Rhubarb rhubarb

I was really chuffed today when someone I work with, apropos of nothing in particular, gave me a bag of homegrown rhubarb. I think rhubarb is a love/hate thing, but I really like it. I even like seeing it growing with its huge, exotic, poisonous leaves. Incidentally, if the leaves are poisonous, how come you can eat the stems? In the winter I like rhubarb crumble but that is a bit unseasonal with the nice weather we are miraculously enjoying. So I thought I would try something from my fab new cookbook The Delicious Miss Dahl (by Sophie Dahl, ex supermodel) http://www.amazon.co.uk/Miss-Dahls-Voluptuous-Delights-Sophie/dp/0007261179 which actually has lots of interesting, healthy and simple recipes as well as the chosen Rhubarb Eton Mess with Rosewater. Eton mess sounds weirdly upper crust and school dinnery but is actually just any fruit mixed with meringue bits and whipped cream. Hmm think I might have a relaxing cooking weekend this weekend. And drink beer in the promised sunshine. And wear suncream cos I am burned again from sitting outside the castle eating my packed lunch.

Americans call it thrifting

Certainly thrifting sounds more glamourous, but I'd call it charity shop shopping. Yes, I can afford to buy new stuff but I like the thrill of the chase and not wearing what everyone else is. In 'The Glass of Fashion' by Cecil Beaton (top book btw, full of inspiring anecdotes about great fashion eccentrics from the 1900s to 1960s.) there is a great story of two ladies who turned up at a party in identical black dresses trimmed with ostrich feathers. One, in an act of very expensive panache, nipped into the toilet with some scissors and came out waving the fathers like a fan. Anyway, my latest buy was a 60s style shift dress in bright pink silk by LK Bennett for £15. Only problem is, I always buy dresses and coats cos they are the only things that usually aren't totally trashed by the time people give them away. I must admit, I am a bit leery of buying second hand shoes, hats and night/underwear for hygiene reasons. Who buys second hand underwear, really?