For Real Toads: food can be challenging

Posted for Grace's food challenge at the

IMAGINARY GARDEN WITH REAL TOADS

Thanks, Grace!

From fruit to nuts

and everything

halfway in between,

European markets

offer good things

to be seen—

European shoppers

buy fresh every day

with small refrigerators,

that’s the only way.

Chocolate is tempting

but so, they say,

are fish—

whose faces

are so ugly

I’d not want them

on my dish.

Spices and rices,

ham and lamb

and all kinds

of sausage,

sliced and wrapped

before your eyes

like a birthday package.

Olives and capers

seasoning things,

seafoods familiar

and scary,

not to be tried too hastily

by visitors unwary.

Stop for a snack

if you have time

to eat it, every bite,

then shop some more,

refreshed for hours,

and gladdened by

the sight of flowers.

Photos by Richard Schear, February, 2013

Some market photos from one of our long-time favorite ports-of-call, Barcelona, Spain, as part of the final cruise of the Carnival Destiny, from Miami, Florida, to Venice, Italy, with stops at Malaga and Barcelona, Spain, as well as Livorno (for Florence and Pisa) and Civitavecchia (for Rome).

The ship is being refitted and renamed, thus the maiden voyage of the Carnival Sunshine will be in November, from Barcelona to New Orleans.
I met a lovely yellow Labrador Retriever at the market, and I know our dog Lindy would have loved to be there, too, but as she's unused to such bounty, she would have gone into sensory overload.