Monday, May 19, 2014

European Market Festival

A good day for me begins with blue skies, warm weather, and a live band like this heralding the European Market Festival in my neighborhood. These guys gave me a concert directly under my window, one of the perks of living on a pedestrian street!
Instead of the usual market held three times a week in the enter square, today was a European market day with booths representing food, crafts, and information from various nations in the European Union.
I'm not sure which nation this guy comes from, but he seemed pretty happy high above the crowds.
This troll didn't look mean or scary at all, maybe because he was the mascot for the beer bar below. 
France showcased products like local honey and pollen
to the hearty bacon, potatoes and onion dish, Tartiflette. 
Neighboring Spain had sausages and ham from Ibérico carved to order,
the Italians showed off Murano jewelry and glassware,
and the Hungarians sold traditional clothing.
Wandering around made me hungry, so I stopped at the Portuguese booth for some bolinhos de bacalhau (cod), meat, and chicken snacks, all under 1.5  each (about $2 US)
My favorite was the chicken, second to the bacalhau, but since they weren't hot, my opinion may have been different if I had heated them.
Deciding I wanted hot food, I stopped by the Romanian booth for some grilled meat. The bottom is an uncased sausage called mititei, made of lamb and beef that was slightly spiced with black pepper, thyme, paprika, and garlic. It's very good on its own or you can dip it in mustard. They served it between bread if you preferred a sandwich, and the grilled pork end was a free appetizer with my order that cost all of 2(about $3 US). They also offered a taste of Romanian wine which was quite good for only 5.50 per bottle (about $7 US); it was my first taste of Romanian wine and I intend to explore more.
There was plenty of beer and cider for sale as well as wine, and some of the stands even had presses and refrigerators.
There were desserts to go like waffles, or these mini crepes from Brussels, ten for 3€  ($5 UD)
or more refined sweets from Malta or Cypress.
With tables and seats set up throughout, you could sit and enjoy the fountains
or watch children build Eiffel Towers
before the end of the festival
when of course there was also music and pageantry:)

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