Holiday weekend: The berries!

That was a slang expression Dad used: "It's the berries!" And last weekend, the market was bursting with local strawberries. Their glowing colour seemed to evoke more colourfully-dressed shoppers.

We're nearing the time for the Passage to close for the summer, so let's take a last stroll together on the long weekend here; the Quebec holiday is still called St-Jean-Baptiste Day, but is also known as its more recent name, the National Holiday.

The brights that catch our eye include a woman carrying a woven striped bag, a purple knit top printed with butterflies, and a vivid paisley blouse:

Ethnic fabrics are a passion for me, but it is the incandescent smile of a woman serving a client that we notice first—then, her beautiful head wrap.

A woman strolls by in a blue coat made from Guatemalan fabric:

Plus-sized women are sometimes advised to avoid brights and prints. She's not buying that, and I like both her dots and cherry nails.

We do see women in pastels or white, and also plenty of stripes; two shoppers are wearing classic Montréal touches: on her, the big scarf even in summer, and on the man (background) the marinière:

Of course we buy a flat of strawberries, and also the magnificent radishes. Le Duc will make a soup from the leaves, and I will serve radis-buerre, a favourite summer hors d'oeuvre.  You can prepare them the fancy way, by stuffing hollowed out radishes with herb butter, but the simple way is fine: just apply a little pat of cultured butter to a whole or halved ruby radish on the way to your mouth.

We'll return together in the fall, and I will miss these jaunts, but think of you over July and August. Come back Thursday, for a last post for the season!