Spring is a tease...

After yesterday's warmth and sunshine, today began gray and cold (though the sun came out later.)

First priority was marketing. Near here is a wonderful market street, Rue Poncelet, where you can find every imaginable ingredient for your own culinary efforts - or buy the dishes already made.

Today I wanted someone else to do the cooking, so I bought half a poulet roti and a small container of ratatouille.

"Do you want the sauce for the chicken?" asked the rotisseur-in-chief. When I said yes, he dipped juices from a big tray under the rotisserie into a small recycled glass jar. I will use it for soup starter when I'm down to the chicken carcass.

I also bought first of the season raspberries, on special all over the market, cherry tomatoes, mixed greens and a small baguette. It's enough to keep me in meals for a while.

Shopping here is entertainment, exercise and language practice, all at once. Also an exercise in patience, I decided, when, later in the afternoon, I went to the neighborhood Monoprix for milk, yogurt and so on. French grocery checkers sit at their stands, and take their time, even on a busy Saturday. They know you can't do anything BUT wait - and if you're in line when the cash register tape runs out (I was) - tant pis.

But every customer politely says "Bonjour, madame," when it's his or her turn, and the checker almost always wishes you a "bonne journee."

Vive la France!