Before 8.

Day breaks on the Book of the Night at the Exchange Gallery in Penzance......

as the final touches are put to the project......

which are a part of the ongoing Print! event running til July........

visitors can enjoy a coffee break in the glass walled cafe.......

which helped transform the old Penzance Telephone Exchange........

though the gulls make the gallery glass look like a visit from a window cleaners is overdue.......

not 50 paces from the gallery is the renowned Mackerel Sky Cafe........

on the 26th of June there will be more pirates assembled on the promenade at Penzance than you can shake a cutlass at as an assault on the world pirates record is made......

summer time at the PZ Gallery.......

though there are plenty of examples of unintended street art around a town.......

that used to be home to the Bronte sisters in one of the few brick built properties down historic Chapel Street.....

and more evidence of being beside the sea.

Book of the Night settles down for the night.

 Every picture tells a story......

 as the clock ticks past twelve at the Exchange Gallery in Penzance........

a Book of the Night is in the making behind closed doors......

bathed first in blue......

the window display.......

 frames the interior.........

 with its ever-changing colour wash........

and a busy coffee machine on the go.

Baked monk tail - easy to prepare.

Thinly sliced purple onions line an ovenproof dish......

followed by thinly sliced (after par-boiling) potatoes lightly oiled.........

a layer of toms lightly seasoned to taste........

with more layers if needed.......

topped off with a 50/50 mixture of milk and cream/creme fraiche........

veg to your choice.........

and just to add a twist, however much fresh chilly you need to give the dish some flavour - not too hot.......

or the monk fillet, under a chervil (substitute fennel) cover, will be overpowered........

bake for around 30 minutes ina coverd dish (foil will suffice) in a hot (180º). 



Tonight in print, the lighter side of Penzance in the dark - from 8 to 8.

Penzance Exchange Gallery - all quiet in the print room this morning.

23 artists ranging in age from 19 to 83 will descend on the Exchange Gallery in Penzance tonight as Museums and Galleries up and down the UK take part in the Museums at Night creative event.


The intrepid 23 are tasked with the daunting task of meeting, greeting, thinking, deciding, creating, producing and finally printing a book in the space of 12 hours commencing at 8pm this evening 'till 8am on Sunday morning!


There's a posting here from Cat Gibbard on the Museums at Night blog and ongoing details, as and when they happen will appear, on Newlyn Gallery's Twitter page here.

Museums at Night trailer from Culture24 on Vimeo.

It's pretty much black and white today.

 Live life by the sea........

 print workshop at the Exchange Gallery.......

 the Admiral goes Dutch.......

Cornwall Geo-environmental are in the Jubilee Pool which has a few leaks to be plugged before it can open, where would all the water go?.......

 Newlyn Gallery's smart new tile job showing signs of wear.......

 specialist degree course on show from Falmouth Art, Curatorial Practice........

 Tom's on watch as the sun breaks through......

 been here before - more coming on this soon.......

 diversity........

 under the new Harbour Constitution, three of the current commissioners posts are required to be renewed - applications are welcomed from interested parties.....

  making waves......

on mixy mackerel fishing this morning.........

 boxed for the market......

 Frank, skipper of the Silver Dawn, keen to get in some practice for of the Fishing for Plastic scheme.....

 while Chivers' junior sticks to what he knows best.......

 maybe he should think about applying, methinks there's one or two in the fleet who might struggle with the waist measurement requirement........

 small, small, medium, small, small, medium........

 a keen eye and deft hand.......

 a meeting not to be missed for the Under 10m section of the fleet,be at the Mission in Newlyn to meet reps from Defra/MMO and voice your concerns, could be a lively meeting....... 

a warning from the local constabulary with regard to the theft of kit at Hayle and Mousehole.

CFP - keep posted on the CFP

With legalisation at local, national and pan-European levels affecting many fishermen on a daily basis being 'kept in the loop' is more important than ever these days. A web site dedicated to following all things Common Fisheries Policy-wise should be high on any fisherman's reading list.

CFPReformwatch.eu does its best to pick up on any and every snippet of information coming out of Brussels and other relevant departments carrying the CFP tag. Forewarned is forearmed - knowledge is power - old but in the case of the hugely complex industry that fishing has become - cliches that are all too true.

What grieves the smaller and inshore fisherman most is how much of the legislation that directly affects them is down the hugely more powerful section of the Euro fleet whose boats catch or even discard more in a month than they would or could catch in a lifetime. Yet, with increasingly stark stock statistics making their way into the public domain and conciousness it is many of the smaller guys who are least able to diversify, move fishery or re-locate and have to bear the brunt of the quota cuts and other legislative mechanisms like no-take zones and protected areas.

Here's the latest response from the quota-sharing suggestion from Brussels and one from Scotland's Environment Secretary, Richard Lockhead.

5 4 8 at 2 4 Street, Mousehole.

The table is set.......

time to read the menu, with local fish dishes to choose from......

 and, despite being Thursday night, this was the last bass........

 and the last but one skate........

 as the evening sun goes down the ambience warms.......

all too soon it's time for some home-made apple and pear sorbet to round off a superb meal - hats off to the girls front of house - a big improvement on last year.


Email or ring 01736 731164 to check the day's menu - which changes according to the availability of local fish and be sure chef Jeff Wardell can do his best to please.


Check out a sample menu.