Spring has finally Sprung!

At last - it took it's time, but today, for the first time, it actually felt like winter was behind us - I could walk into Richmond without seven layers of clothes, a scarf and gloves......and not get frost-bite if I stood still longer than 17 seconds!

I feel as if I have come out of hibernation - and I love it - let summer begin! But to clinch it all, to really confirm to me that winter was over, was the magical sound of.............the musical ice-cream van coming down my street! I'm not sure at what time of the year he would normally start but I am very impressed with his optimism - it wasn't THAT hot today.

Typically I was writing summer recipes at the same time, so I thought I would finally get some into the blog. The feature I am writing is about Billingsgate (see my earlier blog for more information about the great London fish market), so lots of healthy fish recipes. but the one I have included is for crab and avocado salad as crab to me brings back such lovely memories of summers at Cromer beach as a child, with Dad insisting we buy the biggest crab we could find for our crab and cucumber sandwiches! Unfortunately I can't whizz up to Cromer each time I want crab, but luckily I live pretty close to Sandy's Fishmonger in Twickenham, so am spoilt for choice when it comes to great fish or game.

Crab and Avocado Salad

Serves 4

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp cumin seeds

4 spring onions

juice of 1 lemon

2 little gems, trimmed and leaves separated

2 avocados, stoned, peeled and sliced

the meat of 2 dressed crabs

• Heat the oil very gently and cook the cumin seeds for a few minutes before adding the spring onions.
• When you can smell the aroma of the cumin and onions, turn off the heat and add the lemon juice. Swirl around to help the juice and oil mix together.
• Place the little gem leaves onto four plates then top with sliced avocado and finally the crab.
• Pour over the dressing and serve immediately.

The early bird catches the freshest fish!

If, like me, you are a lover of fish, then this is an experience you should not miss. I have just spend the most inspirational day at Billingsgate Fish Market in East London - what an experience.

We started the day at 6.15am (I realise to most of you this may actually be the middle of the night! But for us rowers, it's half way through the day, so was no hardship for me), and it was so worth getting up for. We started with a tour of the market with Brian, who told us everything we wanted to know about the market itself and all the types of fish and

seafood that were on offer - you will have never seen such fresh and wonderful fish!

We were given the odd taster - hot smoked salmon at 6.45am on a freezing cold winter morning tastes heavenly! After the tour we moved upstairs to the Seafood Training School and were served a delicious plate of kedgeree (one of my favourite fish dishes) and a hot drink to thaw us all out.

After that it was over to us - we were all shown to our work stations, and from then on followed the wonderful Adam who talked us through dressing a crab, skinning monkfish, filleting a mackerel, and loads more tips on how to prepare the fish that is available to us in the UK.

Finally, all our hard work was rewarded with a delicious bowl of fish soup, made with the results of our filleting, peeling and chopping!

So impressed by the whole day, I offered to run a healthy eating workshop along the same lines and CJ who runs the school agreed - so watch this space for more details of workshops taking place in June and October this year.

For details of other workshops available go to www.seafoodtraining.org.