28 October - pasta and fish @ the Kensington

To eat up the last bit of smoked salmon, I made up a quick pasta lunch with a sauce made of leek, the smoked salmon and mascarpone.

I was feeling a bit woolly-headed and achy all day as if I was coming down with a cold, so I didn't feel much like going out, but Tris had booked a table at the Kensington Arms for dinner (another website not working!). I didn't really have much of an appetite, so we shared a starter - a fantastically smooth chicken liver parfait with toast and onion jam - then I chose fish as a lighter main. I had pan-fried sea bream with crushed potatoes and carrots - simple but delicious and well worth the effort of going out.

5 May - sea bream from Fishminster

Today, I was frequenting another local supplier; Fishminster is an upmarket fish and chip shop with a fresh fish counter just round the corner. I like fish, but I tend to avoid cooking it because I'm a bit squeamish about it when it's raw and I don't like handling it. Add to that the fact that supermarket fish is completely tasteless and it'd rather slipped out of my repertoire until recently when this new fish shop opened. It's a nice little fish counter that isn't too daunting and contains lots of nice clean fillets to choose from.

So dinner was a couple of lightly pan-fried sea bream fillets dotted with a bit of truffle butter and served with roasted asparagus and new potatoes. Simple, but good.