The weather has been variable since I arrived. We have had some nice days but not truly glorious spring days. Today was the first of those and hope for many more. The good news is the long range (10 day) forecast has changed and it looks like we are going to have a string of ideal days – sunny and highs in the low to highs 70s (20s Celsius).

It was great to walk over to the market in short sleeves and the sun. The market was not the easiest as many people were out shopping for their Easter dinners. I had decided to cook lamb for my Easter dinner but I could not get close to the usual stand where I buy lamb. There must have been 30 people in line waiting to be served. They generally only have a couple (husband and wife) who are working (probably the owners) and they were completely swamped. Many people were buy whole legs of lamb and each needed to be trimmed to the person’s liking.

I knew there was another lamb stand so I headed over to it. There was a line but the line was a lot shorter. This stand is much smaller and does not have as much on offer but they did have what I was looking for – a small boneless leg of lamb. I still had to wait about 10 minutes to place my order and get what I wanted. I was successful so that is what counts.

The whole market was crowded and it was a very festive atmosphere. I think one of the other issues was that there were many tourists just wandering the market. In many places in Europe, Easter is a holiday so it is a long weekend more most people. Enzo said there there were lots of Spaniards in the restaurant all week as Easter week is a holiday in Spain. In France, Easter Monday is a holiday. Good Friday is not because of the secular nature of France and they not recognizing religion. Since Good Friday is Catholic and religious it cannot be the holiday but since the Monday after does not have religious connotations, it can be a holiday.

After the market, I relaxed a little but headed back out because I wanted a good bottle of wine to go with my Easter dinner so I went to the Vin Boutique I like in Carmes and asked the advice of the proprietor, a very nice woman, and she recommended a bottle of Malbec from Cahors to go with the lamb.

The city was super lively because of the weather and the three day weekend. People were out enjoying the true French cafe life. All the public spaces with cafes were packed. It is really fun to be out and about on days like today. There is just a great since of enjoyment and life.

I ended up at the outdoor cafe on the banks of the Garonne across my apartment and had a pint of beer and read in the sun. I think I have a slight sunburn (not real but slightly pink) from sitting out for an hour drinking the beer and reading. It is one of the things I like about Franc and Toulouse, no one is making you leave and you can hang out at a table basically as long as you want. It was a great way to spend the afternoon and I hope to have many more afternoons like this. My apartment building is the blur to the right in the picture.

I broke up the routine a little and cooked dinner at home instead of going out. I had filets de rouge. I nice small pan fish. I baked it with white wine, shallots, lemon and parsley. It came out very nicely. I felt I had finally made it as French as I broke off part of the baguette and had it with dinner. I cannot really be French as I am not really a bread person but am adapting here.