Marathon

Contrary to earlier forecasts the Marathon runners enjoyed a resplendent yet relatively cool Sunday morning. For the first time since at least 1990 the runners took the anti-clockwise route around the Island. From behind the iron gates of SPACE DJ Bliss provided the soundtrack to the stream of of sweaty, striving humanity in which many of the usual oddballs floated along.

The night before V created her first new dish since she returned. Chicken breast was chopped and fried with slices of red onion, celery and an orange pepper. After a while small quantities of dark soy and Thai fish sauces were added, followed by a dollop of honey and the juice of one mandarin. This was served onto a bed of thin strips of cucumber alongside cylinders of Japanese sushi rice rolled around slices of mango. The rice was cooked with a native Guatemalan plant called Chipilín which V had gathered a couple of weeks ago from our land near Parramos. (Christophe Pache, the amiable Swiss chef at the Panzón Verde makes a delicious soup from Chipilín. It has the qualities of both herb and vegetable and renders a vivid flavour and aroma.)

We accompanied this scrumptious invention with an extremely good Porta Reserva (Chilean Pinot Noir) from Oddbins, which may have fallen a bit short of "ethereal", but was nonetheless pretty smooth.