At Last!

Well, now, this is a pleasant surprise. A young woman from Yale, writing about the concept of terroir in France, came to town after working for a couple of weeks on an organic farm up in the Cévennes to see how what she'd seen translated to the big city, so I gave her the walking tour, with an emphasis on food. In the Halles Castellanes, the covered market at the top of the hill, we were looking at stuff, and suddenly I saw this:

My second exotic vegetable of the year, and one I've been trying to find for five or six years now. From everything I can gather, it's way out of season, but there it was: wild asparagus.

I picked up the bundle, paid the nice lady, and took it home, where I'll steam it tomorrow and douse it with the best olive oil I can find and maybe just a tad of salt.

There it is, up close. The first time I saw this, I thought it was wheat. There will be something simple to accompany it, and a darn good wine. Stay tuned: miettes will follow.