Au marché

I am unable to share any exciting photos of snowdrifts and traffic chaos; it was sunny and 10C today. I had a productive morning -- someone recently told me about a monthly book swap in Olonzac, so I headed off with two boxes full of books, got rid of all of them, and returned with only three new-to-me books. Result! At least as far as S was concerned -- he hates having boxes of stuff cluttering up the place, and these books had been hanging around a long time.

Since I was there, I went to the market in Olonzac, which I don't visit often as it's a bit far for us. It's much more chic and bourgeois than Lézignan market. There was an English woman there selling slices of a whole roasted free-range pig -- with crackling! Unheard of in France. "Lots of crackling," I pleaded. "Are you English?" she asked. We agreed that it's strange that pork is never sold with the skin on in France. "When you give French people crackling, they really like it," she said. Dinner this evening was roast pork with apple sauce, peas, roast potatoes, and gravy -- very English! Unfortunately the crackling had gone a bit chewy -- we should have just eaten it straight away when I got home.