Christmas Markets

As planned, I went into Carcassonne on Monday with good friend Noëlle. It felt seasonal as all get out, because it was COLD!! Neither of us was dressed for it, because we foolishly assumed that Carca would be warmer than Chalabre. Nope.

Monday was probably not the best day to go, as the Christmas Market hadn't opened yet (although it is now open) and they were still setting up chalets and getting the ice skating rink ready. I think I'll need to go back with JM, but maybe we'll take the train. Parking in the city is really at a premium, both because of the Christmas festivities and the construction on the new parking structure at the Place Gambetta that appears as if it will continue forever. That is not being helped by the fact that they've un-earthed ruins of one kind or another. Not a big surprise in this area.

Meantime, we walked around the pedestrian shopping area. Believe it or not, JM and I have never done that since we've lived here. The reason is simple: it's closed to dogs from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and since Maggie is always with us, it's a no-go zone.

Unfortunately, in spite of Christmas only being two weeks away, the majority of shops were closed (Monday not a good shopping day in France), so we didn't really get to look in as many places as we wanted.

We did manage to look in a bunch of places in the big shopping districts outside of the city, although the perfect Christmas present for Noëlle's son escaped us. I cannot, under pain of death, mention what this is just in case of prying eyes. Strangely enough, we went to two Depot Ventes which both claimed to have sold one of the exact items barely a week ago. We would have thought they were making it up, if one of them hadn't told us that they'd sold theirs to our friend Christian here in Chalabre! The world is indeed a small, weird place.

I did not buy anything other than the supplies I need for our potluck on Saturday. I'm starting to have concerns about that, however, as two couples have cancelled so far! Both have good excuses, but JM is concerned that the potluck concept may be too freaky for people; causing them to worry about not bringing something "good enough." I do hope that is not the case, as the whole principle of the thing is for it to be relaxed for everyone involved.

Oh well, me and my strange American ways....

Ciao for now.

Randy

Shopping for food

I decided to make an American soup recipe yesterday and I was struck by the ingredients list. Things that were needed to follow the recipe exactly: cheddar cheese soup, half-and-half, cheddar cheese, are either not available in France at all (cheddar cheese soup, half-and-half) or are hard to find (cheddar cheese), at least in our region. It's possible that some things might be available in a big city like Paris.

At any rate, I thought it would be fun to compare ingredients that are exotic in one place and common in another:

Common in the States, virtually impossible or not available in France:

Cheddar cheese
Velveeta
Cheddar Cheese soup
canned pumpkin
sweet potatoes (available but hard to find)
Fresh cranberries (although I've now found frozen and canned)
baking chips other than chocolate
cream of tartar (some pharmacies might be able to order it for you, or else you can buy it from professional baking supply stores in ENORMOUS quantities)
creamed corn
half-and-half
Philadelphia cream cheese (the French ones I've tried aren't the same)
Cottage cheese (a specialty item not available everywhere)
Powdered buttermilk (even "regular" buttermilk, called "lait ribot" here, is not always available)
Corn syrup

Okay, I know there are more things I've probably looked for, but I have Sunday morning brain.

Here's a list of cool French stuff that would be exotic in the U.S.

Gesiers (duck/chicken gizzards-- better than they sound)
Sausage and patés of animals no American would ever eat
Close to 400 cheeses (except cheddar) that go from mild to able to attack you in a dark alley.
Duck and goose fat for cooking
Foie gras (I know, no longer PC in the States)
Cassoulet in cans
Confit de canard in cans
Dozens of varieties of potatoes, each with their own taste and texture
Moroccan foods
I don't know how many varieties of ham
Almost impossible to talk about pastries and desserts. The dairy dessert case in any major supermarket is almost overwhelming in its variety.
Much larger variety of organic products, easily available in regular outlets.
Fritons (regional specialty: fried duck skin that, again, sounds disgusting but is seriously addictive!)

Things that I found odd at first, but got used to:

Most milk in the supermarket is UHT, in my village in particular, I can't always get the regular kind.
Same thing with cream; mostly UHT. Although there are various thicknesses and textures of créme fraiche, which is not as sour as sour cream, but has a definite "cultured" taste.
Eggs are usually not refrigerated.
Generally stores stock less quantity of an item than in the U.S., so sometimes they'll run out of the thing that you absolutely MUST have.

This is getting long and it's time to make lunch. I'll add to it when I think of new stuff.

Ciao for now.

Randy