There is no making the taste of Fernet, it can be minimised but not masked. There's definitely liquorice in there, the concoction that I was given in Spain was as close to Owbridge's Cough Mixture as I can recall

Probably the foulest tasting beverage I ever tasted was an Albanian plum brandy that someone left at mine after a party. Sliwowica it wasn't. The tiniest sip would leave an aftertaste that lingered, to the point where a belch or fart, even hours later, brought back the taste.

We had a barbecue once and some latecomers arrived just as the coals were dying. I piled on some more charcoal and had the bright idea of pouring some of the plum brandy onto them to reignite the fire. Instead of the clean blue flame that usually accompanies such actions, black greasy smoke rose from the ashes, like burning sump oil.

I think I left that bottle in a cupboard when we eventually moved house

Popped in Morrisons earlier and found four big punnets of blackcurrants and two trays of baby plum tomatoes, all on short-date and for next to buggerall.

I'm currently (no pun intended) boiling the blackcurrants to make syrup (far better than Ribena) and the tomatoes for a pizza base

We've 11 lbs of the bloody things in the freezer, I'll be making jelly and some kinda cassis type thing with them when we get back from St Ives.

Manzanilla and tapas - no match!

Pretty much been living on my mates allotment produce and from my next door neighbours poly-tunnel(?) of late.
New spuds, cabbage, carrots, onions, parsnips, purple sprouting broccolli, cucumbers, strawberries and variations of tomati.
Just as well really.
It will put me in good stead for five days of takeaway action whilst dossing at my mates in Londinium from next Thursday.

I tried boudin noir a couple of times in Martinique whilst on a trip exploring rum distilleries , (*).
"Moister" is an understatement for that Creole version, which for all I know might be entirely different from the version you mention, I haven't had it in France-proper, the creole one was much smaller than ours, barely solid inside the casing, slightly "oozy" and the colour was like a dark beige.
But delicious nonetheless, once you'd realised that it was a similar but different dish from our black pudding.


(*) Fabulous holiday, that was.
Memories of sitting in the shade sipping a 'ti punch and watching black hummingbirds visiting blossoms on the tree beyond the veranda.

Hi Mintball hope you are enjoying the hols, what are foie ducks, ducks that are specifically bred for the liver?
I thought it was the Mulard and Toulouse duck they used for this.

I wouldn't have had a clue before last year, when we came across this.

But the breasts have a far thicker layer of fat than you'd find on, say a British duck breast, which makes complete sense if it's the breast of a duck bred for foie gras.

And thank you – we're having a great time. Love this place to bits. Just been enjoying the annual festival. And the food is wonderful.

I have discovered a delicious salad, now the figs are bursting from their skins once again.

Whisk together a dressing of wholegrain mustard, red wine vinegar, honey, garlic, salt and pepper to a paste. Slowly add good olive oil until you like the consistency and it's emulsified.


Add handfuls of rocket and spinach and half a dozen or more quartered ripe figs (peeled if you wish). Toss to cover in the dressing. Add a fistful of walnuts and chunks of goats cheese over the top.

Making it for the third time this week, tonight with steak and chips. Life's regular at the moment, but good.

You got a fig tree?

Like that recipe, sounds divine, very annoying though for people stuck with a ruddy nut allergy.

Good measures, a fist of, and a chunk of.

Personally like figs with Manchego and a little dash of olive oil, Sicilian, more pepper than most Spanish.

Mmmm, lovely ... it would go well with Serrano or Parma ham on top.

I always liked goatboy's recipes:

"cook in a hot oven for the time it takes to roll and smoke two fags"

For fans of the place (and 'fine dining'), rlwe finally found Collioure's Michelin-starred restaurantrl.