The Chantillies´Fishmonger opening day.

Dear Readers,
Today, The Chantillies´s Fishmonger opens its doors to the public. Let´s see how Myriam and Maurice do on their first day at their new shop.

The Chantillies had an early start this morning. The opening day had finally arrived and they arranged to meet Caspian Neptune at the Fishmonger.

"That was my catch for today" Caspian said showing Myriam the fresh fish"
"Thank you,Caspian.We wanted to offer our customers day boat fish and you made it possible" Myriam said delighted to appreciate the freshness of the fish and seafood.

Maurice filled the counter display with plenty of ice to keep the fish cool for the rest of the day and he also stocked the  shelf with some canned fish.  

Then, he placed the fish on top of the ice

and admired the selection of shelfish. Mussels, oysters, clams and cockles...even lobsters.

While Myriam and Maurice were waiting for their first customers to arrive they were acting pretending to be buyer and seller.
"Good morning, Mrs.Chantilly? How can I help you?..." Maurice asked his wife.

Customers didn´t take long to arrive. The first one was Horatio Seadog.
"Maurice, thank you so much for bringing  a taste of the sea to our village. It was high time that we had a Fishmonger in Sweet Berry Valley" he seemed very pleased with the opening of the new shop.

Mae Mulberry and Nancy Waters were delighted with the variety of seafood. "Today,I´m going to prepare a delicious fish chowder for the school lunch" Mae, the school cook, said.

Little by little more customers visited the new shop.

Alonzo Macavity congratulated the Chantillies and bought all the ingredients he needed to add a seafood pizza to his pizza shop menu.

Daisy Buttercup wasn´t very fond of fish but she was just curious to see what the Chantillies had to offer in their shop.
"What are these?" Daisy asked looking at one of the shelfish trays
"They are oysters, Daisy" Myriam said.
"Oysters? Is it true what is said about them?" Daisy asked eagerly.
"You should have some and then you tell me what you think" Myriam winked an eye at Daisy. 
"I´ll get them all" Daisy stated.

"Bye Daisy! I hope Hornbull likes them too. Don´t forget to tell me about it ! Myriam  asked smiling.
"I will Myriam, I will" Daisy let out a giggle and looked at her friend in complicity.

Basil Hazelwood is the chef of the Harvester Restaurant. He likes to do the shopping himself to make sure he buys only the best.
He knows a good dish depends directly on the freshness and quality of its ingredients.
"I was looking forward to the opening of your Fishmonger, Maurice" Basil said. "Rice and lobster will be the special dish tonight at the restaurant".

Myriam and Maurice were very happy. Their fist day at their shop was going much better than they expected.
"Maurice, I have the feeling our little shop is going to become very popular."
"I think so too, Myriam. We´ve nearly sold out half of the stock we had for today".

Myriam and Maurice were talking about their successful beginning when their daughter turned up at the shop.
"What are you doing here, sweetheart? Myriam asked Esme.
"I came with Mrs. Buckley and some of my classmates. We have to write an article for the school newspaper and I thought we could write about our new shop. We have to take some picture to add to the article that´s why we are here."

Mrs. Buckley told The Chantillies that Esme was very excited and found it very hard to concentrate at school.
"I think your daughter wanted to be with you on this special day so I suggested a visit to your Fishmonger to take some photos for the school newspaper" Agatha Buckley explained.

The Chantillies posed  gladly for the family photo.

Then, Agatha Buckley had a look at the fish choice.
"I´d love to buy some fish and clams but I´m afraid there won´t be any left by the time I finish work at school".

"No problem at all, Mrs. Buckley. I can put the fish and clams into a bucket filled with ice and you can keep the seafood in the school freezer until you go home. I´ll walk with you to school if you don´t mind".

"Thank you so much, Mr. Chantilly" Agatha appreciated Maurice kind gesture.

Meanwhile, Myriam was quite busy assisting all the villagers who gathered around the shop.
"Do you want me to fillet the fish for you, Mrs. Persis?"

When Maurice came back from Berry Grove School, Myriam was already cleaning up.

"Did we sell all the fish?" Maurice asked in surprise.
"We did and I´ve just realized we don´t have any fish for our dinner. It would have been nice to have some grilled fish" Myriam regreted.

"Well, we can have a can of sardines and tomorrow we´ll reserve some fish for ourselves" Maurice´s suggestion didn´t appeal to Myriam . She would much prefer some fresh seafood instead.
" Come on,Maurice! We deserve something a bit more special to celebrate this day".

The Chantillies didn´t expect any more customers, as it was nearly closing time, when Narrisa Neptune arrived.

"Good afternoon, Narrisa" Maurice greeted. "I´m afraid we don´t have any fish left to offer you"

Narrisa laughed. "Maurice,don´t you know I have a fisherman at home? There´s always fresh fish in the fridge". 

"You´re  dead right,Narrisa!" Maurice exclaimed. 

"I just came to  invite you for dinner this evening.You´ll probably have a better plan but if you want to try my seafood paella you´ll be more than welcome to have dinner with us."  Narrisa´s invitation sounded like music to Myriam."Bye-Bye canned sardines" she said to herself.

"Of course we´ll be there. Thanks so much!" Myriam accepted without thinking twice."That´s very kind of you" Maurice added.

Who could turn down a lovely meal and the company of good friends?

Having dinner with the Neptunes was the perfect end to a perfect day for the Chantillies.

Thanks for joining The Chantillies on the opening of their Fishmonger.

See you soon!

Lots of love 💙