Now That’s a Cheese: The Market at Bricquebec

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At the market in the medieval town of Bricquebec, all of the vendors ended our transactions with ‘have a good holiday!’ That’s because the country is practically all on vacation…people’s luxurious six weeks off begin about now. How civilized!

At the market we saw crates of small chickens being loaded into cardboard boxes, I hoped they were for backyard farmers but a Parisien told me that they’re for dinner. Another vendor sold blue lobsters and giant crabs, driven up from Granville. The market stretched on and on, first the usual cheesy clothing dealers and then wound down into a side street with a glorious array of goat cheese, cider makers, bountiful produce, and men who made pizzas with ovens in the backs of trucks. I watched a young pizzamaker slowly cut sausage and gently put veggies on top, only to have the proprietor shoo him away, showing him to quickly dump the veggies on and wisk it into the oven. Then he opened the oven to find a burned pie, and dumped it with scowl.

Life here is simply more delicious…tasting the saucisse handed out with a smile from a stall, stopping in for a coffee next to a couple cuddling their tiny miniature doberman, the sunny skies pouring forth sun and the bountiful produce. I think heaven looks a lot like Normandy France.