Make new friends...

If heaven were a town, and the only way of arriving was to ride the train for 4.20 (coincidence, maybe) euro, where an aspiring pastry chef and his wife gave free samples of flapjacks, and rich men drove shiny Saabs with rich cappuccino’s riding shotgun, and young women pranced with cocker spaniels down the shoreline while pigeons ate a crumb off your sleeve, along a vast cliff facing eastward and eternity, with only the lapping waves and bobbing seals understanding where you have been, or where you are going, well my friends, I reached heaven on Sunday. Stairway not required.

I’m not over exaggerating. I would fess up if I was.

After coming down from an 18-month meat hiatus, I ate my first bite of fish in this little shore town. I was so inspired, I also had a bite of chips. You may have heard of this rather delectable platter, it’s quite catchy.

However, as the meal wore on, I did not feel fulfillment. I guess you could say I couldn’t gain satisfaction (without the double-negative). And it is my belief that, while in heaven, one should at least, be able to have that sense of warm, gooey, sometimes fruity, happy feeling. And so, obviously, I returned to the market to barter with the bread baker.

She was a stickler, that one. I tried everything I could think of to gain even an inch of bread for free. As she recognized me from before (this was the third time I came for samples), she kindly asked if I wanted to buy anything when I stopped at her stand. I told her, I’d like to buy a banana bread loaf, but needed at least one more sample to verify my decision. She looked skeptically at me, but obliged. The bread bit very well melted on my tongue, and I held true to my word.

I payed 6 euro for a ‘small by American standards’ loaf, which could have bought all produce and a chocolate bar for the week. But you know what? That woman was proud. And she damn well better be. Cause she won. I bought her beautifully crafted, walnut checkered, butter-swooned bread. I ate half the loaf right there at the market. I told her I’d be back though, and I’d bring my negotiating tactics and A-game.

I think I made a new friend.