The Limerick City Milk Market is a treat.(http://www.milkmarketlimerick.ie/index.html)It is filled with all kinds of vendors and it winds its way through streets and alleys incorporating existing butcher and cheese shops and little cafes as a part of the Saturday offerings. It's a nice size market,with lots of quality produce,fresh fish, meats, and cheese, and it is the oldest market of its kind in the region, operating over 150 years. I was particularly thrilled to know that Wed. through Sunday I can shop there for fresh food. I am used to cooking with only fresh ingredients, so I am relieved and excited to have found just what I will need and more to satiate my need to cook this year and at mostly reasonable prices.
I went to market this morning with Mary, my temporary roommate from France. Mary has a car, so we drove to Limerick and after parking we easily found our way to through winding streets to all the activity. It was fun going with Mary because, first of all she is truly delightful company, and also because it gave me a chance to learn a bit more French and to see if I can pronounce my limited vocabulary well enough to be understood by a native speaker. Mary is most gracious. I certainly got into quite a French mode and was for a time expecting everyone I spoke to to be responding in French. I think I forgot where I was! The Irish accent always pulled me back. It was great fun.
While I have only just begun to explore the market, here are a few unique things I found to marvel at;there were vendors selling du chocolat, bricks of chocolate from which they would cut a slice depending upon how much you wanted. It was beautiful chocolat, many varieties, some with nuts and some with dried fruits and some with exquisite little decorations of contrasting white and colored chocolate. I can't eat chocolate due to an allergy, but I can appreciate the quality and presentation. And I can eat everything else:smoked fish from the fish vendor,and portobellos and criminis from the mushroom purveyor, all cleaned and ready to use. You can buy as many as you need. I only need four at a cost of .20 cents!!
I also bought fresh onions,garlic,and zucchini from a beautiful farm stand, eggs from a lovely older Irish woman,a package containing a variety of smoked fish from an Irish gentleman who told me I made a very good choice, and some great Irish cheddar and fromage bleu after being provided a taste of each from the cheese sellers. With all of this I will make a fritata, which I can share with Mary and our other roommate Sineoud, and then have left overs in the refrigerator to nibble on for the rest of the week. Even better Mary has offered to make a special French cake this week that has prunes. I will be standing by to observe so I can learn to make it too.
I loved my first outing to the Limerick Milk Market and I am thrilled that I will be able to cook with such quality and variety of ingredients during the upcoming year. I also understand that there is a farmers market every Tuesday on campus, which is totally amazing. You can be sure that I will be checking that out as well. I love to cook probably as much as I love to sing. When I move to my new Thomond Village quarters later this month I will have only one roommate. I hope this roommate likes to eat. Maybe I will start a little catering business. Come to think of it, once classes begin, I hope I will have time to cook! At any rate and for the moment, I am in heaven and wish you "go maire tú an lá!(Gaelic for many happy returns of the day.)
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