Saturday Market in Beaune

Very exciting day today – the Saturday market in Beaune commenced at 7:30am.  Our hostess, Abigail, suggested that it is best to arrive at about 8:00am after everything has been set up and before the crowds arrive – and that is what Anka, Lincoln, Brian and I did.  Oscar chose to stay in bed and to catch up with a bit of reading - and probably just as well because we were away for over 4 hours!

Parking inside the walled city was a breeze and the market was amazing.  An indoor section with mostly meat, poultry and seafood, and a huge outdoor section with everything else.  Brian and I, as usual were like kids in a toy shop and couldn’t help but buy just about everything we saw – so much so that we had to take a load of meat and chicken (both prepared with Carl Torre style grace and devotion) back to the car to store in a soft esky with ice before even commencing our fruit and vegetable shopping.  And everyone at the market – the sellers and the buyers – were so helpful and friendly.  I can’t tell you how many times I was complimented on my very basic schoolgirl French – and I received a couple of charming winks as well!  This is heaven. 

We are hosting a dinner party tomorrow evening, and a couple of casual dinners during the week, so it was essential to purchase lots of produce – beef to roast, chicken for coq au vin, olives, radishes, baby beans, cheese, figs, stock vegies, salad vegies, bread, flowers etc etc.  We  separated and rejoined Anka and Lincoln at a pre-arranged time and place for coffee, then bought some delicious pastries to eat as we drove in the car and headed off to the supermarket on the outskirts of Beaune for additional supplies of butter, olive oil, wine etc before arriving home as the church bells rang at noon.  

As we arrived at our cottage, Abigail was grooming her 18 year-old horse in the front garden after a long ride.  He is so beautiful and so placid – just like a gentle old dog.  He was wearing something over his nose to keep the flies away, and beautiful leather boots (called hippo boots) to protect his feet because he is not shod – Abigail says that it damages their tendons. Abigail then commenced a session of horse yoga!  She stretched each of his front legs, rotated his shoulders, lifted his ribs, stretched his neck and then pulled with all her might on his tail – he wasn’t tethered and he just stood on the spot going through each of these exercises, and really pulled against Abigail when she pulled his tail – he absolutely loves it.

We then unpacked the car, admired and put away all of our shopping and had a very simple lunch before I started my version of burgundian cooking – a big pot of chicken stock simmering for 3 hours, coq au vin (using Marg Johnson 's recipe) marinating in the fridge overnight, and the huge beef rib on the bone seasoned with sea salt (using Neil Perry's recipe) refrigerated overnight.  

Brian checked his email, wandered around the garden with Jasper for a while and then we played the obligatory game of backgammon before retiring for an afternoon nap. What bliss!  

During the afternoon, Abigail’s 3 horses underwent an after-hours’ home visit from the local horse beautician and each had what we would call, when we’re in Bali, a mani-pedi.  The horses are all so placid and so well-behaved - just stood still, untethered, with one foot at a time raised on a small pedestal as the man taped, filed and cut their hooves with a knife. 

And then this evening we joined Anka, Lincoln and Oscar for champagne at 6:30 and the walk to the little restaurant in our village for dinner.  What a gorgeous day this has been.