Dinner in daylight

Oh the novelty. I have lots of recipes to share but here are a few snaps from today. At dinner. When it stopped raining/snowing/sleeting for about 40 minutes and I managed to eat a meal in sunlight. It was glorious, and then it was gone, as fast as it came.

These salads were largely inspired by a meal I had at Naomi's earlier this week, which I simply don't have enough epithets for. In short, salad leaves from Hackney, chickpea, red onion, cucumber, tomato and olive oil salad, spice-roasted cauliflower and refried chipotle beans you could have in a wrap or as a filling in a quesadilla. By the time I finished eating it was raining again.

The Tomato Stall

On Saturday I went on a mini adventure to St. John's Wood to track down Alice- who helps run the Tomato Stall at Barrow Hill Junior School. For the first time in forever the sun was out and we got to see a load of weird/cool West London sights... such as a cat on a lead, people running to help when a car alarm went off and bus drivers that say hello and don't mind you saying Thanks. It's like a different world over there.

Alice had been manning the stall since the early hours so we got some fresh coffee sorted to aid with the mental arithmetic (I will never again take for granted a grocer toting up the order in their head again). Helping Alice was so much fun, the stall smelt so good with all the fresh tomatoes, and it was great to chat to people about what type of tomato they needed and what they wanted to cook.

It's the last ever market at Barrow Hill next Saturday, as stall holders and people visiting have been dwindling, which is really sad to see when the place is full of amazing produce and people that want to talk all day long about food. I know there's a handful of really well known farmers markets every week in London, but you'd be surprised at how many happen within every few miles too- maybe have an ask around to see if there aren't any tucked away near you- I couldn't think of a better way to spend a Saturday!