With the festival season over, we went off to the newly reopened farmers’ market yesterday. So many fresh veggies! Memories of our healthy dinners from the lockdown months flooded back. I bought karela, beetroot, bhindi, guava, small potato, fresh spinach and kale. Roasted vegetables for dinner! Shouldn’t forget to get some amchur from the farmers for the seasoning. And of course I have that Himalayan salt I picked up from Nainital last week.
It is hard to recall the strict diet and portion control forced on us by the breakdown of the supply chain during the lockdown. A stall at the corner of the market had ragi papad, and our favourite baker had fresh multigrain bread. And there was a wonderful Nashik Chardonnay in the fridge, and a part of a bottle of Spanish Tempranillo which had to be finished. Dinner was an indulgence rather than a healthy minimal meal. It was all rounded off with mixed fruit cookies sourced from the farmers’ market. It wasn’t even vegan: I roasted the potatoes in ghee, and did not skimp on the butter on the multigrain bread. But it was really cold outside, in the Icelandic murder mystery we watched afterwards.