Saturday -- market day!  We heard the vendors setting up very early in the square right outside our apartment, about 5:30 a.m.  It was cool and rainy so we weren't in any hurry to get up.  We lingered over coffee and iced tea and then headed out to shop.  

Nathalie was in her shop and, as we headed out, she showed us a particular cinnamon pastry she bought for her breakfast.  She explained it was a special pastry made popular in Southern France.  She tried to give us hers but we told her we would buy one ourselves so as not to steal her breakfast.

Most of the stands were familiar from the week before but there was a new vegetable stand.  This stand's lettuce and tomatoes looked particularly good so we bought red and green lettuce and two tomatoes and two avocados.  Our friends, Kema and Steve, were arriving from Italy on Sunday so we wanted to have a fresh salad for them.  

We went to another vegetable stand and bought some very tiny new potatoes.  They were just a little larger than marbles.  I thought they were cute and I wanted to roast them in the oven with a little olive oil and salt and pepper.

The patisserie cart we shopped at last week was there again so we bought some pastries and a baguette.  The woman who owns it is particulary nice and friendly and tolerates my limited French!

It is surprising how many butcher carts there are there!  People definitely have their favorites, tho, and they were lined up at each one.  We went to the one where we purchased delicious eggs last week and lined up to wait our turn to order.  This particular butcher seems to specialize in ducks -- that was mostly what they had.  Lots and lots of people stood in line to order a whole duck (including head and feet!) to take home.  When some of the ducks were purchased, one of the butchers would work it over with a big blow torch, we assume to do away with the feather follicles that the plucking did not take care of. Oh, the poor duckies....  Next to this stand, and seemingly owned by the same people, a woman was roasting whole chickens, ducks and ham.  Underneath the roasting meats were trays of potatoes roasting.  The drippings from the meats dripped down on the potatoes and they smelled heavenly!  It truly makes your mouth water!!!  One of these Saturdays I'm going to buy a roast chicken and potatoes.

Interestingly enough, there was a cart making and selling fried rice and noodles which we think were Thai.  All of the dishes looked and smelled good.  The only  problem was that all of the dishes offered had meat in them and, of course, David doesn't eat meat, so this stand was lost on him.     

You'll remember that David loved the macaroon he bought last week so we returned to that stand and he bought a macaron and one of the cinnamon pastries Nathalie told us about.  It rained on and off but that did not keep the shoppers away.  By 11:00 it was very busy.    

We had one more stop to make.  Instead of buying meat at the market, we wanted to patronize the butcher just at the end of our street.  It is a beautiful butcher shop and so clean and the meat looks spectacular.  We have seen two men working there and they are always so friendly and holler out the door greeting us when we walk by.  I wanted to buy chicken breasts for dinner for Kema and Steve so we went there.  The men working there speak no English but we knew that chicken in French is poulet so it was easy.  We asked for escalope poulet to get the chicken breast.  He trimmed them beautifully and after that we went home.

We had our pastries for breakfast and David had his macaroon for dessert!  He also ate the cinnamon pastry which he said was good but very dense.  

The afternoon passed quickly since I watched several more episodes of House of Cards! I'm truly addicted to the series.  

It was Saturday night so it was cocktail night for us!  We had delicious and refreshing gin and tonics and a simple dinner of pre-made quiche with leftover beans and potatoes.  Very simple but good dinner!

Sorry no pictures today.