March has been an uppy-downy sort of month so far, with frosts, cold winds and squally downpours punctuated by warm sunshine and bright evenings. And there are brighter evenings to come when the clocks jump forward, an event that gives with one hand while taking with the other. It's a fair trade, I always think, to lose an hour of weekend but gain a summer of sunlit evenings.

Of course the real bonus is when it goes the other way. On the one hand you win an extra hour, on the other it gets dark earlier. But since for most of us it is dark by the time we leave work anyway, what's really to lose?

There's a lot of swede about at the moment, I can't help but notice, but leeks are still going strong. If you're getting sick of the same old mash, fry up a leek or two in a little butter until it starts to caramelise, add some garlic, and then mash your swede into that. Hurrah!

Swede Mash Butternut Squash Soup Leek and Potato Soup Stuffed Cabbage (Dolmas) Pumpkin Soup

Carrot and Feta Soup Pasta Primavera Cauliflower Bake

10.04.09 - Recipe submissions
A number of you have been asking if it is possible to send in recipes, and the answer is yes, just send them in to the contact address below. We'll cook them, eat them, and if they make the grade add them to the site. If you'd prefer to do this by filling out a form on the site, let us know and we'll rustle something up (although for anti-spam reasons we'll still have to vet and add them to the site ourselves).

21.02.09 - Expanded database - w00t!
I'm currently looking at expanding the food database to include seasonal meats, shellfish, apple varieties and anything else I can think of. But I don't want to dilute it too much, so I'm looking at ways to make it work well. If you've any strong thoughts about this, or there's something we've missed out that you think we ought to have included, drop me a line on ripeaboutnow@southfacing.co.uk

13.10.08 - R.A.N. are GO!
Ripe About Now is live and kicking and ready to serve. We'll be adding more features in the coming months so consider it a work in progress, but in the meantime please have a snoop around and let us know what you think. We're keen to hear your recipes, suggestions and interesting asides. Also let us know about any seasonal foods we may have overlooked, but do bear in mind we are UK-based, which I guess translates to temperate European, so we won't be adding mangos and the like until the climate really messes up.

Also, here's a quick word from our Technical Director explaining what it's all About.

Contact ripeaboutnow@southfacing.co.uk

Click HERE to download the free Ripe About Now desktop tool.