MELON

I first had French melon at age twelve during a summer spent in Mimizan near Bordeaux. Every meal started with a slice of the sweet, soft deliciousness. The melon looks, but does not taste, like a cantaloupe. It is just sweetness and soft and slightly heavy fruit flesh that yields easily to a spoon. Abby and I tried melons from all over Paris -- the chain supermarket Carrefour, a random 7-11 type shop, a done up fruit stand near the fashionable Rue de Martyrs, an organic specialty Bio shop in the 11th, and the equivalent of a Korean grocer near Rue Charonne. The best ones come from Provence and had a strong, sweet, heavy perfume like smell.

I think they look most beautiful sliced and served on a small plate near a window that lets in sunlight.