Bright days, dark cabbage

Cavolo nero is my new thing. It seems strange to see this dark, wintry vegetable under such bright, cloudless skies at my local farmers market. It's brooding beauty juts from boxes of fresh-bought produce and jostles for space in my boot alongside a body board and various towels and bathers - our ever-ready kit for impromptu swims. Yet this is August, it is as cold as it's going to get all year - and I'm in sandals!

Saigon monastry tofu and lemongrass

photo by Elaine Dunstan

In the wet season the rain in Ho Chi Minh City comes without warning. One minute the streets are their usual craze of millions of motorbikes beeping and darting like a swarm of crazy wasps, then suddenly, from nowhere, riders and passengers are covered in flimsy plastic cagoules, flapping like so many wings.