Spring has Sprung!

When I descended into Rennes’ giant open air market this morning* I was flooded with flashbacks from the Renaissance Festival in Florida that I attended every spring with my aunt and cousins until I was about 20 years old. Okay, there was no joisting, camel rides, face painting stands, or giant turkey legs for sale this morning, but there was live Celtic music, a festive ambiance, an eclectic mixture of locals and even some weird carni-type folk.

Nearly everyone was in good spirits : I shared a laugh with the people walking beside of me when a toddler ran toward a small dog with her arms opened wide while making an adorable squealing noise. Families and friends were out and about sharing organic apple juice, wine, fresh fruit, bread and cheese from their favorite vendors and galettes, crepes and cider from a local eateries.

But some people have unique ways of conveying their enthusiasm for springtime and their renewed appreciation for their fellow man. Example: the man who's organic sheep yogurt I dream about. He greeted me with a "Bonjour. I responded the same and asked for 4 pots of this unbelievable product. His response: "Oh, you have a very strong British accent!" (he said this in French.) I clarified saying that I was American and I asked him if he really though my accent was that strong. (I would like to think and have been told that it's pretty subtle.) He affirmed his opinion and went on to say that I sounded like two previous customers that morning from Jersey Island. Obviously one of us was drunk. Then he said, "I bet you don't have markets like this in America, do you?" I conceded and added that you can't find yogurt as good as his in America either. (I don’t know if this is quite true, but I wanted to play his game.) Score! Apparently my accent isn’t too thick - he gave me 2 free yogurts « for the road! » I think this vieux monsieur is actually a really nice guy who likes to provoke conversation in anyway possible. This doesn’t mean that I’m convinced of his sobriety.

After I had bought everything on my list: the yogurt, a black radish, avocadoes, potatoes, carrots, clementines, apples and bananas, I came home and made a delectable salade composée with a tahini dressing. All and all a pretty good start to an early spring day. Tonight might be a different story, however. I‘m going on pointe during ballet class for the first time in 7 years. At least I'll have some good, healthy food to look forward to when I come home famished and exhausted (best case) or when I‘m released from the hospital after having fallen and broken my hip (worst case). I’m thinking homemade soup and yogurt or carrot, potato, roasted garlic purée and yogurt, or a veggie omelet and….

*written on Saturday afternoon and accidentally saved instead of published