It's raining, but not men (thank Goddess)

Pouring down as I write, the most rain we have had in a month. Our summer has been poor this year, cold and cloudy but dry, not very good for growing things or ripening fruit - little sun, little rain. At least I left the car out, so I don't have to wash it now.

Pears in the rain

Thom nonplussed by the sudden wet - "Can you let me in, please?"

Potager still looks nice though. I'm going to have a lot of fennel seed for pear and fennel seed chutney. The chair is a bit plebeian, design-wise, but it does good double service as a hose stand, and for sitting out in my jarmees with a coffee early in the morning.

Having to revisit my budget, owing to the new austerity regime of my employer. (No extra work, which helps provide a few luxuries).

Bought a whole fish today, much cheaper than buying it filleted. I'll have to learn how to use the fish head etc. for stock. I'm quite good at cheaper meat cuts (marinate and slow cook) but fish are a bit of an unknown for me. Living in a small house with no range-hood or fan in the kitchen means the smell of cooked fish tends to linger longer than I like. There is a good Chinese trick for lessening fishy smells; use grated fresh root ginger with the fish. It also seems to improve the flavour of the fish. And there's a way with offal too, which involves cooking it in 'red sauce', a mixture of rice wine (or any other wine you have on hand), soy sauce, and fresh ginger (and some other ingredients that I can't remember). It takes away the flavour that I can only describe as tasting like dirt smells. (I used to have the recipe many years ago, it was in a Kenneth Lo cookbook but I suspect that my mother-in-law destroyed the recipe book I loaned her out of her hatred for me). Not a big offal fan; I think I'd sooner turn vegan. But no cheese, Gromit! That I couldn't live without.