Pure blue skies here in Toulouse.

I was greeted with a grand reception at the bar La Prextexte on arrival Wednesday night. It was a fantastic beer and shot-soaked gathering of the Toulouse crew. Great fun. I am excited to be back to see friends met here in each of the last two September’s.

On Thursday, I joined Jean at the great, homey bistro La Maison Drole on rue Joutx-Aigues.

Koy is the talented and creative chef/owner at Maison Drole. When we walked in at the noon open, she had done much of the prep work on the day’s dishes and desserts.

I had the salade de Cabelous, miel et lardons (pictured above). It was tremendous. A bed of lettuce topped with shredded bacon and a savory dressing. Along side were toasts crowned with a special, sweet French cheese drizzled with honey.

Jean had the lasagnes aux legumes d’ete.

You can’t go to La Maison Drole without trying the banoffee, a rich, banana-cream-like pie that is Koy’s speciality. While banoffee is served elsewhere, Koy’s is unique for its presentation and noticeably chunky and fresh banana slices. It’s served cold.

The weather is wonderful. Sunny, dry and upper 70’s by day and in the high 50’s at night. It’ll be like that pretty much the whole week I’m here.

The live-music organizing and support collective La Chatte a la Voisine (which includes many of the people I know here) will handle the hospitality table at a three-day music/art event at the institut superieur des arts de Toulouse starting tomorrow evening. I plan to attend – and hope to chip in when called upon to pour wine and beer. It is through these types of efforts that La Chatte bolsters its coffers so it can book and promote rock shows here in Toulouse, even if perhaps those gigs aren’t stand-alone profit-makers.