Food in Provence (and elsewhere)

Washing (fairly simple, a white wash and a blue/black wash); everything happily drying on a rack by the cottage laundry room.

Tidying and hoovering my room. Didn’t take long.

Shopping. The most interesting task. I went to Ballycotton Seafood in Midleton again, planning to get some salmon to have with the tapenade I made earlier in the week. They had some nice looking red mullet, though, so I opted for that instead. There followed some debate with the fishmonger about whether he should fillet them or not. I explained that I was at the cookery school (for which Ballycotton Seafood supply the fish) and needed practice at filleting. He explained that red mullet aren’t the easiest of fish to fillet and that the best presentation was with them butterflied—i.e. the two fillets joined at the back. I deemed it wise to follow his advice. Further advice was that if I really wanted to learn how to fillet fish I should volunteer at one of the fish processing outfits on Ballycotton harbour. Advice I probably won’t follow.

My afternoon was a little enlivened by a failed attempt to help a fellow student change a flat tyre on her car. After loosening the bolts on the wheel, jacking the car up and taking the bolts out I just could not remove the wheel; it must have rusted on—and it was not just me: someone visiting the farm shop was also unable to get the wheel off. A suivre, I guess…

Other than that, not much to report. I had the sausage and sausage roll prepared during the charcuterie class for dinner, so pictures of the butterflied red mullet will have to wait until tomorrow.