Clouds

Julia comes to mind whenever I am dicing onions as it was she who instructed me in the proper way - almost mastered, though there's always that slippery bit at the end. Tonight she was also with me as I finely sliced red onions, to layer over finely sliced vine tomatoes in a salad I first had down in St Maws with Sheila, Julia, Mark and Graham and the extended cousinage. We had come for the eclipse and spent three wonderful picnicing days wandering over rocks and down beaches with the children, and finally assembled with thousands of others on gorsey headlands to see - a leaden sky become darker, and multiple explosions of flash bulbs as people tried to photograph what wasn't there. I didn't mind, I just loved Cornwall, loved the company and the feeling of fete. 1999 I think. A very Zen event.

All that from slicing onions. I was making poshburgers for supper with good meat and proper salads, seared mushrooms and shaved Parmesan, just to remind myself how good it can be. And it was.