Happy Christmas everyone! I hope Christmas brings the end to a wonderful, productive and fulfilling year for you. If it’s been otherwise, you’ll have a completely new year to look forward to!

(Art by Lisa Congdon @ www.20×200.com)

Yesterday I tried reproducing the dish, but couldn’t find any quail’s eggs, so I had to settle myself with some larger-than-life scallops. I know. The hardship. I coped pretty well. The rest of the morcilla was crumbled into a tortilla. Both of these recipes came from the Barrafina book. All that protein and carbs would have made a pretty rich meal, so my token greens came in the form of chargrilled broccoli with chillies and garlic. It’s one of my favourite dishes from the Ottolenghi book. This is an excellent dish if you need some vegetables in your diet but want to jazz up the usual stir-fry. It’s moreish, and makes me feel virtuous eating all those greens!

If there were any cookbooks worth investing in, the Barrafina and the Ottolenghi cookbooks will be worth it. And they would make great Christmas presents for a keen cook!

All pictures by Brian Ferry

Tomorrow I will shop for ingredients for whatever I decide to cook.

4 salmon fish cakes + green salad with an Asian-style dressing

3 bowls of spaghetti in a courgette sauce

2 large glasses of avocado milkshake

…..and a partridge in a pear tree! Tralala…

There’s a predominantly green theme running through my diet this week. Not the mild cool of cucumber, but properly Shrek shades. To top it off I’ve got broccoli soup for the weekend! Wouldn’t it be interesting if you planned your week’s menu on a colour? Maybe I’ll go orange next week and have carrot soup, butternut squash risotto, paella, and curry laksa. Yummy!

Hvar captured my imagination and I fell head over heels in love with it. Wouldn’t you take it as an open invitation too if you saw row upon row of yachts moored in the harbour? All you need to do is step on and sail off into the sunset. And we did. Well, we hired one but let’s skip the practicalities. (Click on the pictures to enlarge!)

Our day spent sailing was the highlight of the holiday for me. I had such a feeling of freedom as we cruised over the waves, wind whipping through my hair, sun in my eyes. This was what holidays were made of. I tried desperately and failed to stay dry so I just succumbed. The salty waves kept battering us as we sailed against the current out into the open sea towards Vis. My friend C observed Croatian sea water was much saltier than elsewhere by the amount of salt crust we had to wipe off our faces and sunnies.

Lunch was at Restaurant Val, and our hostess served up a meal of traditional Croatian dishes. We had a delicious stew of seafood, pasta and beans. Too bad I couldn’t stuff myself, I didn’t want to risk seeing my lunch again on the way back. As it turned out it was a risk worth taking as we were sailing with the current back to Hvar, in time to enjoy the sunset. A miniscule flying fish made a dash over the boat but all I saw was a flutter in the corner of my eye.

The day before we had walked up the hill to the castle. It was a pretty walk, with gorgeous scenery overlooking the harbour. C had a brilliant idea to take another route less travelled home. Well, it did lead us back, but only after a little detour around the island! And another serendipitous encounter with a beekeeper, when we stopped for a little rest and to take in the scenery.

Back at the flat, we munched on juicy pomegranates whilst C and S nursed a concussed little birdie (flew right into the kitchen door!) back to health.

It was a day and night of walks as we took another long, long trek along a cliff road to a restaurant with its own private beach. But it was worth it as we paused to enjoy the moonlight reflecting off the black sea. We had some delicious prawn buzzara, in a white wine, garlic and parsley sauce.

C and I arrived in Hvar a day earlier than the others and our landlady gave us directions to a beach near the flat. So we walked down the hill, past a grove of pine trees and onto a stone pathway that hugged the coastline. C took a few steps down the slope and lo and behold discovered a darling little corner of the world we called our private beach. As far as beaches went it had a few deckchairs on a rocky outcrop and no sand in the strict definition of a beach but it was quiet and afforded a gorgeous view of the sunset. Our very own little secret.

Friend A taught us how to play Monopoly Deal and we were hooked! Hilarious and completely off book tactics ensued. Did I mention we were really competitive? We were so addicted that we played it in Dubrovnik airport, and on the Gatwick train back into London. Friend S got hooked on Nickelback’s ‘Far Away’. C rues the day I introduced it to S!  And if it wasn’t Nickelback it was Adele’s ‘Someone Like You’. Obviously sang very off tune and very loudly by us.

Split’s market had an array of fruits, vegetables, cheeses and cured meats to choose from, and all a mere 5 minute walk away from our apartment. We gorged ourselves on the sweetest plums, pomegranates, dried figs and dried cranberries.

Lunch was at an unassuming little bar just next to the fish market that served the best fried seafood. We walked through the Diocletian Palace’s basements and were greeted with the pretty tableau of a cat bathed by yellow light next to an old fountain. He was pretty unfazed by all the attention he got. The rest of the palace complex has been swallowed up by the old town. People now live in and amongst the palace old rooms, and intermingled between new buildings are ancient 4th century remnants. There was so much original artwork being sold in the stalls, I wanted to buy so many. But I restrained myself to one and it’s now propped up in my bookshelf at home.

A short walk up a hill on the edge of town rewarded us with this view of Split. An interesting character greeted us on the way down. An old Croatian man with a walking stick, speaking perfect English with nary an accent. He was recovering from knee surgery and doing some gentle exercise. Past occupation? A reconnaissance agent in the Bosnian-Croatian war, working undercover in Bosnia. He regaled us with stories of his exploits in the war and what really went on at ground level that led to Croatian victory. Such a charming man and so obviously well read.

The next day we chilled out at the waterfront with iced coffees and hopped onto the ferry that took us to Hvar island.

Croatia was the first holiday with friends after many years. I needed this trip. To recharge and relax. To cherish old friendships and foster new ones. Instead of planning the itinerary like crazy and cramming in as much to see and do as possible, I let go and just went with the flow (most of the time!). That worked. I had one of the best holidays of my life, and realised I hadn’t smiled or laughed so much in a long time. I’ve got so much to share and don’t know where to start! So we’ll begin at the beginning, as the King said to the White Rabbit.

Our starters of deep fried goats cheese salad and grilled asparagus with poached egg went down with no complaints. My asparagus had a smoky flavour and was still crisp. That poached egg oozed glorious yolk which coated everything else in its egginess.

Look at my steak! I know I have sung its praises before, but just look! I’m afraid the man’s roast duck just paled in comparison. We’ve now made a pact to just order steak for our mains whenever we come back here.

The desserts were scrumptious. My raspberry and lime sorbet was light, refreshing and extremely flavoursome. The man’s Eton mess was classic meringue with strawberries and cream.

It’s a standing joke between us that we have a hard time spending even an hour having a meal out, but we were having so much fun that almost two hours went by without notice. We then walked out into the cool night back to our car to Gloria Gaynor’s “I WILL SURVIVE!” blasting out of a club. What a great night.