It's off to Les Halles we go. Wednesday 11th Feb, 2009.

Most of the morning passed with with me learning to upload photos to my blog. I'm getting there though and it's all for you. I really have no patience for the process, I just like to see the end result.

Alex's wish finally came true and I made my first batch of French crepes. They were pretty good too. Alex had his smothered in chocolatey Nutella and John and I both had ours sprinkled with a little sugar and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.

We are in the grips of a heat wave today, it's 10 deg! Even so, I rug up as it is amazing how chilly it is outside. Alex is allowed to stay behind in the apartment today after a thorough test of home phone to mobile, mobile to home phone and mobile to mobile... all work.

John and I make our way to Les Halles Marche where I am interviewing Romuald, the Maitre Cortador (Master Cutter) of the Jambon Iberico Bellota-Bellota. It is proclaimed to be "Le meilleur Jambon du monde", (the best jambon of the world). Romuald is so passionate about what he does and very proud of his cutting prowess. He cuts for Paul Bocuse amoung others, and also for competition. We are given a translucant petal of jambon to try, it is incredibly delicate. There are four different varieties of this jambon, differing in characteristics due to the different regions in Spain where the black pigs roam scoffing down acorns and arromatic herbs all day. I was very proud to be able to identify the variety we tried. It seemed easy really, the fruit and nut characteristics of the jamon were very pronounced. Cut from the leg as we ate it costs a mere €261 per kg, that's $522 AUD!

John snapped away and got some beautiful shots. It was really lovely to be collaborating on a project together, especially one as wonderful as this.




And for dessert tonight... crepes!