Today I have been thinking about aubergines. Maybe it was the sun being out again and the blue skies and my mind jumped, from the possibility of being able to light a barbeque over the next few days if it continues like this, to what I could cook on it.

One of the first things I like to cook over the coals is an aubergine. There is no better way to char its skin and soften up the flesh inside.

The thinking was going on as I dozed in my seat on a train on the way back from London. I briefly put pen to paper and started to make out a list in orange ink of the various dishes I could cook. I wanted to get to a dozen. Once I had done that then each dish would have enough variations going on from it I should in theory end up with an infinite number of aubergine options.

I got to 10 as follows:-

Fried slices of aubergine with sage, lemon & garlic

Aubergine puree with garlic, yogurt and tahini

Aubergine pieces roasted with peppers, onions and tomatoes mixed to make a salad

Aubergines in a stew with chick peas

Whole roasted aubergines with oil, dill and feta cheese

An aubergine soup with tomatoes

Crisped fried slices of aubergine

Fried aubergine with honey

Aubergine with pomegranate

Aubergine with lamb chops

Aubergine puree with minced lamb

Almost enough for a book?

Today has been warmer and more sunny than yesterday.

We went out for a walk in the afternoon along the beach off Leasowe. The tide was out and in the sun the water seemed flat and distant. It was only two months ago that the wind was whipping it up over the dunes.

There were plenty of people about but it was the dogs who were having the most fun chasing each other through the water. There was the odd child scurrying after its parents in bare feet and wet trousers having been seduced by the sun being out to go have a paddle. One was dressed as a bedraggled Batman and was looking disconsolate over the dunes looking for somewhere to play more suitable to his superhero status.

After that lunch was another roast chicken courtesy of The Farmer’s Market and a Leek & Gorgonzola Tart made with filo pastry. The tart was straightforward to make. Half a dozen leeks, sliced and cooked in butter and then mixed with some white wine, cream cheese and then the Gorgonzola. The tart was made by layering sheets of filo pastry into a tart tin with a brief scatter of parmesan cheese.

When I took the chicken out of its roasting tin one its wings was left behind – cook’s treat.

Last night I fell asleep watching a documentary on Mott the Hoople. They were a proper sweaty 1970’s band playing guitars that made a loud noise. Somewhere I have a greatest hits from when they were on Island Records which over the years has found its way on to my iPod shuffle. There are about 30,000 songs on there so I never know what is going to come next. I was driving somewhere around the Wirral a few years ago and one of the songs that came on was At The Crossroads. It was so good I had to put it on twice – and roll the windows down – and then put it on again.

Almost as good as the bacon sandwich this morning. One of the butchers at The Farmer’s Market always gas a few packs of off-cut bacon going cheap. There are no proper slices just misshapen odds and ends but that doesn’t make any difference to how it tastes. If I put it in a pan on a low heat there is just about enough time to go out and get a paper before it needs turning.

I had it between two slices of crisp toast with a good dollop of brown sauce.

Well I think we must be enjoying the first day of Spring.

I was going to light another fire to burn off the bits of the heap that didn’t go last week but I noticed that one of the near neighbours had their washing on the line in the garden. It occurred to me that they might resent taking the clothes in only to find them smelling of wet leaves so I left the fire for another day.

I cleaned out some of the pond instead with a view to hopefully getting it ready for frog spawn in a week or so’s time. The reeds have started to take it over so I spent half an hour dipping my hands in and puling out clumps of roots, old leaves and general gunk from last year. As I did so I unearthed the good deep methane smell of well rotted wet vegetation. I also found a pair of sunglasses that had been lost in there about three years ago. I also unearthed the one remaining goldfish. It lurked at the edges probably disturbed by the clouds of mud and odd bubbles that burped up quietly to the surface. We shall have to see what the frogs make of it.

Before that lunch was a couple of steaks from the farmers market. I resisted the temptation to buy myself a great single rib of beef. It was probably a bit extravagant for a Saturday lunch. The steaks were grilled for a couple of minutes on a high heat, left to rest for another couple of minutes and then stuffed, bloody and rare, into a baguette with rocket salad and some slices of onion.

Everything feels tight in the garden as is the sudden burst of warmth, the sun being out until late afternoon and the clear blue sky have filled all the dead wood of winter to bursting.