A slight detour ......

What really frustrated home "fine dining" for years was a lack of good sources of local fresh produce. This even goes for our second home from which we can see across the bay one of the UK's premier fish ports. Fish - even in the local fish shops was variable. Fish simply wasn't always fresh - particlarly less popular fish ie premium fish.

Boringly my favourite food is fresh bread ..... to the extent I become quite obsessive with it ... even to making fresh pizza at home using Caputo flour imported from Naples..... and keeping a sour dough bigga starter going in the fridge to feed the fresh pizza supply ...... but that's a different story!

Recently an outfit in the UK called Ocado started to deliver to our area and we now get a delivery every third day. We pay a monthly fee of £9.99 and deliveries are then free. This includes very fresh fish from a counter (bream, sea bass etc) very good beef (dry aged Aberdeen rib steaks!) and fresh bread including excellent sourdough including varieties. As I'm able to get deliveries at around 07:00 in ther morning it means very fresh bread at least twice a week for breakfast (coffee from the automatic Gaggia) and wonderful fresh fish at least twice a week which we grill. Who can beat very fresh bream grilled with some salad some home made vinegarette and fresh bread ...... Even when we were snowed in a while ago for a couple of weeks and 4x4's couldn't move in or out somehow or other the Ocado Mercedes vans chugged up the hill with our goodies ..... And now ... as the cook also does the shopping (me) wastage is reduced and meals planned properly and arguments and tiffs about substitutions avoided!

It is suprising how decent supply sources changes ones lives.

I still cannot believe that shopping is completed by 07:30 The only thing that has ever tempted me to live in France is the baker shops and local small markets and now at least I have Ocado which has stopped the longing ..... and my wife would say the whining.