When it's Black, it's Done.....

Well, I was going to write about 'Cooking with Fernet Branca' - especially the recipe for Otter in Lobster Sauce - and then I thought I'd mention Paul Bocuse's birthday celebrations, and ponder both Tetsuya Wakuda's latest publication and a recipe from Lea Linster for saddle of lamb in a thin crispy crust of potato.......which has reminded me of the Salmon and potato roulade (see below for the recipe)......
Except that it's all been put out of my mind by the fact that the
building is on fire! Rather dramatically, too..........The roof has been burning for the past six hours, and the entire London Fire Brigade seems to have descended on us. Apart from being mildly kippered from the smoke, there seems no immediate danger......although most of the the building has been evacuated to the Albert Hall, and we're keeping a low profile indoors, to avoid having to join them.....If we leave to shop for supper, then the police won't let us back in, so we're having to scrape by on wartime rations. Fortunately, I've just found a tub of apple and calvados sorbet in the freezer that I'd forgotten about, and I can see the makings of an interestingly rich risotto with some gloriously jellied Duck Stock, to follow potted shrimps , I think.....I suspect we 'll survive the crisis somehow. I can feel a bottle of something revivingly fizzy coming on....