Always a fantastic outing, especially if youre anything like me and adore food (though you would'nt think it if you saw me, im a little skinny thing, but LOVE my food).
One person more excited than me was my partner Dave, after having been to Paris two years ago for my 40th at Christmas time we were lucky enough to experience their fantastic Christmas Market down the Champs Elysee. Here it was that Dave tasted la tartiflette, potatoes, with reblochon cheese lardons and onions for the very first time and now everytime there is a food market in Durham we make it a must to visit so he can get his 'fix'. Thankfully they didnt disappoint and Dave came away very happy.....
Even so more once we had found the cidre stalls in the Marquee up on Castle Green... he managed a taster and had a sneaky half whilst we watched the chefs demo (more on that later) and treated himself to a few bottles to bring home.
Me, I treated myself to the most sumptuous piece of handmade nougat, nothing like that pink and white stuff you buy in the shops that dares to call itself nougat...im only having one very small piece at a time as im sure if i ate quite a bit id be trying to detach myself from the ceiling with the amount of sugar in it, it does have rapberries in so that may cancel it out, but im sure its all good for you ;-)
As well as the stalls up on Castle Green in the marquees (there was a small cover charge to enter) there were some stalls down in the market place. The smells of all the gorgeous, warm food being cooked overwhelmed you as you approached and you were spoilt for choice as what to have. As previously mentioned Dave had the french potatoes, me i went for the Spanish Beef Stew, which was very heart warming and definately warmed me cockles up!
After walking around the stalls several times we made a decision, its a hard one when theres so much scrumptious food to choose from.
Sweeties...for the kids, well Dave and Brandon
Olives a plenty...
Beautiful Greek and Turkish delights...
To name but a few stalls, but we choose some tasty french rustic bread to go with possibly the best tasting balsamic vinegar ever!
Well that almost sums up my Sunday, was a lovely relaxing, food fuelled day which id really been looking forward to, especially as the past two weeks have been a real struggle for me, having just been diagnosed with underactive thyroid. I know that this isnt life threatening but at the moment for me is very life changing, trying to manage the tiredness and lack of motivation especially as im always on the go and have so many projects and things to do, so much that i had to cancel a dry stone walling taster day i was due to go on last week. Hopefully the medication that im on now will kick in and i will get back to normality, just really struggling with the tireness.
One last thing to make you smile this Sunday.... Jean Christophe Novelli..
He was demoing in the Marquee, hence i guess the cover charge, but hey it was worth it, he's demoing skills may have been a bit hectic but was nice to watch ;-), and yep definately as handsome in the flesh as on tv (i have a thing for French men).
Hope you enjoyed your weekend.
Sam x
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