French Press: wine & cheese night

Last night at our friends' house we celebrated a couple of the things that make France great: wine and cheese. So just before closing at 7, I found the last 2.5 baguettes at the boulangerie down the street... because at the risk of sounding snobby, if you buy a baguette in the supermarket I think you might as well be buying your baguette in the US! Which is to say they're perfectly fine. But not amaaazing. And I learned that you can apparently buy half a baguette.

Attempting to make this a routine picture. Pictures of baguettes in my bike basket. See a week ago:

Back to last night. Jenna was keeping a menu on the mirror. As we walked in the door, she wrote the name of the cheese and the wine that we each brought. This is where some of us learned from a French friend there you don't drink rosé with cheese. Red, red, red. And after trying to drink rose with the cheese, I can sadly attest to the fact.

The crowd favorite was probably Comté, a French favorite. But I went to town with the Président cheese, a brand that makes Camembert. According to one of the Frenchies there it's probably the most popular cheese in France.

In other really great news, one of the varieties of strawberries is suddenly in season! I passed signs announcing the fact outside pastry shops and markets. Hoorayyy! I just picked up some more this evening and am continually impressed with the variety at the markets. I have no idea what they all mean, but at the Saturday morning market there's usually someone to kindly explain.

Sunday I went back to the monthly antique market during lunch time. Which was soso cute and French. Tables were everywhere, baguettes, bottles of red wine, while the people working multitasked their Sunday family meal with selling antiques. These guys below weren't working the market most likely, but I got such a kick out of the fact that they just pulled their table from the restaurant into the street to enjoy the nice weather and the sights. No terrace, no problem!