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I went out yesterday to buy some fish for my supper down at the open air market on Las Galletas sea front. The fish there are straight out of the sea - you can often see them being brought ashore. On one occasion we bought a bonito and as the man gutted it a squirming sardine shot out of its mouth - its last meal was still alive!
This time I only wanted a few fish as the OH is away, but the woman persuaded me to buy five - the sixth one was free. I think she said they were salmonetes de dorada, but as long as I can just stick them in a frying pan it doesn't really matter what they are.
Another customer joined our conversation - a lady about my age who was bemoaning the lack of work for older women - and as we chatted I looked past the fish-woman towards the beach.
"Are those courgettes?" I asked her.
"No - they're calabacines - they just grew here."
"My friend used to paint them with egg white and fry them," I said, and before I could stop her she'd cut me four blooms.
"There are plenty more," she said when I protested, "The water from our stalls drains out there, and someone must have spat some seeds."
This is a view of the back of the stalls and the plants just growing in the black sand. My benefactress is the smaller of these two stall-holders, and an excellent saleswoman - I shall have to freeze some of my fish!
So that's how a simple shopping expedition became a small adventure.
