a day of nothing special

First stop after church this morning was a place that is always SO crowded. We aren’t quite sure what the fuss is about at this place, but every time we go by, there is a line of people waiting outside, wanting to buy a particular pastry from this bakery place. Since it was early, the line only had about 6 people ahead of us so we gave it a try. The word they use to describe the red/pink stuff that is baked into this pastry is “praline”. It is very sugary and crunchy. And quite good, but we haven’t figured out why the line is always long at this particular place.

We walked home through the art market, the crafts market, and then the book market. The book market is amazing. It’s along the river and it goes on forever. Of course the books are in French, so all I can do is hope that some day I can buy one and actually read it. I suppose I could read it now, but it would be a whole lot of work and I do enjoy reading… don’t want to spoil that!

We continued walking home through the food market. I had been seeing pumpkin in the market but was puzzled by the way that it was sold. They cut it in halves or quarters, take the seeds out and sell you just a piece. (There were no jack-o-lanterns to be seen here during October.) So these pumpkins in the market are for…… EATING! Not for putting out on your front porch with a candle in them on Halloween night.

I asked my French friend why they were sold that way… in particular, without the seeds. She said that nobody would buy that much pumpkin, and besides, they would just throw the seeds away! I gasped. Throw the seeds away?? We then had a long discussion about how delicious roasted pumpkin seeds are… and where could I find them…. Her answer – in a health food store. There’s not much fun in that, I replied.

So… on this day in the market, I spotted a half-pumpkin with the seeds still in them. They were being sold by an Italian vendor, not a French one. Ah ha, maybe the Italians like the seeds too. So I snatched up that half-pumpkin with seeds (and had to tote it all the way home!) But later at another stall, a man was preparing to put more pumpkins out for sale and he had just sliced one. I quickly asked him if I could have the seeds. He looked at me a bit strange… but scooped them out with his hand, threw them in a bag, and handed them to me. Paul offered to pay for them, but he shook his head and waved us on.

Since I have never in my life cooked a fresh pumpkin, I’m searching the net for recipes. And I can’t wait to roast those seeds!