It’s a wrap! I am however quite sad my seven days of spring salads has come to an end. It has been so much fun cruising through my thousands of photographs of meals, events, travels, holidays, and more.

This is perhaps the most spring-like of all seven salads. It is so bright, fresh, eclectic and delicious to the eye as well as the tongue.

We had this gorgeous salade de pastèque last August, in Paris. It was a perfect Sunday morning, and we spent the morning in the sun at Marché aux Oiseaux, the famous bird market that I simply cannot get enough of. I find it unbelievable that there can be charming, chirping birds in so many different hues of every color I have ever seen. Blue – from pale to turquoise and every shade in between. Green – from soft celery to deep fern. And the birdfood! Don’t even get me started on that feathered friend shopping mecca. It is all the most beautiful experience.

Ready for our next adventure, we strolled across the Pont Notre Dame and browsed another Paris obsession – les Bouquinistes – the timeless book stalls along The Seine. I love to buy a year’s worth of stocking stuffers, vintage postcards, rare french books with glorious leather covers, and more. The smell of pommes frites lured us to a table on the sunshine drenched terrace, before we headed to Bois de Boulogne for an afternoon of family cycling through the gardens.

This salad was the perfect edible summer afternoon. It encapsulated everything about this glorious day – the cool, crisp, juicy watermelon/pastèque, the crunchy baguette slathered with fig and black olive tapenade, the firm, chewy cheeses. It was such a thrill, and was paired with a cold, thirst quenching Rose Cotes du Rhone. And of course, a steaming cone of pommes frites with zesty garlic aioli and Sauce Américaine (ketchup!).

What a pretty, memorable first course for spring and summer parties…or…once watermelon is in season in your neck of the woods.

DL