Ken buys the rib-eye steak from the butcher, right outside our front gate.
The butcher has a shop across the river in Thésée. He came by a couple weeks ago in his truck and told us he'd drive by every Tuesday, around 12:30 or so. We went by his shop the other day and bought a big piece of faux-filet (sirloin steak) to test out his products. It was delicious. So when he came around last week, we stopped him and bought some sausages, smoked bacon, and some other things.
This photo doesn't show how big this steak was. It was 755 grams, over 1.5 pounds. We didn't eat it all at once.
Yesterday, when he came around again, we had decided to buy a piece of entrecôte (rib-eye steak). I cooked it on the grill, and boy, was it ever good. So I think we have made customers of ourselves and will be buying our meat and deli products from this guy from now on. Right outside our door. No waiting. Yum.
Walt, given what Ken blogged about this morning... have you spoken to the local supermarket about deliveries? The guy from the Spar here in Grand Pressigny drives around the locality with a wagon load of stuff. And I've also seen him loading smaller boxes with a variety of things... obviously an order for someone.
ReplyDeleteYour word and number verification has gorn berzerk this morning... the script is almost unreadable! But when it got through to "2 Event ec" I realised that it must be working to new EC rules...
That would save queueing for the zoo!
Tim on Pauline's machine!
Delivery truck anything is good if you don't live in town.
ReplyDeleteFresh sausages and meats? My kind of truck!
I live within a few minutes walking distance from our market, so when I stopped working I started shopping at the market again. It's more expensive than a supermarket, even the smaller convenience stores, but shopping for meat the butcher's is definitely better than the supermarket. most of the shops around us (Franprix, Go, Coccinnelle...) do deliver, but as long as I can afford it, I'll go to the butcher, the fishmonger, and the cheese people at the market. There's some kind of solidarity involved with shopping with the guy who comes around in his truck. You want him to be able to continue doing it, so you buy from him. These grocery trucks are vital to rural communities in France, to allow older people to remain in their own homes and still have contact with the outside world and local gossip. There's a wonderful little movie about that: Le Fils de l'Epicier.
ReplyDeleteOk Walt, I've dropped a number of hints but you don't ever pick up on them. So after this delicious post I decided to just put it out there: I want you to adopt me. There I said it. Deal with it.
ReplyDeleteNothing beats a big piece of French meat!
ReplyDeletem.
Ahh, France. Bet he would be happy
ReplyDeleteto fix up a nice package of tidbits
for Callie too.
lol Cubby & Mark........that meat looks delicious (i almost hate to say that after mark's comment)
ReplyDeleteLOL encore Cubby and Mark;) Love this meat truck so much. My dad once had a "rolling store" in the countryside of KY. I believe this was in the mid 30s. What is old is new again.
ReplyDeleteyes! you are spoilt :-) Enjoy. the quality looks great .... we don't even get a bread delivery :-(
ReplyDeleteSimon could chauffeur people around and the butcher and bread lady are making it easier on you. Fresh produce from the garden. You just need chickens, without a rooster. Voila! B & B in summer only.
ReplyDeleteWow, a cow chop! Look out for Desperate Dan, he'll have it for sure.
ReplyDeleteI can't remember the last time I ate red meat!
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazingly fun service. We had a butcher truck of sorts in Connecticut. But it was all frozen meats and was very disappointing. This looks so good!
ReplyDeleteI remember my grandmother having everything delivered to he door in the 50s/60s (she never drove a car nor had a license). bread, milk, eggs, cheese, knives/scissors sharpened, fruits and veggies all came to the front door. meats were available in the small market 2 blocks away, to which she walked with her own cloth sacks for her purchases. same for special baked goods she did not make herself (e.g., cheesecake).
ReplyDeletethen a huge supermarket opened about 3 miles away; grandfather drove her over and waited outside whilst she did her weekly shopping. and the vendors stopped delivering to her door.
I can have my groceries delivered from the local supermarket, but I refuse. I want to pick out my own items to see what I am getting. and I visit the supermarket only 2x/month.
nice meat (heh heh heh)!
This is such a great idea (brought back to life, eh Evelyn?!) -- Jane (Fenno-Vaux) had a picture either on her blog or on FB of the bread truck coming to her street. They have been working on their place. I think it's in the Dordogne area, not to terribly far from Périgueux.
ReplyDeleteoops! not TOO terribly far ;)
Deletewow ! what a concept !
ReplyDeleteI would use it, to be sure !
You guys have really lucked out - except for the traffic because of the zoo! Bread delivery and now meat delivery just as Ken started to think he wouldn't be shopping nearly so much, too. Let's all move to Saint-Aignan, forget about the adoption, Cubby, we'll all just be part of the neighborhood. hehehehehehehe
ReplyDeleteMary in Oregon
tim, well, we're not really interested in getting everything delivered. There is some fun to be had shopping in markets or supermarkets!
ReplyDeletetch, for staples, like bread, it's great. Cuts down on single-purpose driving.
ellen, it's nice to be able to walk to those kinds of shops and/or market. I would do that (or even ride my bike) if I could. But out where we live, and that fact that we're up on a hill, it's not really practical.
cubby, I'll begin the paperwork right away.
mark, you are so naughty. And good for Fred! lol
sheila, I wonder what he would charge for that!
melinda, it was quite tasty. Mark cracks me up!
evelyn, There's also a frozen foods truck that comes by every Friday, but so far we've resisted that one.
n&a, we didn't know we had one until the lady stopped and told us (she was trying to drum up business). That was years ago!
nadege, shhhh! Ken keeps talking about getting chickens.
pollygarter, Desperate Dan? Who's that?
starman, do you miss it?
mitch, so far, so good.
anne marie, I also remember my grandmother doing the same thing, right up through the 70s, until the grocer died. She'd call him up, place the order, and he or one of his sons would deliver. Amazing.
judy, thanks for the link to Jane's blog. It's cool to "see" her again!
michael, it's especially nice for the older people out in the country (that's coming very close to describing me) who can't get out much on their own.
mary, the traffic's not THAT bad, it's just that we're not used to it any more. After August it will calm down again.
Thoroughly spoilt I would say .. sounds brilliant, and as for the Rib Eye mmmmm we love Rib eye.
ReplyDelete