I’m clattering away on my computer at home (positioned in my front window so that I can see all nature’s goings on outside) when my weekly fruit and veg box arrives, which is the source of much excitement for me nowadays. For a number of reasons really…first of all, looking at all the fresh fruit and veg and semi-planning in my head what I’ll be doing with it all over the next week and secondly, being completely amazed that, for someone who, 5 years ago, was only competent in compilation food (ie. tasty items that can be arranged on a platter to make the food look really attractive and me, a ‘great host’), I am creating meals from seasonal produce – which means stretching my repertoire and not always eating the same things.

This has only been going on for about 6months (the veggie box I mean…) but I remember tasting the tomatoes out of my first box and thinking – wow! – what amazing flavour. Sometimes the weeks are challenging – learning what swiss chard was, washing real dirt off the veggies and working out what to do with mountains of potatoes & carrots (unlike other things, these seem to be available from my local farm all year round!) – and other times, I can’t wait to get my hands on local apples and pears, or this week’s special Fairtrade Pineapple, grown by small scale farmers in Togo.

I eventually worked out how to vary the deliveries to ensure I can actually use up what I get and I feel enormously proud in making things from scratch and wasting so little. We even have a local recycling service that collects food scraps in bio-degradable bags each week so the ‘landfill’ waste is even less than before (and it is truly amazing the volume of peeling and scraps produced!) I even find myself feeling a bit resentful if I have to buy organic produce at the supermarket in between times but this is rare, now that my planning and willingness to search for ways to use things up has improved.

I just have one question….what is the difference between a regular carrot and a ‘juicing’ carrot?