| April 5th 2020

*Oysters usually arrive fresh from the Normandy coast at Courtomer’s weekly “marché.”*

Dear Friend,

“Well, that’s la France,” reported our guardian, Monsieur Xavier.
“Tout est interdit, puis il y a des dérogations pour tout ! »

First, everything is forbidden.
Then, exceptions are made right and left!

And what a wonderful thing that is about France and the French. Particularly since it means that the local marché in Courtomer has resumed its Friday morning presence in the village square. While the open-air markets in bigger towns nearby have shut down as part of the general “confinement,” Courtomer’s doughty mayoress held out for a “dérogation.” And it has been granted.

Fresh vegetables from a local maraicher, or market gardener, local and regional cheeses, home-made conserves – paté and duck confit, jams and local honey, bottled juices and cider—what could be more delightful!

Most of Courtomer’s shops are open for business as well…the well-stocked superette, where you can buy a good bottle of wine as well as local meats and cheeses and fresh vegetables and fruit – and that modern improvement, the one we have all come to realize is essential -- “le papier hygiénique.”

Monsieur Bouland’s cider shop is open, too, selling everything “pomme” from cider vinegar to fresh apple juice, hard cider and local calvados, all sourced from his own orchards. And “comme le pain chaud,” as the French expression goes, the two bakeries continue to sell their wares. Literally, this expression means “like the hot bread.” (One of my children heard “comme lapin chaud” instead and told his English speaking cousins that Pokemon cards were “selling like hot rabbit!”)

*A jolly bar makes a village; Courtomer’s bar and restaurant usually serves 300 regular customers a day.*

You can still buy a newspaper or a magazine in Courtomer and read it with a hot cup of coffee, though not “au zinc,” as the bar is called. Monsieur Bunel’s local bar and newsagent is open for news, a carry-out coffee and local chat from a safe distance. And, if you must know, lottery tickets and cigarettes!

Also still open to a grateful public is Monsieur Roblin, the charcutier-traiteur of Courtomer. Like fellow Courtomerois, we are more than willing to line up outside in the square, entering the premises hygienically one by one. Here we select from his home-made sausages – andouille, boudin, chipolatas and more -- and his flavorful smoked filet mignon of pork and delectable smoked salmon. We can buy fresh pork and prepared platters made in his “laboratoire” behind the shop. Monsieur Roblin, as he explained to me himself, is a charcutier in the finest French gastronomic tradition. And it is true; Monsieur Roblin is an artist in the kitchen. The charcutier’s is a noble profession, he continued, with roots in Roman antiquity and the Ancien Régime of France. From 1467 on, the charcutiers made up one of the powerful guilds of Old France, jealously guarding its privileges and secret recipes. Even today, the charcutiers of France have their own order, the Knights of Saint Anthony.

One face still missing from Courtomer’s market on the square is the fishmonger. He used to arrive with his refrigerated truck from the port of Ouistreham on the Normandy coast, stocked with oysters and fresh fish.

We’ll miss that fish, because today is the 1st of April – which everyone in France knows as the day of the “poisson d’avril”! Inexplicably, “fish of April” is what an April fool’s joke is called here.

And we are ready for fish – the lemon trees still in winter “confinement” in the Orangerie are laden with plump yellow fruits!

A bientôt – et aux « jours meilleurs »,