The postman laid it on the ground, rang the bell, stepped back and nodded; a typical greeting during the corona virus lockdown!  Unzipping the black edged carton, I found a hand stitched book, with a ribbon fastening, packed with statements of affection, pockets, gift labels, and even smaller note books.  I never had a gift quite so personal in all my life!  Renewed acquaintance with a teenage artist friend with whom I had shared hilarious teenage scrapes had brought this treasure; a permanent memory of long lasting and deep friendship.

My kitchen table was shrinking under piles of cookery books.  Moving in the direction of a vegetarian/vegan diet is a lengthy quest. I needed a to be able to easily recreate successful recipes, so a place to write them up would be really useful, and one book instead of a small library, a bonus!

I wrote up my first favourite:

Almond Pesto – remembered from watching Jamie Oliver – with love to my friend Chris

Ingredients:

Handful of blanched almonds

1-2 cloves of garlic

Olive oil

Bunch of basil

1. Fry the almonds in coconut oil for a few minutes until slightly golden
2. Chop the basil and garlic
3. Place everything in the blender and add some olive oil to moisten.
4. Serve on pasta and with salad.  (You can add sheep’s cheese and vine tomatoes if you want to make it like Jamie)