My birthday is coming up soon. And Chip has given me a present. To a semi-feral cat, a rat is a great delicacy. I’m honoured to receive the front half. Chip probably decided to see how it tasted and ended up eating a bit more than he intended. He is only six months old. This gift shows that he holds me in high regard. Chip does follow me around the garden and has invented some chasing games that he plays with me. And I am the one who fills his bowls with food and lactose-free milk each morning.
I don’t
think I’ll be having his present for dinner on my birthday. I must admit I’d
prefer to visit one of my favourite restaurants: Hara in Hillsborough or The
Mourne Seafood Bar in Dundrum. Although, because of Covid, I haven’t actually
been to a restaurant for the past two years. But I have had some fine meals
from Hara as they do an excellent ‘home’ menu, where they prepare the three-course
meal and you finish it off in the oven at home.
All of
this reminds me of an unforgettable meal I had in Croatia, hosted by a famous
professor. He took me to a renowned seafood restaurant in Istria. It’s the peninsula
below Trieste with fortified towns that were once part of the Venetian empire,
and has been written about by Dante and Thomas Mann. Anyway, the famous professor
ordered a local delicacy, a whole fish cooked in wine and herbs. I must admit
it was a marvelous meal washed down with a bottle of fine white wine.
I cleared
my plate apart from the head, backbone and tail of the fish. I was just about
to thank my host, when he said, ‘I see you’ve left the best bits till last.’ I had
to admit that I didn’t exactly know what he meant. ‘Let me show you,’ he said.
He inserted the point of his knife just behind the gaping mouth of the fish and
levered out some flesh. It was the cheek of the fish. He told me that these
muscles are very well developed in fish and are especially tasty. I followed
his example, ate the cheek of my fish and put down my knife and fork.
‘And now
for the greatest delicacy,’ he said. I smiled, thinking he was going to order
something else. But he picked up the head of his fish in his hands, lifted it
to his lips and sucked the eye out with a great slurping noise. ‘Aah,’ he said,
‘lovely.’ I smiled nervously. My fish looked up at me from the plate. I was very
anxious not to disappoint my host. ‘Aren’t you going to eat it?’ he asked. I
told him that I was, regretfully, completely full. He grinned, picked up the
head of my fish and sucked its eye out.