Marie! The baguettes! Hurry up!

I've mentioned before that I love the market across the street from my house.  Every sunday I wake up, get ready and head over to do my weeks worth of grocery shopping.

I have this ridiculous suitcase-looking thing that I swore I would never use.  

Mamman: Ranna, bebin chii kharidam barat!!  (Ranna, look what I bought you!!)

Ranna: I swear I will never use that.  (Ghasam mikhoram keh hich vakht estefadeh nemikonamesh)

Mamman:  Kheyli chiseh khoobiyeh (It's a really good thing)

Ranna: It's weird.  (Weird-eh) 

Alas, my grandmother was right, and now I use it religiously.  It's really great, because it carries all of the groceries, and it has wheels, so I don't have to lug everything home on my shoulders...even though its literally RIGHT across the street from where I live.

I now know which stands I should go to, and which ones I should avoid.  You see, most of the produce vendors are Arab men who are hilarious and really nice.  

I've made friends with one of the older vendors who, each week, gives me another fruit to sample.  Last week it was a clementine, this week it was some grapes.  

Their produce is always amazingly cheap and amazingly tasty (except the lemons which have not been the best for the last two weeks...maybe its a seasonal thing).

EVERYONE flocks to these stands.  I can barely get through to buy what I want sometimes because there are so many people picking out what they need.  

But here's the deal:

there are about 4 or 5 produce vendors at the market who are Frenchy French French French (as in, non-Arab) and there are always like three or four people around their stands buying their fruits.  The first week I was there I thought it was sort of strange that people would push and pull their way into the crowded stands when there was so much space at theirs.  

But for some reason, their produce is about two euros more expensive than any of the other places, and they're selective about who they sell to.

They have their usual customers.  The rest can push and pull.  

Whatever though, I have wayyyy more fun at the crowded stands.  

I also have a favorite cheese stand.  The very nice older couple behind the counter are more than happy to help you choose which type of cheese to buy.  The first week I stuck to what I knew, "bouche de chevre."

I saw chevre and I was like, oh!  I know that that is!

But then I went George Perec on the situation and made a game out of my cheese buying.  Each week when I go, I try to buy another sort of cheese so that by the end of the year, I'll have tried all of them.

So, as of now, I've tried, the Pont Eveque, Bouche de Chevre, and this other one, man I totally forgot what the name of it was but it doesnt matter because it was really weak...

This week, I bought the bouche de chevre again, after taking a break from it last week.  I bought the St. Amartine (first time, havent tried it yet) and a Creme Vache (new too.  I'm excited, it looked aamaaazzziinnggg).

I sound like Monsieur René.  

I never thought I would be excited about tasting cheese.  

So, apart from that, I steer clear from the fish stands because I still havent quite adjusted to the smell, to the way the ice melts and the sidewalk gets wet, and the fact that the fish look like their looking at you...blahssshajfd.   I don't like it.

I also don't go to the meat stands because 1. there's a cool boucherie right by my house. 2. for some reason they have the dead animals, with like fur and feathers displayed on the counters.  

Like,  if anyone is confused about what they're eating,  here it is! 

OK.  I'm gonna go try me some cheeseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.