la cigale

my mom has been telling me how great farmer's markets are for years now, but pretty much the only thing about farmer's markets that stuck out in my mind prevented any effort to go to one - you had to wake up SO freaking early.

luckily, here in NZ, there are a few farmer's markets that you don't have to arrive at by 5 am to get to the good stuff.  i'm sure there are others that exist in the world, but that's my excuse and i'm sticking to it.  one of these farmers markets has has a french theme and occurs every weekend in a section of auckland called parnell.  it's called la cigale.

view of the market from the inside - because it started raining

inside the cute french themed shop

there were so many great things to try at the market.  the best part, and much to my surprise, the prices beat the supermarket all around.  who would have thought that specialty breads and fresh produce would cost less than the crap that everyone's rubbing their grubby fingers all over at the grocery store? not that i'm a germaphobe or anything.

delicious breads - bound and determined to try the kumara loaf next week

about 1/8 of the olive selection at one of the booths.

there were also a couple of things that confused me. meaning actual products i had no idea what they were.  unfortunately i was too embarrassed to ask about most, and too poor to buy all of them.  i did try some unrefined honey, which was interesting.  kind of grainy and not actually my thing despite my strong feelings about honey, but it's kind of refreshing to know that there are new exciting foods to try in a place that i'm actually living in and not visiting. (i.e. i don't have to pack it in quickly and eat 7 meals a day just to try the new foods over the time that i'm here)

(apple) cucumbers? hm.

lucky for my waistline, new years resolutions kept me away from eating the entire pastry section (not as insurmountable a task as it sounds - believe me).  that didn't stop me from having a browse/taking multiple photographs/drooling on myself.