Too cold

Debrah's few stolen days here have flown by and this afternoon she headed back to London again, without either of us having a firm flight booking and therefore not knowing when we will see each other again - a very unsatisfactory state of affairs.

Both sets of weekend guests also departed today so I am back to being here on my own. It won't be for long though - I have a party of four Americans arriving for two nights in midweek, a couple coming next weekend for three days and someone coming to spend a week cooking with me, which is very exciting.

Debrah and I spent a good part of the last few days working out the schedule for him and what I am going to show him, which will include market shopping and wine tasting as well as cooking. I am really looking forward to it.

The market produce is just beginning to show signs of spring with some early asparagus, artichokes, strawberries and broad beans making an appearance yesterday. It is still a bit too early for local produce and most of this stuff appeared to have been shipped across from North Africa - still, it will give me more options for showing cooking techniques next week even if the produce isn't yet the best.

One thing that was lacking in the market yesterday was eggs. We only came across one stall who had any and they had come from the Aveyron, which in the highly departmentalised nature of France means they were foreign and imported. They were very good though.

One woman, presumably after seeing the egg cartons on top of my shopping bag, chased me past a couple of stalls to stop me and ask where I had managed to buy them as she couldn't find any. Is it just too cold for the poor hens or being French, have they gone on strike or are they all knackered after a year of laying and having a well earned holiday? It would be nice to think of them all sat on a deckchair somewhere hot recharging their batteries - except that our local hens are undoubtedly free range.

It is still very cold though and even though the sun has shone for the last couple of days, the snow is still lying on top of the Montagne Noire and the wind is bitter, all of which won't be doing anything good for my electricity bill as the radiators do their best to heat our four metre ceiling spaces.

Enough now, it's time for spring, surely.