This week I wanted...I bought....I made

Big don't know - the sun is shining for the fifth day in a row and I am thoroughly confused - it's still April. And the forecast is rain but I wish to be optimistic and believe it will be no more than a passing shower... So Saturday night is party night for David's birthday and I'm planning crispy chickpeas and sage because I have a sage plant gone wild now on the plan for this weekend, followed by roast pork one of the finest pieces of pork I've eaten and a vegetable pilau a lovely thing studded with pomegranate seeds the juice of which I managed to spray over me, the bench, the sink, the floor... and the lovely Vicki who is also here will bring cake. Yay! Sunday night we are out to see Lang Lang so I'm wondering about salad late afternoon or some such best laid plans - I bought the tickets a year ago - but I was really ill Sunday morning and stayed that way for days - the man had to fend for himself. Monday lamb casserole seriously could not face food, had a little vegetable soup I'd like to try, Tuesday out, Wednesday should again be french so salad pasta with courgettes I think, Thursday pasta an omelette and salad and Friday sausage sarnies perhaps.

It was indeed cold and wet Saturday morning - un-yay - so Borough Market was quieter than last week and that was compensation. Though the man whinged all the way round that he needed his hat...

At Ginger Pig they had a couple of fine examples of boned rolled shoulder of pork and I chose one that was of magnificent proportions on the basis that we'd be feeding people for dinner and I wanted leftovers for lunchboxes so that I didn't have to do much Sunday. Also bought some diced lamb for a spring casserole later in the week so that came to a grand total of £33.70

At Booths I bought lots of vegetables - some aubergines, zucchinis, cauliflower, sugarsnaps, parsley, basil, carrots and a pomegranate that came to £11.50 but I had 11 without 50 so that's what I paid

At Brindisa I wanted the makings of a classic lentil dish so bought nora peppers, diced sweet pancetta and a morcilla. I thought about buying a pack of their fabulous white beans but even dried they are £11 so I baulked at that. Instead the man added a pack of sliced lomo to go with snack starters so it was £11.20

At Wild Beef I bought some eggs - £1.50 and that was all over that side of the market

Back in the main section I bought coffee from Monmouth who are about to open a new shop near Tower Bridge as well as their existing shops at Borough and Covent Garden because the front of the main market is about to be redeveloped and they will lose their pitch without any guarantee about the size of the temporary pitch or even indeed whether it will have hot water - which you can see could be a handicap in the production of fresh coffee... £9.50 for the beans

Olives from the fresh olive company - big fat green ones with tarragon and roasted peppers that are particularly fine and which my friend Marie devised when she was in charge of such things - £4.50 for a well packed tub

Didn't need bread as I had a white loaf from St Johns from the previous days outing for lunch so at Neals Yard it was yoghurt and milk for £6.70

So it was a fairly hefty £78.10 but it did include a party!