Autumn's Bounty (or, the Ultimate Comfort Food)

The colors alone are enough to make me happy. But the abundance, the variety! I'd forgotten how the produce markets come alive this time of year, bursting with a cornucopia of good things to eat - much of it from France's own rich farmland. This is just a snippet of what I bought the other day; there were also tiny purple artichokes, Swiss chard, green plums, red and yellow peppers, fat wild mushrooms (cepes), and a pumpkin-like squash called a potiron, which will be cooked tonight in a friend's barley-veggie recipe. There is something about this season that just makes me want to gather food, cook it, and store it for the winter - even though I live in a city where it never snows, and I have easy access to markets all winter long. Ah well, what can I do? The inner squirrel asserts itself. Pass the acorns.