Thursday, June 11/2020

Jaworski - file photo

Market day. We go early, to avoid the heat. Well, early by our standards, as in 8:30. Think the market opens at 6:30 but gave no thought at all to going then. Fairly cool at the market itself, as there is a high roof but partially open sides so it’s both shaded and airy. It’s maybe a kilometre from our place so not a long walk, but better to bring home strawberries than watermelon. So we do. And fresh ground coffee as well as sesame bread, tiny tomatoes, long red peppers, and a half kilo of freshly ground coffee. Accidentally overpay the young man who grinds the coffee by 50 kuruş, half a Turkish lira (10 cents CAD, 7 Euro cents, 6p GBP). He immediately returns the extra coin, refusing J’s offer to let him keep it. And this is not unusual here. Run into Fehmi’s wife Filiz. Interesting to meet someone we know in a city in which we know so very few people.

Have bought also 4 cobs of corn. Turn out to be edible but disappointing. Well, wrong country. Just as anyone who has eaten oranges in Cyprus will never want to buy them in Canada, maybe anyone who has eaten corn in Alberta, or southern Ontario, or from my dad’s garden in Quebec decades ago should not bother buying it in Cyprus. Suspect it of not being fresh enough, but that is unlikely - or at least not at all typical of this market where all the fruit and veg are usually at peak. More likely it’s not really bred for corn on the cob, and in fact Canadian corn has, over time, been made both sweeter and longer lasting. I used to say that corn that had reached the supermarket was already too old - much the way people in Sioux Lookout would think pickerel in a supermarket too old (to say nothing of too expensive) to consider, but it does last a bit better than it did in my childhood. 

And there’s a family story, dating back to well before the war. Relatives who moved to Canada from Scotland encountered corn on the cob for the first time and were impressed enough to send some back to the family in Scotland - surface mail. Needless to say the Scots side of the family  were unimpressed. No better than the cattle maize they were familiar with.