The Motto & The Market

I recently read that the Loire Valley combines a leisurely pace of life, mild climate, good wine, good food and the gentle ways of it’s inhabitants. (Since wine is out, we’ll have enjoy the other aspects.)

The overall impression conveyed by region is one of an unostentatious taste for the good things of life.

This is our motto for the month.

To us these good things include:  each other, food, time, and culture.

We arrived in St. Aignan last evening.  Starr, our 72 year old British landlord for the month, met us at 3 de Paux at the Old Bakery.  We are staying in a converted bakery which is approximately 300 years old.  

Our apartment is right on the market square.  Starr warned us that they set up market at 6 am on Saturday mornings.  She didn’t tell us that the local bar hosted a live band which played until 1:30am.  It was actually rather enjoyable with our windows opened.  The children fell right to sleep.

We were awaked at 5:45am, by the sounds of trucks, loud conversing in French and the shoveling of ice.  The market was being set up.  We literally walk out of our front door to the seafood stand, complete with everything one could imagine:  oysters, tuna, salmon, shrimp, crab, lobster.  All fresh, right off the boats.

The market was a delight to the senses.  The amazingly old buildings (one, a thousand years old) wall to wall, beautiful blue skies and cobblestone streets.  It was beautiful to see the lovely older men and women (the younger crowd came later in the day) in their fabulous European shoes going from stand to stand to fill their baskets with fresh, whole foods for the weekend.  Fresh meat on the spit, or on display.  Many cuts I’d never heard of or seen before.  Fresh eggs, fresh vegetables, carrots, beets, turnips, ruttabegas, beans, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, all with the dirt still on them.  Beautifully colored cherries, strawberries (not the mega Costco size), raspberries, apricots…. Freshly baked baguettes, croissants and other assorted loaves.  Cheese.  Oh, the cheese.  Our little family is in heaven. 

For breakfast we ate:  Baguette with fresh goat cheese, strawberries, raspberries and a bit of a croissant.  (The girls made three visits back to the bakery stand for more and more and more croissants.)

Looking longingly out his window for breakfast from The Market,
held every Saturday in The Market Square in the town of St. Aignan.

Breakfast!

For a snack:  Fresh cherries and lemonade

"Should I go for the roasted rabbit?" asks our friend Erik Olson, the lone French speaker in our group.

 For lunch:  Roasted chicken, roasted rabbit, roasted potatoes with fresh salad, melon, necterines and a loaf of crusty bread with goat cheese. (We are trying to be European by eating our largest meal at noon.)

Lunch!

For dinner:  Carrots, a soft triple cream cow’s milk cheese from a local dairy on soft crust bread, thinly sliced ham, and necterines.

Today we are in keeping with our theme for enjoying a vital good thing in life:  F.R.E.S.H. food.

Bon appetite!   (Or as Anthon says, “Bum appetite!”)

P.S. The only heartbreak of the day was that Anthon has the stomach flu.  Let us pray that I am not next after spending the day cleaning up after the little guy.  The fact that I could not keep him away from the fresh berries and cherries did not help.  Poor little buddy but oh, we are so grateful it wasn’t on the plane!

Enjoy the photo evening walk through St. Aignon...

1,000 year old Catholic Church, where we heard the bells signaling the end of
Saturday evening Mass and watched the congregation depart.

A view of the roof tops from the Castle walls.

Explorative Grace with the Olson boys, Jake, Thomas & Richard.

The rock girl collecting treasures from the chipped walls.

"No more pictures!"  Not a good sign on day one! 

-Scharman