While we were out.

The past few weeks have been relentless. Long hours and constant demands, with every day bringing it's particular problems. Coming home - sometimes in the dark, to a moody valley.

Noticing that others had visited, I watered when I could.

Every week six days of sweating and swearing and heavy lifting.

Trucks full of furniture, smoke and mirrors.

Schools, churches, bars and hospitals.

We had very little time to ourselves.

A quick ginger gimlet, the stroke of a paw, trying to keep up with a glut of tomatoes - sharing them with the starlings. Glimpses of lives very different from mine.

I had to remind myself, sometimes, that I am very lucky.

While we were out, a beet grew and grew and grew.

A fairy tale beet, a show bull of a beet weighing in at 940 grams.

Head and shoulders pushing out of the soil.

Once slaughtered, yielding a slice of moreish cake.

The beetroot is there in every bite, dark and earthy.
Cinnamon and poppy seed.

It's good to be home.

Tea for two at Nigiro.

Gunpowder Temple of Heaven. Blood Orange. Blooming Richness. Flower Gate. Jasmine Dragon Phoenix Pearls. Spring Rain. 

The menu reads like God's will.

At the back of the Origin shop on De Waterkant there's an intriguing glass enclosure. This is not a smoking room. Welcome to Nigiro. Origin backwards.

 Neo told us that learning the skill of the tea ceremony is akin to learning one of the martial arts. It was a wonderful thing to watch - his graceful hands with sure, slender fingers and all the bits and pieces that fall into place to form this ancient ritual.

 We drank seven infusions of Ali Oolong Mountain tea, watching as the leaves unfurled and became almost new again. Aromas came and went: poppies, hay, wheat, rice, asparagus, candy floss and pencil shavings. With each addition of warm spring water, the brew changed, unlocking new qualities. The final pot was silky and cool on the tongue, almost minty, with the other flavours all still present - like ghosts of their former selves. 

It was easy to imagine those mountains.

A steamed bun filled with pork, cabbage and carrot. Sticky soya. Chopstick negotiation...

Show time: the tight bud opens underwater, like magic. A golden crysanthemum. As the flower blooms, it releases small osmanthus blossoms. The flavours are fleeting and delicate. Caramel and grass.

I ask about red tea and Neo shows us a disc of compacted Pu-erh tea from China. Matured for fifteen years, it's rare and costly, sold by the gram like hash or truffles.

Dessert: a moon cake, to share. Flaky pastry filled with sweet red bean paste. Earl Grey two ways.

We left three hours later, calm and lazy. 

Tried on dresses for an hour.

Thanks T, for a dreamy morning.