shewhomust | Still life with seasonal produce.

durham_rambler returned from taking the kitchen waste down to the compost bin, and announced that he had just eaten the first blackberry of the season. There were more, he said, when would I like him to start picking them?
How many more? - Four.
Start picking, I said, when you can count them in spoonsful rather than single berries.
So yesterday he brought me several spoonsful of brambles, and I scattered them over the top of the strawberries I had bought from M&S. I was surprised how pretty the result was: the blackberries made the strawberries seem brighter, more intensely red, and the strawberries made the brambles look juicier and glossier. It tasted good, too.

Also at M&S I bought some greengages. I wasn't expecting them yet, but then I wasn't really expecting the brambles, either. I love the way greengages pretend not to be ripe, but actually they are usually riper and sweeter than other kinds of plums.

The greengrocer brought me artichokes, two tightly furled thistles, covered with purple petals and each as big as my fist. We had a very leisurely dinner last night: you can't rush an artichoke...

I still have some gooseberries. The last time I ordered gooseberries from the greengrocer they came in a cardboard punnet, and were quite large. I topped and tailed them, and made an upside down cake. These are loose in a paper bag, a mixture of green and red ones (red gooseberries are purple, if you didn't know - or at least, these are) and quite small. It's going to take a while to top and tail them, so I'd better get started; and then do something easy, maybe just stew them. I can't think of any way to cook them to make the most of that mixture of colours.