Wow Wazemmes.

Well like I said in my last post, I planned on going to a ‘farmer’s market’ called Wazemmes this morning as they have the square filled every Sunday morning with stands. I could not have been more wrong when I called it a farmer’s market. Wazemmes on Sunday mornings is a full on, gigantic flee market with everything and anything you can think of. I was also under the impression that the ‘square’ meant the previously empty space in front of the indoor Wazemmes market that is open throughout the week. Nooo no. This square was in front, behind, and at least two blocks in the streets on each side of the indoor market and it was filled with stands serving all different kinds of foods, selling clothing items, accessories, anything you would need from a grocery store, and then the farmers with all of their fruits and vegetables. I arrived this morning and was certain I was in heaven.

People, you do not understand what this was like. At first, I was taken aback a little by the size, but was not aware of what was in store for me. As I walked through the fruit and vegetable stands with the florists across the way, the smells in the air made me realize just how hungry I was. The night before, that square didn’t smell anything like it did this morning. But wait, then there were olive stands. These had huge, HUGE buckets of olives that French market-goers would take huge scoops from and dump them straight into a plastic bag. Next to them were stands selling spices. Now I’m going to have to check, but I’m pretty sure the cost of shipping them home and the cost to buy these spices will still make it cheaper than you can get at Whole Foods. But I digress…

Now onto the best part. I’ll describe this section as best I can, but you’ll have to look on to the pictures to see for yourself. The next section I visited was a strip filled with these huge rotisseries that were filled with whole chickens and racks of pork ribs. In the bottom of the rotisserie where all the juices would drip, the cookers would put tons of little potatoes that would soak up all the juices, flavors, and herbs and spices from the chicken. The smell from the street, even though it was 10:00am, was absolutely phenomenal. I automatically disregarded that I had not yet eaten breakfast, told myself screw the croissant, I’m eatin’ some ribs. I knew I couldn’t eat them all (or at least this is what I thought at the time…) but an entire rack of pork sold for only 5 Euros, the small (but still very sizeable) box of potatoes that had cooked in the chicken drippings sold for only 2 Euros (you could get a big box for 4 Euros, as well). So for a mere 7 Euros, I bought myself a lot of pork ribs and a box of potatoes. The man at the counter asked me if I wanted some of the drippings from the chicken poured over my ribs and I had to hold myself back from saying ‘YEAH!!!’ I played it cool and said ‘Oui, ca marche’ (translation: yeah, that works).

I must have looked pretty funny fast walking with my plastic bag of goodies all the way back to my dorm. I was actually so excited that in an attempt to make a short cut, I ended up going a few blocks out of my way. I got back to my room and feasted on these ribs and potatoes and could not have been happier with my purchase. Mom, dad, all my grandparents, you’re going to resent me for saying this and all of my Italian ancestors may roll in their graves when I do, but this had to be one of the best, if not the single best meal I have ever had. At 11:00am on the 22nd of August, I was the most satisfied foodie ever. And this is only day four!!! The spices on the ribs with the meat that fell of the bone so easily all together tasted unlike any ribs I’ve had before. I ended up finishing all of the ribs in one sitting. I honestly cannot wait to see what other amazing meals I will have while I’m here, but at the least I know what I’ll be having a week from today at 11:00am.