This week’s date; the art of lunch under the cherry blossoms with K

I think I have a girl crush on my friend K. I mean, she turns up with Dragon Fruit and pistachio and rose scented cakes, so it’s hard not to! And she wears butterfly shirts! She’s also one of my dearest friends and we’ve known each other for ooh possibly decades. I love the fact that she’s always doing jobs that try to make the world a better place – formerly a TV Director and producer, next she’s headed to politics. She’s razor intelligent, highly insightful and she understands about the importance of rose martinis. I mean what’s not to like?Last week she came over and I did some portraits of her for her linked in account. This was quite exciting as usually K will not let anyone anywhere near her with a camera, so I took the opportunity with both hands.She is still looking at the portraits, so I will hold off posting them for now to give her the scoop. Meanwhile, here are some snaps from our cherry blossom lunch. The Recipe (with thanks to the Japanese and The Telegraph for the inspiration http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/picturegalleries/9945874/Cherry-blossom-season-begins-in-Tokyo.html)You will need:1 cherry blossom tree (it’s very important to sit under the cherry blossom tree and stare up at it, to get the full backlit, sublime effect)sunshine (well, this is England – cloud will suffice) a picnic; it was a work day so we had avocado, pitta bread and houmous with lamb’s lettuce, followed by the dragon fruit and pistachio date cakes. My uber picnic might also involve cold roast chicken; pear, pecorino and walnut salad, zucchini with mint and vinegar (Marcella Hazan’s http://giulianohazan.com/blog/about/ recipe) delicious cheeses and some good crusty bread, maybe a rose fruit salad plus Green & Black’s chocolate. Ideally one always needs chocolate on any occasion.a rug to sit ona good friend to gossip with. Or a lover. It’s hard to see how love could not blossom under the cherry blossom. It’s just SO Divine.