Dave Hatfield

John now tells me that he's moved the map into the Alpha listing in Restaurants, Shopping & Staying. Oddly enough it called "Markets Map.

Have added the Beaune link to the map; thanks for remembering Vinotas! Also, I've posted to the pinned topic on restaurants, shopping & so forth above with a link to the map s that it doesn't get buried in the regular forum posts. I've also updated the Restaurant map.

Looks good. You might be interested in the Cashel Blue website. Interesting that the bacteria is the same as Roquefort which means that it also the same as Stilton. A comparative tasting might be interesting as both are from cow's milk. The Blue d'Auvergne is bound to be a hit and has the advantage of being the 'nomme de plume' of a famous eGulleteer from here in France. Enjoy & report.

When we went shopping today we bought some containers of sterilized skim milk. In our case Grandlait packaged by Candia. On the bottle it advises: After opening keep at less than +6C and preferably consume within 4 days. I've got to assume that that is a very safe guideline. How much longer you can push that advice is hard to say. Your 10 days has got to be pushing the envelope - hard.

Glad to see that there is interest in a Markets Map. I don't know how to determine which are the 'best' markets or those 'worthy' of inclusion on the map. So, I'll just add all that get posted to the map. My assumption being that if someone takes the trouble to write up a market & post then it must be good enough for them. Vinotas - I'll look for the pictures & write up. Busboy - Like the lists. Have put a link to them (a ? symbol) in the Ocean near their areas. Think that will work. Katie - Yes, think you need to zoom in on the map to de-clutter. To do this hold down the LEFT mouse button until the cursor turns into a little hand. Keep holding it down & move the area of interest to the center of the map. Let go & move the cursor to the 'scale' on the LEFT of the map. Move Up the scale to zoom in until you get the view you want. You may have to go back & reposition as you zoom in. John - Yes, I'll do Paris. It would be nice, however, if you could do one of your brilliant searches to bring all the previous Market posts together. Note that I don't plan on a second map for Paris. Zooming in will be necessary. See the example. Remember that I need name & day plus the write up. For Paris I think we need the street name as well. Have fun.

Ok, map started. Only two entry's so far. As you can see its nice to have both location & day or days of the week. Pictures or a write up of special features are nice as well. Here's thelink to the map. Enjoy.

You're right that there are lot. Mapping's not a big deal given the software now available. The problem selecting major ones is determining which are "the" major ones. I think we all have our favorites. Everybody has on opinion. I'll give it a go & see what happens.

I absolutely agree with you. There are wonderful markets all around the country. The idea of listing them with links on a map is to help visitors who don't always know where they are and to help residents, such as Linda & I, who don't know the best markets outside of our own area. I can for example point to markets at: Villefranche de Rouergue, Caussade, Limogne en Quercy, Cahors, Montauban, St Antonin Noble Val, Albi and Toulouse; all of which are close us, but if we were to go over to the Charante Maritime we wouldn't know exactly where to go for the best markets. Think of it as a little help for our friends. edited to correct typo.

I think this is a great topic. I and I think most people coming to France find the markets one of the nicest features of the country. Living here we go to a number of the local markets. Its a rare week that we don't go to at least one. Vinotas has inspired me so I will start taking pictures as we go to market and start posting the results. I have seen a number of posts about Parisian markets, but I don't recall any about regional/local markets. (other than Lucy's about her beloved Lyonaise markets) If people would like to start posting about their market experiences, and with John & Felice's permission, I'll start an interactive market map of France (with a second Paris only map) and link all of the posts to it. Let me know what you think.

My French boyfriend tells me it means "Le" in southern patois. ← Thanks. Makes sense. Don't know why it didn't turn up in the dictionary. I'll have to try some others.

I cannot find the meaning in French of the word "lou". I'm trying to find it in the context of a discussion going on over in the cheese forum. They're looking for a cheese called 'Lou paralou' which I can't find anywhere although I can find several cheeses the are 'Lou ..... something or other' I've tried new & old French, Occitan & Basque dictionaries with no luck. Does anybody know what this word means?

