back when i was deathly ill — well, i’ve finally taken the last antibiotic tonight, so really, the bugs could be back, stronger, tomorrow — my good sister called up to check that i was still alive. we had been talking for a little while, when she casually announced that she had just online-ordered me a box of groceries from fratelli fresh, and that these groceries would be with me the next day, and that maybe i shouldn’t buy a bunch of asparagus if i went out shopping before then.

and truly, the next afternoon, an enormous cardboard carton showed up, gleaming white and emblazoned with swirly gold script. it was like christmas come early, though of course, the packer had somehow forgotten to include the bunch of asparagus.

but what a bounty!

1x punnet tomatoes – cherry
1x 400g cannellini beans
1x 300g jam – homemade – conservi del padre – raspberry
1x 250g pasta – guiseppe cocco no. 15 egg papperdelle
1x 500g pasta – guiseppe cocco no. 59 orecchiette
1x 250g cheese – ricotta – paesanella
1x 1kg mandarins – imperial
1x punnet berries – blueberries
1x 150g peas – snow peas
1x 190g antipasti – mushroom fantasy in olive oil
1x 100g deli – mortadella – sliced
1x 500g sausage – lamb, rosemary and garlic
1x each bread – fruit loaf

you really can’t tell from the descriptions on a packing slip, and so you will be amazed that a kilo of mandarins numbers 30, and 100g of mortadella is but four slices (but still a magnificent offering packed on a golden board with a fancy sticker), and the lamb sausages are from a.c. butchery.

i expect nellie had already prepared the meal in her head — a couple of nights later we had orecchiette with sausages and snow peas.

of course, you must remove the meat from the casing, and fry it up with chopped garlic and a tin of tomatoes, and then later in the game you can add some broccoli florets, and roughly sliced snowpea pods, and a handful of frozen peas for good measure.

and while you are eating it, you will smile large, and toast the good name of your good sister, and curse the day and a half — and the halfway ’round the world — that separates you.

happy birthday, nellicent!