One Thing Led to Another

Today I was thinking of talking about this bit of crochet and why I pulled it all out -

But also wanted to mention my impulsive online shop a couple of nights ago which arrived so, so swiftly -

But then I had to think about what to make for dinner. And I decided on prawns. I have a huge bag of wondrously big ones in the freezer that my Mum had brought from her local fish market at Christmas and I keep saving for 'special'. Yeah, and like there have been days that screamed today is a special prawn day. I gave myself a shake and made today special. I browsed through some of my cook books and after much hum-ing and ha-ing I landed on a simple recipe for a Thai curry. Which led to the need for shallots.

John had to go to town for a dentist appointment so I went along to go to the Chinese supermarket. And that was when the day went from good to unexpectedly great. Himself headed off for his appointment and I exited the car park towards the town centre. Before I had gone more than a few steps my nose informed me that there was something different happening around the corner.

Woohoo! There was a European Market in town. These are wondrous occasions because you get all these vendors selling temptations that I am unable to resist. Usually it is a French Market and I come home laden down with cheeses and charcuterie that tends to run to the expensive but I still buy by the bushel load. Today was mostly cooked foods. Tapas and paella, crepes and pastries, kangaroo burgers (not sure where they fell into the Europe remit), Polish stews, Italian breads, and lots more.

Needless to say I had no idea it was on and didn't have my camera with me. So no photos of the humorous Germans with the huge barbeque laden down with the best bratwurst I have ever had. Crispy skinned and full of flavour. We talked to the nice gentlemen and they kindly agreed to sell us a packet of ten sausages so that we can slap them on our barbeque this summer. Yippee!

We came home with -

I LOVE cassoulet. I will happily confit duck legs myself in the process of making myself some cassoulet. Homemade may be better fut some days you want easier (and good) rather than better. These tins sell for about £10 usually in the UK and were only £5 in the market. I am sure that some clever clogs will be able to tell me what they sell for in France - but I am not in France, do not have a trip planned. I was in the market though and I grabbed a couple of tins all for me, me, me. Okay, I will share with the family but I will not invite anyone over.

And here are some of our giant French coconut macaroons purchase. We ate some before the camera could record them. The ones that remain reside by the remains of the marble cake under the dome -

Then we stopped and bought a few nibbles at the stall selling all sorts of olives and other things preserved in brine - the man was very insistent on letting everyone know that no oil was involved in the preserving process so I am passing on the info. All his foods shone like little jewels.

Just so you know, we got sun dried tomatoes, preserved shallots and olives stuffed with peppers and garlic. Finally, we got this cheese and onion focaccia to go with everything. I don't think that the photo even begins to do it justice. Really need smell to be transmitted too.

So I have things to tell you about my crocheting and sewing, but I'm not going to. I have had too good a day. One of those marvellous days where one things leads to another and unexpectedly happy things happen. Just having the sun blazing down another day was just about enough to make me grin like a fool. It was about 17C out there today. No need of a jacket at all. Marvellous!

The world continues to do its thing around us. In the back corner of the garden we now have blossoms -

And the trees are coming to life, soon to be green once again -

Happy, happy me. Such a good day and a bag full of new yarn. How lucky am I?!

Susan