High Tide	02:26 (2.40m)
Low Tide	08:12 (0.90m)
High Tide	14:40 (2.40m)
Low Tide	20:33 (0.90m)

Sea temperature: 16.4

Sea conditions: low tide, calm

Weather: sunny, clear, crisp and no wind

Joined by: Mertz, Purdy and family

Topics of conversation: 

The weather and how lucky we are to be having such wonderful clear days so far into September, it really was a beautiful morning.

The view from the dunes

DK sang the praises of his supper, Legs had made a broad bean risotto with scallops which sounded amazing and I have to admit that it was on my mind from the moment he mentioned it and made me so hungry that I've just eaten the biggest bowl of porridge ever. We discussed the recipe and how perfect it sounded and this afternoon I had the recipe sent over - Legs is so good at sharing!

RISOTTO WITH BROAD BEANS AND SCALLOPS

-   NOTE: buy scallops enough for however many people you’re serving, figure about 3 very large or 5-6 small/medium; they will rest on top of the risotto

handful of chopped onion, red or white

50 g extra virgin olive oil

320 gr arborio or canaroli rice

1.5 liters hot chicken stock

half a glass of white wine

40 gr freshly grated parmesan

40 gr butter, room temp

1-2 sm cloves minced garlic

60+ gr broad beans, skinned

(gratings of summer truffle..yeah right..)

scallops

SAUTE onion in half the oil.

ADD rice and saute until hot and translucent.

ADD wine and let rice absorb, the ADD stock a few ladles at a time until liquid absorbed, then add more etc (general risotto method: about 20-25 min in all)

MEANWHILE..in a small skillet....

SAUTE garlic briefly in rest of oil (and truffle if you can tell me where to buy the sucker) then add broadbeans and a splash of stock, and let simmer until tender. Remove from skillet, tent with foil, rinse skillet, return to heat, ready for scallops.

Keep stirring that rice and adding stock.

MEANWHILE....

Dry the scallops, heat the skillet until HOT, add a touch of oil, and sear those scallops, browning beautifully but do not overcook: about 4 min should do for med, more for large.

When rice ready, add broadbeans, then butter and parmesan. Salt & pepper.

Serve risotto topped with scallops, squeeze over a bit of lemon, and throw on some rocket. Delish.

Our supper of smoked haddock chowder seemed like peasant food by comparison but we still regalled DK with the huge list of ingredients that went into it - haddock, spuds, carrots, shallots, spring onions, chili, spinach, cream, parsley and the secret ingredient, pureed sweetcorn. I'd only done this as I'm struggling with my cracked tooth at the moment and found a recipe which uses the method of pureeing the sweetcorn before adding it to the chowder. It made a huge difference as did the four pepper mix (green, white, pink and black).

Cricket - Mertz and DK had a very long chat about cricket yesterday, little of which I understood and I admitted to having made a short documentary about cricketing memorabilia with no knowledge of the sport when Mertz had to help me out and conduct the interviews. There was more cricketing talk today.

Western Ireland - DK has Irish ancestry and we discussed the kindness and humour of the people of western Ireland in particular. I've never been but would love to go, especially after hearing them talk about it. Mertz told a story of ordering a drink in a bar which had some smut surrounding the request for Black Bush Whisky, and probably doesn't bear re-telling.

Clive's bike - he's a serious biker and very, very tall. He swam with us today and whilst he was swimming we rudely speculated about the cost of his road bike - it's a serious bike.