Thursday 29th April

Day 10

The 2 bundles of asparagus spears I bought this morning were going to be the the star in a wobbly creamy tart of butter crisp pastry. Then as the day marched on I thought they could be a starter to dip into garlic mayonnaise. Instead they were an elegant accompaniment to a mushroom risotto, green flecked with leeks, sticky with parmesan.They shared jostling space with roasted red onions, red peppers and golden chunks of Crown Prince squash and a bowl of white sprouting broccoli.

We sit at the table with old friends while the candles burn down and the tulip petals open and drop. The lemon polenta cake I’ve made is in rememberance of her and the occasion many moons ago when I had my first taste of this dessert at her home. I’ve been serving it ever since and she’s always there when I do. Then it was with poached ruby plums - tonight it’s with our first pink rhubarb.But the glass bowl next to it is always the same - velvet mascapone whipped into cream with maple syrup and a splash of vanilla. I lovec the taste of these memories.