Sunday, November 13, 2011

To Market, to Market, and Jiggity Jig

Saturday morning found us retracing our St. Martin’s walk of the night before, carrying shopping bags and James‘ bicycle in place of lanterns. The fall mists had disappeared with the drop in temperature and all was sunny and cold. Caroline and I took turns finding signs of winter as we walked. Rose bushes bundled up in earth duvets, frost on the grass, hats and gloves on everyone we passed, even the dogs in the park were dressed for the weather.

We were heading back to Jiřího z Poděbrad, this time for the Saturday farmers market. It’s only the second year that we’ve had a farmers market in our neighborhood, and even though we’ve been regular Saturday visitors since spring, each weekend I feel like a kid on Christmas morning as we turn the corner and find the stands still there with their bounty. French bread, cuts of lamb, Czech pastries that taste homemade, apple cider, fresh eggs, sausages of all variety, vegetables and herbs...and best of all, fish. Fish that is so nearly fresh I can poach, pan fry or steam it, knowing full well it will taste like fish and not like an unfortunate trout that has lingered too long in the freezer.

Since the sun was out, I took lots of pictures to try to capture the charms of the market. The top photo in the collage today turned out to be my favorite, showing off the stands with their Czech flag motif just above the hustle and bustle. The rest of the pictures come from our walk over: Caroline sleuthing for signs of winter, a graffiti covered metro air vent, frost in the park. The center picture is of one of my favorite industrial art works. It's a metro air vent too, and I love it to pieces for its cartoon character personality.

What does your farmer's market look like, and does it still run in the winter?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, I am envious. Ours is inside a mall, not much charm about that in the winter. And it's in an impossibly difficult place to go unless you live nearby and don't require a parking spot.

lizardek said...

I so wish there was one near us. The closest one is a 20-minute drive into town and it's basically only fruits & veggies...and flowers, sometimes.

Ellen said...

Sadly we've no nearby farmer's markets. Though - as you know - most days fresh produce is NEVER that far away ;)

Julia said...

GG - in winter, a mall doesn't sound that bad!

Liz - the fruit and veggies don't tempt me much either, I really go for the homemade bread and the fish. But don't you get great fish in Sweden?

Ee - it's in fact a mouseclick away ;-).