Hummmm.... The Cocagne is a ewe's milk cheese from Albi, not far from us. Can't find the others, but I'itxassou sounds Basque and, of course, Bearn is an old French province in the Pyrenees - Basque country. Maybe some connections there. We live just outside the village of Parisot in the Tarn et Garonne. (Not to be confused with the Parisot located in the Tarn.) We are just a few kilometers into the old Rouergue area which is East of Quercy.

Well despite my confidence I was 100% wrong. Lou perawho? Can't find it in any of my cheese books or on line. All is not lost, however. Over in the Basque country at Mauleon where they make chaumes from ewe's milk in season they make a cow's milk cheese called Lou Palou out of season. Could this be our elusive Lou paralou? Apparently its coated in black wax. (side note: the cows milk used to go to Roquefort as this is technically part of the AOC; but in the 80's Fromagerie de Chaumes took over.) Closer to home, for me, they make a number of cheeses called 'perails'. These are brebis milk and in the old days they were the milk that the ewe's kept producing after the Roquefort co-op quit collecting. Now then, according my cheese bible (Patrick Rance's "The French Cheese Book") a Madame Soulie made a cheese in Villefranche de Rouergue named - Lou Peraillou! Villefranche is only 20 minutes from where I live so I can check to see if its still in production. I've had fun even if not much luck researching this. And, of course, all is never lost because I did manage to buy a bit of cheese today around the theme of lou & perail. This one is Lou Caussinhol. Its cows milk and is made near Villfranche. Its very mild, but I'm going to let it mature a bit before finally judging it. Here we have La Gayrie from Villeneuve, again very close to Villefranche, This one is ewe's milk and the cheese monger had labeled it as "parail de brebis". Again, mild & I'll reserve judgment. So, I got Lou & I got Perail, but I'm still looking for Lou Paralou.

Going to Limogne market this morning & will check. I'm about 90% certain that my favorite guy sells Lou Peralou. Let everyone know later.

Vinotas - Great post! You're on the map now. We'll try it the next time we're down there.

Asleep in the very same limbo where all the other myths dwell. ← Touche!

I must say that I'm quite surprised at the apparent docility about the new law. I haven't seen a single infraction and, in my presence at least, none of our smoking French friends have complained. I had expected that at least some of our local and pretty remote cafes/ bars would turn a blind eye to local smokers, but not so so far. Where is that spirit of individuality & independence that we expect and love in the French? A nation of law abider's! Brussels has a lot to answer for I think.

That's it! One of my favorites. Nobody's named the other cheese so I'll tell you. Its a Tomme. This particular one is a raw milk brebis. Lot & lots of flavor.

Think blue Saints!

Good guess. Not right, but not a million miles off either. Think sheep. How about the blue that Garotin just missed. Its been on this thread pretty recently I think.

Very, very good! The ramekin is St Felician. The center is Lagioule. Close on the rear blue, but no prize. The front blue is indeed blue de brebis. The front left is the cheese not named on the blog. Three correct & a near miss is very good going indeed. Let's see if anyone can get the last two before I reveal them.

simple, but you could do a lot worse. Don't miss Quimper, its a lovely town. & of course there's always the good old Logis de France site with tons of choices. We had a great time last July staying at a gite right on the coast with kids & grandkids. Tell your husband not to miss the draft cider! That'll mellow any sticker shock.

I've been lazy lately, but here's a picture just to whet appetites. For fun there's a guessing game. Name the 5 four cheeses on the plate. Now, the answers will be found on my blog (link below) along with a write up on the meal that accompanied the cheese. (I only cook the rest of the stuff so I have a really good excuse to eat the cheese) Its up to you as to whether you want to peek before guessing or not. I'll post answers in a day or two for those who can't be bothered with the blog. NOTE: I only name 4 of the 5 cheeses on the blog. Which one did I omit? And what's it's name?

Interesting article in today's NY Times concerning Tavel & it's rose wine. Nice mention of Uzes as well. Here's thelink.

How could they ignore the rilettes while scarfing the foie gras. Power of advertising I guess? Foie gras is "in"! Given the time they stayed I'd also guess they made a serious dent in the booze?