Bonjour French Market Friends,
March is the month of celebration of Francophonie around the world, spreading outwards from France 
to Canada, across the Pacific up through the Indian Ocean Islands and around West Africa and up to Europe. Celebrating La Francophonie is to celebrate the potential of language and culture to unite over 320 million people. UNESCO and the OIF (Organisation of La Francophonie) share a common vision placing culture and language at the heart of any lasting effort for peace and development. Global map of French speaking countries (courtesy Credit : aaker, wikimedia, public domain)
Cultural news from Paris this weekend is the Pompidou Centre will be free for visitors to enjoy the spectacular contemporary art works, listen to live music, dance 
and participate in workshops up to Monday when the Museum will start a massive 5-year renovation. Built in 1977 with its unique tubular features, this museum houses about 2000 permanent contemporary art pieces and attracts over 4 million visitors annually. President Macron pledged to support the renovation of the Museum at a cost of millions of Euros. During the renovations the art works will be housed in museums in Europe, Asia, Australia and USA.
In Cape Town, its “First Thursdays” this evening. The weather is warm, and our city is abuzz with art lovers wandering through the city enjoying the many Art galleries, cultural events, restaurants and bars. The Alliance Francaise du Cap is one of the participants and has created an Exhibition, showcasing the works of four talented artists. The exhibition continues for a month and visitors are welcome to stroll through and enjoy the Alliance Francaise.
In our little shop we spread the love of La Francophonie with our collection of 
the best French cheeses and foods available in Cape Town. We had 150kgs of cheese fly in from Paris today and hopefully it will be cleared through formalities and in our shop sometime tomorrow. We will have the usual suspects…Brie with a layer of truffle cream, Vacherousse, Triple cream delice, Morbier and Comte from the Jura, Brie from Meaux, Camembert, Pont l’Eveque and Livarot from Normandie, Fresh goat’s cheese crottin and ash-dusted buche from the Loire, Cantal, Fourme d A’mbert and Bleu from the Auvergne, Camembert with garlic and herbs for baking, Emmental from the Vosges, Munster from Alsace plus plenty more.
In our fresh meat range, we have a venison and prune terrine, saucisson sec style salami, sliced ham, prosciutto crudo, salamis, plain pork and truffle flavoured saucisson sec. In
our prepacked French meat range, we have new stock of the pork and mushroom terrine, duck and honey pate, pork pate de foie with salt crystals, pork pate with dried tomatoes, duck terrines and duck rillettes.
We have a new range of dry goods from France that have just arrived, which we are busy unpacking and labelling, with interesting items such as dried black garlic, dried black limes, dried mushrooms, dried seaweed, Lentils, quinoa, oils, vinegars, mustards. They will get added to our website with all the details.
In our fresh produce range the fresh purple Evita figs are in season, every week we bring in 15kgs and they fly off the shelves. We also have trays of fresh farm eggs. Our locally baked traditional French patisseries are also in great demand, the hardest thing is resisting the temptation to eat the chocolate cakes they are absolutely addictive.
In our frozen range we have received from France new stocks of the pain au chocolat, almond, chocolate hazelnut and butter croissants. We have a very addicted clientele, I think this was probably the most successful of my French imports, there is nothing like a freshly baked croissants on Sunday morning in the peace of one’s own home.
In our wines and spirits range we have a wide collection, with a selection 
from all the main regions of France. I try to offer a range from easy drinking Vins de Pays (countryside wines) to some of the classics from the Loire, Burgundy, Bordeaux and Champagne regions. Interestingly the Vermouths and Cassis have a strong following, I guess this is to mix in cocktails. If you are looking for a particular wine, do let me know and I will see if we can find it for you.
This weekend is the Cape Town Cycle Tour. and our city is filling up with visitors from around the world coming to compete in this epic 106km race around our beautiful peninsular. In France when the cyclists race, some pack tubes of Crème de Marrons, sweetened chestnut spread from the Ardeche, which they 
consume on races to give them energy. Crème de Marrons is made with cooked, pureed chestnuts, then sugar and various flavours are added, such as honey, vanilla or nougat. The nutty, slightly toasted taste is distinctive and is highly appreciated in France. This week I decided to share a really easy dessert recipe using the crème de marron combined with cream and some delicious fresh baby figs served in mini vol aux vents, see recipe below. I suggest pairing with a glass of Sauternes, the sweet white wine from Bordeaux available at our shop.
Best wishes to all of you cycling this weekend, I hope you have a great race. I am helping to make 200 sandwiches and pouring tea for all the helpers at the Start from pre-dawn on Sunday morning (my one good deed for the year).
We look forward to seeing you again at our shop.
Regards
Suzanne and The French Market Team