Market Day in Chagny

Sunday, August 15th

Sunday morning is market day in Chagny and for us it a good thing that it is raining a bit as Celeste told us that last week it was so packed that you couldn't even move. I was surprised that the market was on as it is the 15th, Feast of the Assumption and most things are closed but the market was on. We took a large golf umbrella as insurance from a downpour and walked towards the town center. The covered portico area in front of the Hotel de Ville was filled with stalls as were three other streets but Umberto said that it was a small market today due to the holiday.

The smells were mouthwatering: roasting Bresse chickens, cheeses, Chinese food, paella, bread, and ripe tiny cantaloupes and fruit. A couple of the sellers keep it lively by calling out their wares back and forth and there are people stopping to chat along the winding street. Celeste has her favourites. She always buys cheeses and chicken from the same young man as he raises his own organic chickens and makes all sorts of things with them including chicken sausages which Celeste bought along with the DOC chickens which the young man had roasting. His food is excellent quality and it doesn't hurt that he is very handsome too. Ross won't be mad at my comment as the young fellow is of Sicilian origin just like him, so really it is as if I am giving Ross a compliment.

There is also a section for clothing and pots and pans and lingere and live chickens, ducks and turkeys if you want to raise your own for meat or eggs. I just bought hand made donkey's milk soap for Ave, you can't get that everyday. We headed back after strolling around and checking out all the different offerings. Celeste usually buys her Sunday meat course from the cute artisan butcher and we had the chickens so home we went.

Lunch began just after the church bells rang noon with fresh melon, prosciutto and spicy olive mix washed down with cool, white Rully 2003. Then while we had been sitting around before the market Celeste had been busy making fresh fettucine and a red sauce from the tomatoes in her garden. She had added a handful of fresh basil and parsely from the garden but used the immersion blender to liquify the tomato and the herbs were completely incorporated. After came the pedigreed roast chicken and a salad. Of course to be followed by cheese and the rest of the white wine. We just finished coffee when the phone rang and Celeste's neice Margaux, who is my Facebook friend but I had never met, asking if it was okay to come over with her dad and meet us.

They arrived and I met another cousin who I had never met before. He is Celeste's youngest brother and lives in Chalon sur Soane with his daughter Margaux. It is so nice to meet people that you only know via internet. We just finished our coffee and Rocco called to ask to go over and have coffee there. We all crossed the street over to the Domaine which has the cave and offices and then behind is their home.

It is so lovely in France to see how people respect the old homes and style and yet still manage to build in modern touches. The kitchen has been redone and it is an amazing space, ultra modern black, grey and stainless steel. A gas cooktop and two induction burners beside it. The eating area is all glassed in filling the space with sunlight and has a walk out to an old stone terrace. The blending of classic and modern striking a perfect balance. It makes me think that that is how Rocco and Isabelle make their wine. Classic methods and vines and respect of the soil blended with modern stainless steel vats and scientific temperature control. I told Ross I would take his picture in the modern kitchen and Rocco ran off and got him an apron and the picture will be posted later of the two of them pretending to cook. I commented that anyone knowing Ross will know that it is not for real.

We moved to the living room and coffee along with a homemade cherry tart with vanilla ice cream that Isabelle had whipped up. Seems most French women run the home, run the office and can still cook a great dish.

The evening was spent back at Celeste and Umberto's with Rocco and his family joining us. We had boar sausage that Ross had bought at the market, a new type of blue cheese plus at least five other types , tomato salad, roast chicken and a few other things that I can't remember, it must have been the red wine.

After laughing and chatting for several hours time to hit the hay.