Purple Carrot Soup

Wandering around a market with cash and a cornucopia of fruit and vegetables it's hard to resist buying. I made a most excellent choice as far as I'm concerned and parted with my pennies in exchange for a majestic purple carrot. For something that I find as rarely as this I wanted to make the most of it without detracting from the magnificent root itself. Carrot soup was to be lunch.

Green Park Market - Bath

Bath is not too far from where I reside but for some unknown reason I have only been when I was very young. I had heard whispers of a fantastic market in a train station in Bath and so I set off to find out what it was all about.

It's tremendous. I have never met so many specialists that are all so passionate in one place. Even the most tight fisted of people will see moths rise when they open their wallets. It was hard not to buy one of everything.

Is food the new must have accessory?

It seems that now the latest car, bag, phone or gadget is trumped by what we eat. At the golf club while quaffing the finest scotch the topic of conversation is no longer, "Tally ho! I just spent my bonus on a Maserati." Now, one might be more likely to hear, "Old chaps, I have just bought a rare white truffle." To which the reply would most likely be, "Spiffing! Jolly good show!"

Beef, Vegetable and Red Wine stew

I needed something slow cooked and full of goodness. Fortunately I had a fridge full of treats from the farmers' market. I had some seriously good braising steak from Challow Hill and a congregation of fantastic veg from the greengrocer.