To market, to market....

Well, the weather's turned from being cold at night and first thing in the morning, with a chance for cloudy/rainy/cold during the day or bright blue skies and crispy, maybe creeping up to 60 or 65 if we're lucky, to warm evenings and mornings, and stellar middays.  Today was supposed to reach the mid-70s, and I'm pretty sure it did.  But, dramatic stormy skies are way more interesting in photos, so that's the lead photo in this post, despite the title.

We spend a lot of time thinking about food and how/where to get it.  Each town has market on a different day.  Our little town of Ansouis has a small Sunday market, with one vegetable vendor, one charcuterie/ (salami, etc)/cheese vendor, one chicken/rabbit guy, and some jewelery.

The next small town over, Cucuron, is on Tuesday, with a larger market, boasting several vegetable vendors, honey/asparagus, cheese, salami, olives/tapenade and various dips, prepared foods, and clothes.  And, a couple of bar/cafes to rest after the effort of making decisions about what to buy.

You can also fill up your own bottles with your favorite wine at the wine filling station.

The little city nearby is Pertuis, and it's on Friday morning.  It's big.  Blocks long.  Anything and everything.  Lots of clothes and nick naks.  The paella I raved about the other day.  Competing with Pertuis on Friday is Lourmarin -- a small, chic town also with a large market, higher end stuff, and higher end prices.

Without a car, we've been fortunate to have friends offer to take us one place or another, but the market event can consume half the day.  Then, there's the Hyper-U.  Pronounced Eeeeper ooo.   I refused to say this for a while, when it's clearly the hiyper you, or as some of the expats we've met call it, the hyper-tension.  Think Walmart.  Always busy.  But they actually have some pretty good stuff, and I'm sure they've given the little markets a run for their money.  They rent cars too.  And cut hair.  Develop pictures.  Do laundry.

Anyway, it seems like we're always strategizing our next few meals, trying not to over-buy, which is easy to do, and trying not to go hungry.  So far, we've succeeded pretty well.

Eat to live.  Or live to eat.  My Uncle Walter always used to ask.  Here, it's clearly the latter.  We understand that the French spend a considerably higher portion of their income on food than others around the globe.  Unsourced information (well, sourced from Bjorn and Anne...not sure where they got it from), and it sounds about right.