Saturday Morning in Saint-Aignan

The main street through Saint-Aignan

passes behind the old church.

It's been a long time since I published any pictures of Saint-Aignan itself. This morning I went to get some things — champignons, rillettes, et fromages de chèvre — at the farmers' market. Rillettes (potted meats) and fromage de chèvre (goat cheese) are local specialities, and I bought them to serve to American friends who are coming for dinner Monday night.

This is one of two medieval buildings
on the main street in Saint-Aignan.

I ended up not taking pictures in the market itself because it was so reduced in size and activity. I'll wait for a busy day, when it's more interesting. It's now September, summer vacation is over, and a lot of the vendors take their own vacations after all the tourists leave town in late August.

A small section of the big Renaissance château
that sits up above the town of Saint-Aignan

So instead of three charcutiers, there was only one — the woman I call « Mme Doudouille ». A charcutier is a pork butcher who sells cuts of raw pork but also hams by the slice, a variety of pâtés and sausages, other cured pork products, and even salads and savory pastries like quiches.

A charcuterie sign above
a street sign in Saint-Aignan

Mme Doudouille — I don't know her real name, but we always have a good talk when I stop there — is still working the market after a close call (for us customers) last year, when she and her husband told us they were going to close up shop and move south to run a hotel-restaurant. Walt said he recently heard her tell a customer that she's been selling charcuterie in Saint-Aignan's market for 30 years now. She must have been a very young girl when she started. Her and her husband's business is called La Charcuterie Doudouille — Doudouille is a nickname for Edouard, I've been told.

Steps leading from the church and château
down into the streets of Saint-Aignan

There was only one poultry vendor at the market today, instead of the normal two. Some of the big produce stands were not set up. And there weren't an awful lot of customers, except in front of the fish monger's stand. Since there's no fish market in Saint-Aignan except the one at the market on Saturdays, and since the fish there is so good, it's almost always very crowded. The line can get very long, and it was today.

Sculpted capitals on columns at the Saint-Aignan church

The mushroom lady was set up at the market as usual. We learned last week that she might be going out of business at the end of the year. If it's true, I'll be pretty disappointed. I make it a point to buy some mushrooms from her every time I go to the market. They are always fresh and relatively inexpensive. Mushrooms are also a local specialty. A lot of them are grown in caves around the region.