Gorgeous gooseberries

Who knew that gooseberries ever turned ruby-red and wine-dark? And sweet?! Not me, until the gooseberry bush had a bumper crop this year. I say bumper crop; last year there were about five berries... Perhaps being dug up and replanted was the TLC it needed, and I'm sure the weather helped. (This bowlful is just one picking.) And this lot made a gorgeous gooseberry fool with crème fraîche and a dash of elderflower cordial.

Rhubarb, rhubarb, or a freezer-clearing cocktail

Excavating the long-forgotten contents of the freezer is rarely a glamourous task... There are always loads of individual peas tucked into inaccessible corners. But this time it was different. I found some poached rhubarb from God knows when, cooked with vanilla, my taste buds told me, and decided to make a cocktail. One measure of gin, a few drops of lavender bitters and the liquidised rhubarb. Yum yum yum!

Lovely lavender

You can almost hear the bees buzzing. No, it's not Provence, but a field near Sevenoaks, Kent. I wish my own two lavender bushes had been as prolific with the flowers, although apparently 2013's lavender harvest is a bumper one. Good job I've still got loads of dried lavender from previous years. Now shall I make another 'fuck off, moths' lavender bag?