AUTUMN FLAVOURS

I love seasonal products. When I was living in Italy I could enjoy all sort of fresh products almost for free and I never really found it really special. Living in England made me realise how lucky I was to have access to my granny huge vegetable and fruit garden or to the woods near my town. Here in London I don't have a garden, therefore if I want to cook I have to buy everything I need. Everything is very expensive and what I used to consider "normal" is now some kind of a treat.
In the past few years my lifestyle has changed for the worse. Always very busy with work and other commitments and not much time to do the things I enjoy. As a result I am often stressed and frustrated.
Lately I have made an effort to come home from work in the and make sure I cook something nice and healthy. No take-aways and fast food. Not only this is good for my health, but it also means that I am not letting stuff go off in the fridge. Although some evening I am really tired and don't fancy cooking much, afterwards I feel much better about myself. I save a lot of money and I don't waste food.
The other day Yasuko-san, my Japanese teacher, told me that you should always finish your rice and don't leave a single grain. In fact, it is an old tradition to believe that there are 7 gods in each grain of rice and waisting even only one would offend them. In Japanese, the seven gods of luck are called Shichi Fukujin, which means "seven happiness beings".
Whether you believe in this or not, I think this is the right attitude to have towards food.
We take it for granted and we don't see it as a beautiful gift that nature has to offer. Children don't even know the names of fruit and vegetables, leave it alone eating or cooking them. A good meal brings people together to share something special and should be part of family life. I believe that it would improve the dialogue much more than fish fingers and boiled peas in front of the television. Anyway, I could go on forever.
This week Tommy brought me a lot of vegetables from Riverford Organic Vegetables. She orders almost every week and I get what she has in eccess. This time there were leeks, corn, apples, celery, carrots, kabocha, peppers, broccoli, sweet potatoes and pears. So nice!
At weekends I have more free time and I relax preparing more time consuming recipes.
Yesterday I made a variation of the traditional apple pie. I used wholemeal flour and left the sliced apples "marinating" with sugar, lemon juice and zest and cinnamon, before spooning them in the pie.


Chicken with ginger, mushrooms and leeks. A very tasty stew with a Japanese flavour.


A week-day dinner. Miso-marinated salmon, pak-choi, natto, miso soup, rice and the pickles I bought in Kamakura. Delicious! Pity I don't have any left...