Life has been a bit busy.  Settling 2 children in to a new country with a new language and a very different school culture has had its challenges.  Learning some French myself and making friends, taking over a cub pack all added on top has meant that this blog has taken a bit of a back seat.  I have been blogging with the children at http://www.themillardsinparis.wordpress.com to keep a record of our adventure.  So as ever, the new year’s resolution to do better.

I have found time to discover the market and the boulangerie! The only bread I seem to eat is baguette tradition from Briard Longueil – that is the usual bakery.  We buy them on the way home from school sometimes and 2 baguettes become barely one on the walk home, the 3 of us tearing chunks of warm, crusty, floury bread off as we wander to the house.  It isn’t far but the bread is so delicious….It seems such a French thing, not just walking along the street with a baguette in hand but the sneaky nibble too.

The weekends mean a trip to the bakery for baguette, croissants, pain aux raisin and maybe a few chouquettes – puffs of warm, sugary choux pastry that just melt in the mouth.  Little pillows of yumminess.  The children love them and so, I have to admit, do I.

But it is the quality of the fruit and veg, the noticeable seasonality of the produce and the experience of buying at both the market and the green grocer that I love most.  Every Wednesday I cycle from my French lesson to make sure that I can get to the fruit and veg stall before collecting the kids from school – half day for them on Wednesday so not much time.  And always the same.  I buy so much I can barely get what I have bought into the fridge, rejoicing in the bike trailer every time, and wonder how I will cook it all before it goes bad.   But I never need to worry.  The quality is so good that it all lasts well if it gets the chance, as it is so good I seem to get through it all no problem!

My French vocabulary relating to food is pretty good now and I can manage pretty well in the market – there are laughs as I mess things up especially my numbers – 50g of chou Bruxelles won’t go far in a family of four!

The cheese stalls are incredible but I haven’t bought anything from them yet.  There is a danger of spending an obscene amount of money on cheese.  I don’t know what to choose.  I might use the same approach as I did with the mushroom stall – “Un melange des champignons pour dix euros, s’il vous plait”…

Lots of delicious mushroom dinners to be had and recipes to be shared – watch this space.