So, um, you gonna eat that?

Today we went to Castlenaudary…

(I know! Me too! Every time I see that name I want to say Castle Laundry, in fact, have actually given up and that’s what I call the town now.)

…for the much lauded ‘Fête du Cassoulet'; Cassoulet being nothing less than the most wonderful French dish in the whole world.

(Oh, sorry didn’t mean to splash that sarcasm all over you.)

(You know what, you better stop right here and go wash that off before it burns a whole in your shirt, sorry.)

Basically it’s a casserole resembling pork and beans but containing white beans, whole sausages, and a duck leg. The dish is served in a large earthenware dish, fresh from the oven, to the oohs and ahhs of those at table. Lets face it it’s hard to get excited about casserole and why one needs its very own weekend celebration, god only knows.

(Of course I did just leave a town that is, this very weekend, celebrating corn, so I guess I shouldn’t be so derisive.)

(People will celebrate anything.)

Anyway, the town had roped off whole streets that were lined with vendor booths. Most of these booths were selling, you know, Cassoulet. Cassoulet in cans, Cassoulet in jars and of course Cassoulet in earthenware dishes that were ready to take right home and pop into the oven. Mmmm.

Of course other booths were selling the ingredients so you could make your own Cassoulet. There were tables full of kilos and kilos of white beans. There was duck for sale and of course the other necessary ingredient and my ultimate favorite, …

(ooh, sorry about that sarcasm again, geez, I’ll have to get you a new shirt if I keep this up.)

…the sausage vendors.

There were also a few artisans; you know wood work, beaded jewelry, dried flowers etc. Several wineries were represented; each one showcasing their best flavors to accompany your casserole. We tried a couple of merlots and ended up buying a couple of bottles.

We came across one booth that was selling like 15 different varieties of honey…

(not an ingredient in Cassoulet.)

…lavender and thyme honey, forest (?) honey, pine forest honey, rhododendron honey, acacia honey…you get the point. You’d have to be a honey connoisseur to be able to tell the real differences but we tried the lightest color one (the lavender) and the darkest color one (pine forest) and at the extremes you could taste the subtle differences. We bought some.

Of course as we came around a corner to one of the main squares we saw the real reason for a weekend celebrating casserole, the beer garden. Huge beer bar on one end, band setting up on the other end, that place will be hopping tonight, and I’m guessing they won’t be eating too much casserole. Come to think of it I think it’s the exact same thing they’ll be celebrating tonight at Cornfest.