I went to the market and I bought ...

When the children were small, on long car journeys we would sometimes play the old memory game: I went to market and I bought ... (the first person says something beginning with A; the next says something beginning with B and the first person's A item, and so on.)

Well, I went to the farmers's market today and I bought some samphire and something else (more later ...)

Now in case you're of a literary bent, this wasn't King Lear's samphire:

"Half-way down

Hangs one that gathers samphire; dreadful trade!"

That's rock samphire; the one I bought today is marsh samphire. Buying it felt very Mediterranean as it was served by the handful. 'How much do you want? About this much?'

I cooked it this evening with sea bass, roasted red peppers and courgettes with garlic and mushrooms (they're not in the photo as they would have disturbed the layout of the plate!)

Samphire is very easy to cook. Simply plop it in a saucepan of boiling water for one minute then toss in a dressing of 5 parts olive oil to 1 part lemon juice.

Now you can see the other thing I bought at the market in the photo on the left: any ideas what it is?