I recently made oregano pesto, mainly to enable the opportunity to hack back something in the overgrown herb patch. I found the recipe from another blog, so can't pretend to have made it up myself. You can find it here. I didn't sterilise my two jars, and found that the pesto went brown quite quickly. I don't know if this was linked. I kept them both in the fridge and they tasted fine.

My lifetime friend Yvonne lives in the idyllic seaside village of Cellardyke in Fife. Her next door neighbour Steve, a fisherman, gave me a carrier bag full of frozen line caught mackerel, the last time I was there. Of course my first stop was to cook it in the traditional Scottish way Steve'd shown me that morning. Rolled in oats and fried in butter. Unbeatable. A pinch of seasoning, sweet smoked paprika, and a few minutes in the pan, you'll wonder how Mr Kellogg ever made his millions.

With mackerel fillets filling our freezer, Mark made a variation on the Delia recipe of baked mackerel with pesto and mashed potato. Of course he used the oregano pesto. Delicious. You can find her recipe here.

Our version doesn't look quite as professional as hers but tasted amazing.

Cocktail of the Month

My husband Mark spends many an hour inventing and drinking cocktails at home. We don't get out much. With the rhubarb compote to hand, he decided to make a rhubarb based cocktail. This one is based on a 'Knickerbocker', but with the all important addition of rhubarb compote. Another one we tried which only involves one other ingredient is our south west Edinburgh take on the 'Bellini', the 'Balerni'. (Arf)

The Rhubocker
2 oz Gin
1/2 oz Dry Vermouth (Noilly Prat)
1/4 oz Sweet Vermouth
2 tsps Rhubarb Compote

Place all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake hard. Serve in a chilled martini glass.

The Balerni
Put 1-2 tsp rhubarb compote at the bottom of a champagne glass. Top up halfway with either champagne, prosecco or cava. Stir carefully with a swizzle stick, then fill the rest of the glass with bubbly. If you have enough of them it counts towards your five a day.