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This morning at the markets, I found a new favourite vegetable. Which is a good thing, as my last favourite vegetable - kale – is no longer available. Or should I say, it was available, but it had become very holey. And although I love eating organic vegetables, I don’t like sharing them with little green worms!

So the lady at the markets was equally excited to share the poor old kale’s replacement vegetable, and I was thrilled to hear it was a Red Dandelion Leaf. Although I drink Dandelion Tea, I don’t often have the opportunity to eat the nutritious leaf.

It’s not that either of these vegetables are overly delicious. But it’s just exciting to be eating something that is kind of tasty, and also incredibly good for you.

Dandelions are definitely a superfood, and are often regarded as one of the most important green vegetables. They have more beta-carotene than carrots, more iron and calcium than spinach, zinc, vitamins B, C, D and E, potassium, magnesium and so much more. It is also used for medicinal purposes, with an incredible ability to strengthen the whole body. In fact, the list of benefits goes on and on.

The red variety of dandelion leaf is slightly more bitter than the regular leaf, and is identifiable by the red stem that runs up the leaf. Both are a great addition to your regular salads or stir-fries, and can be used just like other dark green leaves such as spinach.

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Summer BBQs are never complete without a corn of cob served with your potato salad and sausages. However it always seems to be a struggle to eat them, as you try to balance your plate on your knee whilst tucking into the sweet, juicy cob. And of course, you always end up with it stuck through all of your teeth.

So when I buy corn, I prefer to cook it alone as a snack, or cut the kernels off and add them to a meal. Today it was for a snack, and gosh it was good! It was drizzled with olive oil and some salt, and each bite was bursting with flavour.

Corn is a wonderful antioxidant that thankfully retains a lot of its health benefits even when it is cooked. It is also packed with things like dietary fibre, many of the B vitamins, Vitamin C, phosphorus and manganese.

But one reminder – make sure you cook it very soon after you buy it. Corn doesn’t have a very long shelf life, and is best eaten the day it is purchased.

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Today I had a beautiful meal in one of my favourite local restaurants. It is Japanese, and is one of the only places I trust for fresh sashimi. The food was great, but the best part is watching to see what other people eat.

The Australians of course, completely over-ordered. They had sushi rolls, sashimi and meat dishes – mixed together with their bowls of rice drowned in way too much soy sauce. Of course, all of this was washed down with a Coke Zero.

And to make it worse, there was so much waste. Now I know it’s a great idea to not need to finish everything on your plate, but the overindulgence just seemed wrong. And the part I really didn’t like was seeing all of the small accompaniment salads untouched.

The Japanese on the other hand, took a very different approach. I saw one man come in, sit down and eat one salmon and avocado roll. It is cut into four bite sized pieces, and we would consider it a small starter. But the slim Japanese man ate each piece slowly, sipped his tea, then left. Now even if it was a small snack for him, not his main meal of the day, the point is that most Westerners would have still ordered two.

It was also time for the staff to have their meal. Two at a time, they sat down to their beautifully cooked late lunch. It consisted of a big bowl of lettuce, a plate of something that looked like cooked cabbage, and also a plate that contained vegetables cooked with a small amount of meat.

They did also eat some rice, but unlike us, they ate it without sauces. Of course, this was washed down with plain water. And naturally, the portions were a lot smaller.

I love watching people in restaurants. It shows so much about people, cultures and our attitudes towards food. And I always learn something new.

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I was recently served a fruit salad with the most beautiful pink fruit in it. It tasted delicious too, but I wasn’t able to work out what it was. The colour was so vivid, similar to the colour of watermelon, but with a texture similar to papaya. There were tiny, edible seeds in it too.

So after scanning the internet, I have finally worked out what it was. My new discovery was Pink Guava.

I have previously been given pink guava juice (it’s lovely with champagne!) and even eaten the jam, but I had never seen the actual fruit.

Guava, like all fruits, is bursting with health benefits. It even has up to 10 times more Vitamin C than other fruits (particularly in its skin), and is very high in calcium. Just don't be put off by the aroma! It's quite strong, however the taste is much milder.

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I haven’t been big on mushrooms since I was a vegetarian and needed them for dietary reasons. I don’t know whether it has to do with it’s classification as a fungus, or whether it is the taste. But for some reason, I just steer clear of them.

The only exception would be when they are sautéed with butter and garlic and served over steak. But for general stir-fries or salads, I tend to avoid them.

Which I why I was interested to see them classified as one of the new superfoods in an article in the UK Daily Mail.

'Mushrooms may seem plain, but they really are a superfood,' says Dietician Dr Sarah Schenker.

Mushrooms are also a great source of dietary fibre, the five B vitamins, as well as potassium, copper, phosphorous and iron.

Dr Schenker also said: 'Most significant among their mineral content is selenium, which you don't find in many fruit and vegetables.' 

It is for this reason that we do recommend you always get a good variety of fruits and vegetables, as each one has its own unique healing properties. So I guess mushrooms are going to be on the menu for me this week. The only challenge now will be choosing between the shiitakes and the maitakes!

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I never thought I would say this, but I am now officially an anchovy lover. But it wasn’t a super supreme pizza that got me to change my mind. No, it was something much more pure. I tried fresh white anchovies.

Fresh white anchovies don’t look anything those little brown smelly fish you find on a pizza or in a Caesar Salad. They are just like small white fleshy fish. I don’t know how they were prepared, but most recipes I can find involve cleaning the fish, then marinating them in olive oil, lemon or vinegar with a bit of seasoning. Whatever they did, it worked! They were delicious.

I have tried to find a photo which resembled my new find, but the closest I could get were the anchovies in the dish above. Looks good, doesn't it! Very healthy, and very Mediterranean.