the sweet smell of spring

springtime. ah sweet springtime. even though i live in california where we don't have any real (or so they say) weather, the long dark rainy days of winter can really get on your nerves. so it's with tremendous relief and expectation that i watch tiny little buds pop out on brown spindly tree branches, delicate little stalks burrowing their way out of the ground, and a carpet of cherry blossoms blanketing the filthy, bum-strewn sidewalk.

here is a picture of a few of the little fellas i devoured the other night. they were fat, juicy, succulent, slightly acrid and very toothsome. lightly steamed. eaten plain. forget about the over-heralded scent of summer blooms, morning dew and fresh mown grass, the post-digestive aroma of my little green heralds of the changing season is, to me, the sweet, sweet smell of spring.