Greetings dear readers,

I made it back from the USA last week (via three flights and one delay) and then worked at Open Days all weekend; after a whirlwind birthday celebration with the Princess in London (whatever you do, go and see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It’s possibly the best theatre show ever. We both agreed it is the most fantastical/magical/mind-blowingly-clever stage production we’ve ever seen. It made me laugh and cry and filled me with that glorious feeling of the magic of the world in a way only good children’s stories seem to do.) So I am rightly over tired at the moment. And tomorrow I am going back to school to do some follow up visits (before I can finally get down to tackling the vast amount of stuff I have accumulated as part of my field work, and make it all make sense…) I am going to tell you all about Chicago and MSU very soon, as well as Petersham Nurseries (another fantastic London find) but until then, I leave you with this very simple dish.

The best days of summer are upon us, the longest day is past and it is thus very necessary to celebrate soft fruits and sunshine. I realised whilst I was in Chicago that this blog is very much a journal of my eating experiences and ideas and any attempt to make it anything else is just silly. So you’ll probably be seeing a lot of practical eating in the next while – especially since I have to cook for myself until September. I do hope you like.

There isn’t a recipe here. (I’m not big on recipes, I won’t lie.) Basically I found this fantastic white peach balsamic in Chicago (on a food tour which I will write about soon). What better way to roast peaches than with a little olive oil, balsamic and brown sugar? So that’s exactly what I did. I halved the peaches, drizzled some balsamic and olive oil over them, and then sprinkled them with brown sugar. I roasted them in the oven for about 40 minutes, at 180C, until they were soft through and the juices and vinegar had caramelised. I served them warm with yoghurt, some pistachios and a few strawberries. (You can embellish a lot here – add in herbs you have, I like thyme with peaches – or some oats for a more crumble effect. You can serve the peaches with ice cream or cream or sweet biscuits. The choice is yours really. Just use slightly under ripe fruit for the best results.)