Okra

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Rituals often relate to the preparation of food as part of some other event but not many people seem to use cooking itself as a ritual.

When I’m getting ready for some serious work, though, that’s exactly what goes on. I have to know there’s enough food prepared for two or three days before I can settle down to the job. And the job today is editing a book about gems.

However, an uninvited ‘gem’ caught up with me today. I found myself cooking not only breakfast (mushrooms on toast with sour plum and shiso sauce, as it happens) but also preparing a South American gumbo (fresh corn, tomatoes, okra, spring onions, and peppers).

As if that wasn’t enough, I then moved on to a kind of Moroccan ratatouille (more peppers and tomato, this time with eggplant and courgettes, marinated in Tagine paste and olive oil and chucked in a bitch oven for a couple of hours).

Finally, I threw some avocado, watercress and cucumber together, drifting some favourite Japanese Furikake (seed and herb mixture) over it as a light lunch.

OK, I did get to the computer, and dealt with some urgent business, as well as dobbing myself in for more work in discussion with a journalist colleague.

The idea is to set up a friendly network of people around the world who can jump into action for disaster relief, i.e. a volcano blowing up Canada, or an illegal underground blast setting off a chain of earthquakes down the St Andreas fault line.

PS, I’ve changed my mind. I’m having chicken and rice for dinner… Sometimes a gal feels like something simple.