OH, WARM nights and warmer days! Oh, disappearance of fog! Oh, mellow breezes and sandals and a dozen Hog Island oysters on a picnic table overlooking the ferryboat piers and the ebb and flow of the teeming farmers market! It couldn't last, but the recent reverse weather pattern turned the city into Barcelona by the bay for a brief but magical stretch, full of the ripe promise of evenings that didn't lose their heat by five o'clock but continued balmy and sweet past sunset, sending everyone out to bask in sidewalk cafés and bars with back gardens. Bare skin reappeared, and all it took to throw a party was a couple of tiki torches and a backyard.

Those 80-degree afternoons may be merely a tank top memory, but it's still undeniably spring. Now is the time to eat with your hands, from slippery new-crop asparagus to sexy sauce-drenched shrimp. This is my favorite way to eat shrimp, marinated and smothered in a fiery, sweet-spicy sauce that begs to be sopped up with a big loaf of hot French bread. I don't care how low carb everyone claims to be, you must eat bread with this. Balance, remember, balance. A happy life is a life with some French bread in it. You try to hold yourself to nothing but canned tuna and flax-seed crackers, and suddenly you're going to find yourself at the Wharf scarfing that gloppy chowder in a bread bowl and ordering a massive hot fudge sundae at the Ghirardelli shop. And then you'll hate yourself, and for what? A baked potato is not a crack pipe. No one is healthier because they've switched to low-carb Pepsi.

My mother, who learned this recipe in New Orleans, used to make it with unpeeled shrimp, thinking (rightly) that the shells added additional flavor to the sauce. However, this meant each person had to peel his or her boiling-hot, immersed-in-sauce shrimp one by one at the table, which was a wildly sloppy (and finger-burning) business. Thus I would recommend peeling your shrimp at the beginning, unless you really want to end up with sauce up to your elbows. Even with the shrimp already peeled, this is a dish that will get you good and messy, what with tearing off hunks of bread to swipe through the sauce and the inevitable orange spatters on the tablecloth. Might as well be hung for a sheep as for a lamb, as they say, so run with the hands-on theme and serve a big platter of first-of-the-season Delta asparagus, quickly steamed and piled on a big platter with curls of butter and quarters of Meyer lemon and a light crystal scattering of crunchy sea salt. Pick up the slippery spears with your fingers and feel the joy of their green succulence, the springing promise of their elegant budded tips.

For dessert, bring out as many of the first-crop local strawberries as you can find (or afford). Since they're probably still a bit on the tart side this early in the season, cut them up, toss with a little sugar and an almond-fragrant splash of amaretto, and let them stand for a few minutes while you clear the dinner plates. The sugar will dissolve into the berry juice, surrounding the berries with a puddle of brilliant red liquid that tastes like the essence of strawberry jam. Plain heavy cream, whipped cream, or vanilla ice cream would be good on top, or you can just enjoy them straight up, flush with the flavor of warmer seasons to come. Or you can save a final box of berries until all the guests save one have packed up their mandolins and harmonicas and gone home. Run a bath, light some candles, sprinkle in rose petals and eucalyptus bath salts, and serve that lucky person a bowl of chocolate pudding for two sprinkled with almonds and topped with strawberries. Sit on the edge of the tub, sink your feet in the scented water, and eat your chocolatey strawberries. Seek, kiss, eat, breathe.

Barbecued shrimp, New Orleans style

1 12-ounce bottle chili sauce, such as Heinz's
2 lemons, sliced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
4 Tbs butter
2 tsp each oregano, paprika, and cayenne pepper
3 Tbs lemon juice
3 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp hot sauce, or to taste
2 lb raw shrimp, peeled but tails left on
2 Tbs chopped parsley
Sweet or sour baguettes, warmed

Mix all sauce ingredients in a deep saucepan. Over low heat, warm until the butter is melted and the mixture is just beginning to simmer. Let cool, then pour over peeled shrimp in a deep bowl. Cover and refrigerate for several hours. Pour back in a wide saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer, stirring, until shrimp are just pink and opaque. Remove from heat and sprinkle with parsley. Serve in wide bowls with bread on the side.