31 January 2013

Shopping in the Blois 'burbs

I don't have much to blog about today. But you know me — that's never stopped me before! So here goes.

Yesterday's shopping trip to Blois was a success. It's a 40-minute drive though it's only about 25 miles. The most direct road runs through the middle of a string of villages and small towns: Saint-Aignan-sur-Cher, Noyers-sur-Cher, Saint-Romain-sur-Cher, Couddes, Contres, Cormeray, and Cellettes. The shopping center, with an Auchan hypermarket as its "anchor" store, is partly in Saint-Gervais-la-Forêt and partly in Vineuil, both south suburbs of Blois. Can you pronounce all those names?

Snail tongs
At Auchan, which is a big new store with a shopping mall attached (maybe two dozen shops), we found some pinces à escargots, which we had been looking for, but we didn't fine a plat pour escargots in which to cook the snails and which we've also been looking for. I have three dozen snails in the freezer — I put them in there, they didn't just crawl in (ha ha ha) — and we bought some disposable aluminum-foil snail dishes a few days ago. They'll have to do. Now we are equipped and we can have another appetizer escargots à la bouguignonne with our dîner one day soon.

Snail pans
We also bought some flour and corn tortillas so that we can make tacos or burritos with some of the pulled pork I cooked and put in the freezer last week. We looked for a bag or box of dried black beans, but with no luck. We got a new throw rug for the kitchen. Some gallon-size zip-top plastic bags. Two huge sweet potatoes for 1€/kilogram. I think the sign said the patates douces were imported from the U.S. — they were probably grown in North Carolina. All this is very exotic stuff when you live in the country outside Saint-Aignan.

Patates douces géantes
Then we went to the big Intersport sporting good store, which is right across the parking lot from the Maître Kanter sauerkraut restaurant where CHM and I had a good lunch last summer (I believe it was last summer). I had browsed Intersport's line of hiking boots on the company's web site beforehand and had tentatively picked out the boots I was interested in. Of course, they didn't have those. The salesman (who was about 13 years old, I think) said they only had fin de séries ("discontinued" lines) shoes and boots right now, and that they would receive a shipment of the new lines in February.

Bertie the black cat couldn't figure out what I was doing with the camera.

I was disappointed but I had a look at the discontinued boots, which were heavily discounted. There were only two or three pairs in my size. I tried one of those pairs on, and then I tried on a couple of promising pairs at the next largest size, where there were four or five pairs. Those were too big. After much trying on and walking around, and detailed discussion with the teenage clerk, I made a decision. I absolutely have to have waterproof shoes or boots right now for walks with Callie, and I can't do much long walking on gravel and through muck in my waterproof but low-top gardening shoes. The pair of boots I finally chose were priced at 120€ (at about $160, pretty expensive IMO) but with a 40% mark-down. So for 72€ I can hike again through the muddy vineyard, fearless.

At that point, we high-tailed it back to Saint-Aignan, under a fine but heavy drizzle and leaden gray skies, for a lunch of raclette and green salad.








––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
I bought these "sweet and sour" pickles
at Auchan just for CHM, for his next visit.
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

19 comments:

  1. Hi Ken,
    I had been looking for black beans recently too. I found them in the 'International' section at Leclerc in Romo. Check at SuperU too, as they have some other dried beans/legumes imported mostly from Portugal.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks, Keir. I've never found black beans at SuperU, but they do carry pinto beans and black-eyed peas, imported from the U.S., I think, by way of Portugal. Hope you three are well.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Who said men don't like shopping?
    I have a pair of those tongs, and wasn't quite sure what they were for, now I know.
    Really happy for you that you found a pair of boots, since Callie would be so disappointed if she couldn't go walking with you.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Happy to see Bertie, I am :) Good job on the boots. Isn't January the traditional time of sales in France? Good thing for you, eh?

    ReplyDelete
  5. How sweet [and sour! Ha ha ha] of you to buy these pickles just for me! LOL-MDR Can’t wait!

    Your memory serves you well. Yes, it was last year we had a nice lunch at Maître Kanter. I had traveled by train from Paris to attend a little later Martine’s blogger’s reunion.

    A few years ago I bought sweet potatoes at the
    Avenue de Saxe open-air market and they were soooo expensive, you would have thought they were pure gold! Last year I saw some at Monoprix, imported from the U.S. They were reasonably priced.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Just what about sweet and sour pickles reminds you of your friend chm?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Carolyn, it's because when CHM sees or hears talk of those cornichons aigre-doux, he says "yuck" -- he only likes the small, vinegary French-style cornichons (which I like too). Walt and also like the cornichons aigre-doux, which resemble U.S. dill pickles. I was teasing CHM...

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ken

    You have colour co-ordination in the pic of Bertie and the boots.

    Black, green and off-green :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The colors came out nice but it wasn't planned, really. The photo has a green cast overall because, I think, it was taken in low light. But I liked Bertie's expression of feline curiosity.

      Delete
  9. Well if this is what you write when you haven't much to say I am looking forward to the days when you have lol

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Roz and John -- be careful what you wish for...

      Delete
  10. You seem to be in a particularly good mood today ;)... especially after yesterday's 'série noire' post. Was it the shopping spree or the prospect of more 'escargots' that lifted your spirits? Martine

    P.S. Hi Chm! I didn't know you made the trip specially to attend the party (lol), which was so beautifully and skilfully organized by Susan and Simon! It was wonderful ...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Martine, I wasn't upset when I wrote that 'series noire' post. Just mystified by the string of unexpected events. I think writing about it lifted my spirits...

      Delete
  11. Love this shopping post. The boots are the cat's meow. Glad your feet will be warm and dry now!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Evelyn, I wore my new boots on the walk this afternoon and they are very comfortable --my feet stayed warm and dry. Even my knees hurt less.

      Delete
  12. Either Bertie is a very large cat, or those are very small boots.

    ReplyDelete
  13. About the snails, are they store-bought or home grown? I have fond memories of harvesting snails with my aunt who lived in your neck of the woods, in Sazilly just outside Chinon. We would rise early after a big rain the night before as the snails would be out en masse. When we'd harvested enough they all went into a large bucket in the garden and we'd begin the feeding regimen: lettuce for a few days, then flour and finally a complete fast before being plunged into boiling water. According to my aunt the feeding regimen changes the flavor of the snails and makes them more palatable over their 'wild food' flavor.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Starman, the boots are size 44 or U.S. 10½, so they are medium-sized. Bertie's relative size is probably an illusion. He was stretching up to sniff the camera lens, so he's a lot closer to it than the boots are.

    Anton, the snails I have in the freezer are store-bought. We see a few snails here but not very many really. It's supposed to rain all day today, so maybe tomorrow morning would be a good time to collect some.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Your observation about the number of snails is right, they're becoming scarce. According to my aunt (though I love her I always double check her facts) snail collecting seasons have been put into place along with protocols for collection. For example, she said collecting a pair of mating snails is now prohibited.

    ReplyDelete

What's on your mind? Qu'avez-vous à me dire ?