Thursday May 27th

Day 38

The grassy green brilliance of gremolata - a big bunch of parsley, the zest of a lemon, fat cloves of garlic all whizzed up into a slippery sauce with glugs of olive oil - rescued our chick pea, carrot and quinoa lunch. Which was tasty enough but as dull looking as the sky today.

Fresh vegetables in the market this morning were sparse. You can tell we are in ‘the hungry gap’ - that space in spring when stored carrots are woody, leeks have bolted, potatoes are sprouting and cabbages run to flower. Everyone is waiting for the first broad beans which herald the true beginning of summer with all its bright coloured sweetness in the fields. Which end up as joy on our plates.

Tonight we were a bunch of lovely women swapping clothes laid out on a big sun streamed bed. Filling the gaps in our wardrobes. Someone’s rejects - our new broad beans.