I am at a vegetable stall picking the large stalks of lemongrass.  The woman next to me is talking casually into her small cell phone.

‘You mean she’s not gonna come?  Just make her.  No.  Just get her phone.  Nah.  Hold on.  What about lemongrass?  What do you do with lemongrass?  Hold on.’

She presses the cell phone into her shoulder.  Turns to me.

‘What is lemongrass?  How do you use this stuff?’

I’m bemused, the sudden expert.  ‘It’s for Thai-like dishes, a fragrant, tough lemon like thing, here smell it.’

‘I’ve got a cold, can’t smell nuthin.’

‘You strip of the tough outside and use it like garlic, at the start of a dish.’

‘Okay’ she says uncertainly, picking up her phone again, wandering a bit further down,

‘…hold on I’ll ask him’ she says, and turns to me again.  ‘What about butternut squash?  How do you cook it?’

‘Bake it.  Or you could boil it, but baking’s better.  Cut it in half, scoop out the seeds like a pumpkin, put a bit of butter or oil, should be done in 45 minutes.’

‘About 375″

‘Ooh.  I only know celcius.  Medium high heat.  375 sounds about right.’

She places the phone against her ear again.  ‘He says bake it.  Bit a butter, or oil, olive oil.’

I head off down the aisle looking for limes.