In Another Country

11th August 2011 Thursday

Today I took a journey in my kitchen to the Middle East and the Mediterranean - to Greece, Spain, Lebanon and Morocco. I searched all my cookery books - ‘Moro’ by Sam and Sam Clark, ‘Arabesque’ by Claudia Roden, ‘Cranks Fast Food’ by Nadine Abensur, for recipes to make with the bagfuls of aubergines and tomatoes, courgettes and spinach that I bought in the market this morning. To conjure up the flavour of desert and palm tree, of hot blue skies and wild thyme hillsides, I spiked my dishes with cinnamon and mint, garlic and tahini, parsley and cumin, yoghurt and lemon. I burnt the skins of peppers, crushed chickpeas and whirred up minced lamb with garlic and coriander.

This foreign expedition is a combined birthday supper tomorrow for my nephew and his wife. I have been over ambitious though and now I’ve run out of time. I wanted to make Arab flat breads and Gazpacho - I wanted to make all of the recipes in all of my books - they look so enticing and delicious in the photographs. And possible too on a warm summer’s evening with all the doors and windows open in my suburban kitchen in Devon - the red roses and the white jasmine climbing the fences - glowing in the dusk.

All day I have been distracting myself from the shed at the bottom of the garden - stacked high with trays and trays of ripe Victoria plums - calling out to be eaten. Or cooked or given away. Demanding my attention. Which is elsewhere - in another country.