there was a brief and generally good-natured discussion as we stood in the kitchen the other evening, about my collection of little bowls and dishes. “they’re all behind cupboard doors,” i said unapologetically, “and i like them, and use them all.” my little vietnamese ceramic bowl, for example, holds the perfect portion of such things as japanese slaw: finely shred some wombok, then toss with a squirt of kewpie mayo and the tiniest dribble of mirin, a few salt flakes and a sprinkling of shichimi togarashi. you don’t need a lot of mayo; after a little sit, the cabbage juices run into the mayonnaise to create a light, milky dressing. this was a clean and crunchy accompaniment to the wintertime stodge of an oyakodon dinner.

the bowl is especially pleasing at breakfast, when the weather is agreeable and i get to sit in my sunny backyard with a big dollop of greek yoghurt drizzled with honey. walnuts, of course, are the go-to crunch factor, but i finally got around to making that granola i saw at orangette the other year. i dallied for the longest time over what i wanted to put in it (pistachios and dried cherries) but what went into the mix on the day was walnuts and black sesame seeds, and what happened to the cooled-down, out-of-the-oven mix is that i chopped up into it a whole bar of orange-infused dark chocolate. this chocolate, from cocolo, has quite a sharp break, and adds a compelling crunchy punctuation to the chewiness.

once, i also filled the bowl with blue jelly. it really is endlessly versatile…