Today was my rest day in St Ives. I spent the first part of the morning being very dull down at the launderette. I'm out of practice at using such places. I first had to go out and buy a newspaper I didn't want to get change for the washer. After that I had to get an ice cream (cornish fudge flavour) which I did want to get change for the dryer. Why don't these establishments have change machines?
The rest of the day was spent in glorious, uncultured idleness. I did not set foot in a gallery, most particularly not the local branch of the Tate (which is not universally popular as can be seen from the photo below).
Nope, all I did all day was saunter around the town, browse in the shops and sit on benches in the sun alternatively snoozing and reading. Actually, I tell a lie. I wasn't totally lacking in kulchur. I did visit the St Ives museum. A locally run place with an eclectic collection of items from the region, starting with Iron Age odds and ends pretty much to the local day. These sorts of places are often more interesting than professionally curated museums. It is fascinating to see what sort of things the locals think are important to retain. As expected, there were lots of items and articles on sailing and shipwrecks. The coast around here is treacherous.
It was a lovely day. Warm (for Cornwall), sunny with no wind or rain. By early evening all the day trippers had gone home and it turns out to be a very pretty place.
The weather has stayed fine so after dinner I went for a wander down to the harbour and along the pier. I saw my first seal. Apparently he generally shows up around this time of day. It looked as if he was as fascinated with all of us looking at him from the pier as we were with him, but I suspect he was just waiting for someone to drop (or better yet throw) him a fish. It is a working harbour so there were several fisherman unloading their catches. He went away empty handed today but by the look of him he's doing alright.
Dinner was at the Wave restaurant. They take the whole notion of local produce very seriously too. There was a list outside the restaurant detailing the supplier of just about everything e.g. Fred Bloggs from Lower Sandy Bottom Farm supplies the eggs etc. I had no trouble getting a table for one this time. The place is twice as large as the one I went to last night and slightly off the beaten track so I suspect they can't afford to be as fussy.
For starter I had gnocchi with a crab and star anise beurre blanc sauce. I'm a philistine. I thought it would have been tastier with a bit of cheese, but it was still very good. Main was crispy pork belly with apples and onions (just like Mum makes it!) and mashed potatoes with mustard seeds. Very good and from happy pigs from Joe Somebodies farm. Dessert was a vanilla panna cotta with a rhubarb and ginger compote topping. This was washed down with 2 glasses of an Australian Shiraz (Auction House - a brand I've never heard off) and followed by an espresso and petit fours. Hmm, given all this food perhaps the old railway scales in the St Ives museum weren't wrong after all.
How lovely it all seems - the sun, the sun and the sun, and the seal looks very pleasant too. I've just finished cooking up a batch of rhubarba (from our backyard) and ginger (from Coles) to see if it will tempt Graeme's tastebuds. No improvement in that direction.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what the NGV would say to a sign like the Bloody Tate!
Love the seal!
ReplyDeleteWhat time does it get dark there? Presumably pretty late if you saw the seal after dinner!
It's dark here by 5.30 p.m. so we're forgetting what Summer evenings are like.