Silver Bream Machine

Slightly chilly but bright and clear day today. From my desk I can hear a Cuckoo and also, in the distance, the sound of a neighbour's Guineafowl screeching: I swear that sounds like someone trying to cut through old fence wire with a rusty hacksaw.

My wife and I were away for the day yesterday, so I thought I would pick up some "different" fish from the supermarket. We'd only ever had Sea Bream (Seabream) in restaurants, so I thought I would give that a go. The woman at the fish counter was clueless (I asked her about the fish and she said it was "popular") so I just bought the two fish whole. It looked like Black Seabream rather than the Red variety.

We got home later than expected and I proceeded to fillet the fish, which I haven't done very often, with completely the wrong sort of knife. The result was four ragged "fillets" which I seasoned and slathered with olive oil and fresh herbs from the garden: marjoram, chives, rosemary and sage I think. Lots anyway. Oh, and some freshly-squeezed lime juice for zing.

I cooked the Bream, skin up, under a hot grill for a few minutes and served it with purple sprouting broccoli and "crushed" herby potatoes. A very late but rather satisfying meal.

As we were finishing our dinner my wife suddenly leapt to her feet and pointed out a couple of deer on the shore, being pursued by a large dog. They bounded over the road and up the hill leaving the panting dog in their wake.

I must get myself a fish filleting knife. One that's sleek; strong-handled; sharp; flexible: let's call it a Silver Bream Machine.