This is the last Sickbed food brought to you by Cornelius. It has been very nice to have them on Gazette and we thank Cornelius and Klaussie for sharing wonderful pieces of work with us and our listeners. Enjoy!
I wake up, test negative, and don’t have a migraine. It’s 18 degrees, I need to feel the sun on my skin. I tidy and when Klaus arrives we head straight to Frog Bakery and Rebecca comes to say hi. I get a filter coffee and a ‘Bramble Flower’ a little almond sponge cake with blackcurrants, blackberries and buttermilk and we eat in Lucas Gardens. I say I’m not going back inside until it’s dark. Walk up to and through Warwick Gardens, meander through some residential streets. Some people are getting out of church services and some kids are running to Friday prayer at the mosque. There’s an energy. On Rye Lane people smell of summer, sweat, deodorant, laundry.
Bramble flower
For lunch, we go to Peckham Levels and I get a taco so full with channa and mango salsa it's almost impossible to pick up. I am so happy to be eating something I haven’t cooked. Cold cucumber relish is a relief from the taco’s heat. We share fries from one of the other stands. A baby, not long standing, locks eyes and neither me not Klaus can break his serious face with our silly ones.
Channa taco
When we get to Burgess Park, a thick rain cloud finally covers the sun. Lay out a blanket anyway. Someone’s using the lime kiln as a shelter for their bbq. I drink one non-alcoholic beer and fear I’ve done too much too soon. The cloud doesn’t break. In my own home, after a few crisps, we make and eat pan-fried salmon, broccoli, potatoes roasted in olive oil, and two ladles of their cooking water mixed together with stock. I have two scoops of cookie dough ice cream, enjoy one glass of white wine, and feed the cats.
Salmon, broccoli, roasties
Cornelius Prior (they/them): I’m a writer and an editor in the cultural sector. I write about books, homosexuality, cities, and occasionally art and moving image.
Klaussie Williams (she/her): I’m an artist and bookseller. I make abstract water colours, book jacket illustrations, and draw the places and things I like.