Have not blogged for week due to following: Severe rsi in my right hand made using the computer, particularly the mouse very difficult, so I needed to limit my computer use for a few days. The problem, I think, was using the mouse a lot, rather than writing with the keyboard. Thanks to a very nice man called Martyn at the RSI Shop, I've now got a new type of joy-stick style mouse, which is just as effective, but much less demanding on my wrist and arm. I'm hoping it works. It has to. Secondly, the computer itself, my much loved Apple Mac G5, keeps crashing. Its a long and complicated story and I know what the problem is and how to deal with it, but I'm waiting for another laptop to be repaired so I've something to use when the Mac goes away for repair. Until then, my use of the computer is a bit erratic. Thirdly, had some friends over for dinner on Saturday night and went for a long walk in Epping Forest on Sunday, where, amazingly, the rain held off. All of this has kept me away from the keyboard and, yes, my arm has begun to stop aching.
So what did I cook on Saturday night? Well, a lot of dishes similar to those I cooked two weeks ago, for the white wine tasting, including the potatoes with lemon fennel and olives, on top of which I baked several red mullet, so I wont bother giving the recipe because its below in this blog. You just cook the potato dish until its almost done, then place the red mullet, slashed diagonally, top them with some thin slices of lemon, drizzle with olive oil, season and bake for another 15 minutes or so until the fish are cooked. The mullet is expensive, but there was plenty left over, so I made risotto, using heads and bones to make stock, for supper on Monday and tonight will make arrancini (one of my all time favourite leftover dishes) from the remaining risotto...

I bought the mullet from a shop that has become my favourite fishmonger, in Green Lanes in north London. He's a typical old fashioned fishmonger, who has a very knowledgeable and discerning customer base among the local Greek community and he has adapted very well to serving them. He's not phased by someone coming in and demanding twenty red snapper or a couple of large octopus and knows he has to give his customers a wide choice of spanking fresh fresh fish. And he still has traditional salmon and kippers if you want them. On a Saturday, you have to get their early to get the best choice - as I know to my cost when I arrived one lunchtime in search of cuttlefish to be greeted with a good humoured but derisive snort - but he will start discounting as the afternoon wears on so that everything is sold. He would not dream of putting Saturdays' fish on sale on Tuesday. This is the kind of brilliant local shop that we should support against the march of the supermarkets. Long may he continue in business.