Gourmandicious

Does anything at a primeval level satisfy us more than an open fridge door with the light shining on a smorgasbord of goodies. I can put up with intolerances and allergies that straying from our ancestral meat n two veg diets brings in exchange for the cornucopia of global goodies in my fridge and spice trough. Today I'm faced with choices as diverse as Turkish sucuk sausages and Halloumi to dried Iranian orange peel and lime powder and coffee coloured Mexican ancho and pasilla dried chillies which are crackling indignantly at a pack of Lebanese Za'atar jostling for space. And that's just what's at the top of the trove.

With respect for our fragile eco infrastructure I buy seasonal fruit & greens and use dried foreign spices or make my own mixes when I have the time. But the main reason for today's blog is to fête the little feted greengrocer and street market vendor. Lately Saturday afternoons have been about getting a barrowful of red peppers and tomatoes, quartering and deseeding them putting them in a hot oven for ten minutes then turning the heat off and leaving them in the gently cooling oven all night.
After a martini fuelled evening I'm often in my kitchen at dawn on a Saturday freeing peppers from their shrivelled skins and drowning shrunken and mellowed-out dried tomatoes into a Tupperware pool of herbaceous oil (dried lemon thyme or basil mostly).
That done I retire to bed as the edge of the darkness is teased by a sprightly gold band that promises much but delivers yet another rainy day. I rest blessed that we are fortunate to live in a world that is rich in food
and the exchange of cultures thankful that while many go hungry their number is diminishing each day as market economies the world over are compensating for the inadequacies of government.

Now the purpose of this blog was to inspire readers to raid the market vendors late afternoon when the call of
the beer proves too hard for them to resist. That's when 16 Hass avocados can be yours for the price of 3 in a supermarket or two gold coins will fetch you a dozen red peppers. Like me you may even end up with two kilos of cherry tomatoes, a box of strawberries,three bunches of parsley, mint and coriander and a dozen limes for a measly gold coin and a shrapnel of silver. When a box of cherries is thrown in for good measure my evenings 'real work' is done in front of a laptop with a small chalky log of goats cheese taking the edge off my palate reeling from the brutal sweetness of summer cherries. Soft shards of cheese fall onto a white napkin running with red cherry juice while I manipulate an XL sheet with rows that stretch a metre across and down.

When I'm working on PowerPoint in the office a cheeky tub of drained oven dried tomatoes are paired with a toasted pitta, a smear of humus, mashed avocado and fresh cherry tomatoes and as I gulp this tomato juice sprays the office furniture which is hurriedly Flashed by me before the complaining cleaner arrives.

My favourite snack is partaken of when I'm writing this blog though.That's when the red scorched peppers come out with toothpicks and a creamy soft cheese like Bel Paese or even good old Boursin. A pepper bite interrupted by a garrulous n louche soft cheese helps the words flow and makes me a very happy man . While I eat I take a sneak peek at my neighbours highly venerated restaurant blog http://www.doshermanos.co.uk/ and think that it's time I invited them for supper.Then again celebrated food writers that they are it's either LA or Sweden or the remote foothills of Spain or Hampstead for them each weekend while I munch contentedly through my street market give aways as I industriously work through my projects at the office or at my special desk.

Now if only when I was growing up, my parents had told me that life was going to turn out a bowl of cherries I would not be left with the irrational guilt that always lurks at the heart of my pleasure fuelled days, just like a sharp edge to a stone that catches you as you sink your little grinders into the soft wet pillow of a cherry.

Dear readers do add comments to the bottom of this blog and share your favourite snacks with me whether they are Pot Noodles with a dollop of Marmite or a peanut butter,banana and set honey fried brioche or my mothers strange combination of linseed,flaxseed,beetroot and salt and vinegar crisps ( she's well past the change of life so should know better) DO SHARE YOUR FAVOURITE SNACKS BELOW- the grosser the better.

Beauty is love and peace is fine.