Wet Wednesday

Evidence that last night was a dirty night at sea.......

with the promenade at Penzance getting a good soaking this morning......

follow that sign (but don't try and find the museum as it is long since gone).......

looks calm enough in the harbour......

and inside the fish market there are plent6y of broken trips from the boats forced in by the weather........

not enough to keep top bass boat Cynthia from landing these beauties..... 

top score from the beamer WSS.......

the netter, Gary M went through some pretty rough days to get these guys ashore, good turbot and monk up for grabs......

as did the Govenek of Ladram......

who also landed a few boxes of these fine looking Cornish hake......

it's all go in the fridge Mike.......

one very wet looking quay.......

where else?!

Dodging together 100 miles off Cornwall

After steaming almost 100 miles north west of Land's End and having shot her gear last night, the netter Ajax reports that she is now dodging (keeping the boat head-to-wind in order to reduce the effect of the bad weather) alongside the Padstow netter, Sparkling Line. The boats are not too far from the Kinsale Gas Field and the site of the wreck, Luistania, which is about 12 miles off Kinsale Head..

Spare a thought for the guys at sea tonight

It's not nice out there! ......... the Crystal Sea III is towing into and then with the weather in order keep as comfortable as possible - many of the Breton boats don't do this because the say the stop-start effect it has on the boat loses the fish being herded in front of the trawl!

That's a seriously wet looking sun!

A portent of the weather to come provides a watery backdrop to Penzance's highest feature.

Porthleven Food Festival

 This time it was the sun not storms that no doubt helped to engulf one Cornish port at the weekend as floods of people descended on Porthleven for its annual Food Fest, opened by chef Anthony Worrall-Thompson........

 there were plenty of local produce stands, Cornish Duck being one......

 a huge demonstration tent houses a constant stream of entertaining cooking events throughout the day.....

 the stalls showcase just how diverse the range of Cornish produce has become over the years......

 with cured meats being a big favourite........

 and in recent years sweet-toothed fans have plenty to choose from......

 along with that ever-increasing cheese board that seems to grow ever broader year on year!

Mitch Tonks - fish easy!

With the ink barely dry from the publishers, a copy of Mitch Tonk's new book, 'fish easy' fell through the TtG letterbox..........

as the cover suggests, well over 100 recipes are aimed at keeping things simple......

as luck would have it, the skipper from one Newlyn boat dropped off a cracking pair of ray wings so this dish looked too tempting to miss for a trial Tonks  tasting........

with the book conveniently placed its time to get some prep underway.......

a few minutes sees a simple bread based sauce already to go.......

ready to accompany the fish, a handful of light vegetables........

and a pan of the very first Cornish earlies to hit the greengrocer's shelves.......

after surviving the winter, a few sprigs of fresh thyme from the garden are all that is needed to go with the ray while it's cooking........

but not before a hot, heavy pan has given the wing a few minutes on the thicker side......

then the herbs are added and the pan popped in the oven........

ready for the table........

as the name suggests, Mitch's book is full of recipes that are quick to prepare and every bit as tasty and appealing as more complex and time consuming dishes....... 

and is conveniently organised by cooking methods which include........

the oven......... 

and the grill......

throughout the sections there are some really useful cheffy tips and info - like how to salt fish for those culinary classics.......

and a section at the back for all those basic fish dish techniques and methods........

the book is very much a hands-on experience with the Dartmouth based chef making it a personal guide through the clearly written and easy to follow recipes - fish easy gets a TtG top shelf cook book recommendation for those times when you buy some fish and then think about what to do with it once you get home! If you are anywhere near Dartmouth or want to be in touch with  one of England's fishiest chefs, @mitchtonks or @rockfishdevon should keep you in the picture.

Two boats lost in as many days in the Western Approaches.

Early yesterday morning, the 11m fishing boat Sea Bird P283 went down seconds after an RNLI rib took off her two man crew - especially the skipper who saw fit to make sure he left the boat with THE most important item - his EU fishing logbook???!!.....

around the same time this morning, a small tug, the Aquarius was reported to have sunk about 40 miles south of the Lizard while she was making her way from Gibraltar to Plymouth. One man is reported to be missing from the three man crew who were taken off by a French rescue helicopter.