I was taking my dog out to lunch today (what’s weird about that?) and happened past this really perfect kumquat tree in my neighborhood just dripping with fruit. Very SoCal/garden of paradise. Growing up in Orange County, I would eat them right off a tree (i.e., unwashed) in my friend’s backyard, which is why, in Astonish Me, two neighbors first meet under circumstances involving a kumquat tree.

As long as we’re talking about Astonish Me, it’s out in paperback today with a gorgeous new cover.

As long as we’re talking about kumquats, there’s a hilarious bit about them in The Trip to Italy, even though the little orange thing Rob Brydon finds in his drink isn’t actually a kumquat but, I think, a Cape gooseberry.