprano, cello, and piano set of Mozart, Schubert, Poulenc, Bach, Satie, etc at the Temple du Luxembourg; and a heroines of opera night at the Vissi d’Arte. The one at the
For Sunday, Ste. Clothilde is having the same concert, but there is also a soprano trio performing Schumann, Debussy, Ravel, Britten, Sondheim, Stravinsky and others at the American church. It’s free. Comment faire?? Thoughts, anyone?
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