While I think the vendors in this Sunday market are always nice, they’re always a bit harried – the lines can be endless at many of the stands and the merchants, many of whom are the producers as well, don’t always get the chance to chat the way they’d like to and the way you’d like them to. But today, it was calm.
Calm enough that when I ran into Louisa Chu, she of Moveable Feast, we could actually walk the center aisle side-by-side, talk, catch up (it had been a while since we’d seen one another) and stop for a photo.
Last week, the Sunday before Christmas, when I was shopping in the market with Patricia Wells – and taking a picture for amazon.com’s editor’s blog — it was all we could do to find a square centimeter of space
While it was the food stalls that were jammed before Christmas, today, the day before New Year’s Eve, it was the wine shops and any place selling Champagne.
After we left the market, Michael and I walked over to La Grande Epicerie, Paris’s chicest supermarket. I had no problem picking up the flour and vanilla that I needed, however, had I wanted a bottle or two of bubbly, I ‘d have had to wait my turn, and wait, and wait — you could barely get near the bins. Happily, there was another — faster — way to satisfy that craving for Champagne: Dom Perignon had set up a little bar
What a great thing to do! How festive! How fun! How French! I think every supermarket should have a Champagne bar. Stop & Shop are you listening?