By the side of the cooking range
my favourite cookbooks
lie on their side
on shelves filled by fads
of bye-gone years
waiting to be read
late at night
while the house rests
in its quietness again
Tamarind and Saffron
in its distinct blue cover
with a majolica plate
filled with six lemons
Claudia Roden’s cuisine,
dog eared
and folded waits
Tbihka,
a simple Moroccan
peasant meal,
fried diced onion,
cubed squash,
red pepper
and four large ripe
chopped tomatoes,
a tablespoon of Harissa
to give it bite,
forty minutes simmering together,
simplicity itself
- did I say add a spoon of sugar?
Wait for brown basmati rice to slow cook
a walk in the kitchen garden
picking herbs
and salad leaves
a candle
in the bell jar lit
the tables…
