“An anchovy, to get to an important point, is a larval sardine (Engraulis encrasicolus). Around Nice, anchovies are called poutines (not to be confused with fast-food from Quebec).”

This, from a writer I have long respected for their meticulous research, rang alarm bells. Nowhere, ever, have I come across the idea that an anchovy is a larval sardine. A sardine, I’ve always thought (known?) is a young pilchard. And an anchovy is ... an anchovy. These days, though, you can’t be too sure, so I turned to the magisterial Mediteranean Seafood by the master, Alan Davidson (2nd edition, Penguin, 1981).

My worst fears, confirmed: [Someone is Wrong on the Internet]((https://xkcd.com/386/).

There’s more ➢

Two writers on Substack get money from me, one because I genuinely wish to support them, the other because I find what they write valuable and they abandoned first their print subscriptions and then their website. All the rest, and there are a fair few, probably never will. Obviously, despite their best efforts, I don’t feel like I’m missing anything.

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The modern digital audio recorder is a thing of wonder. I have a Zoom F3 that is tiny and that records such an insanely wide dynamic range that it doesn’t even have a “Volume” setting. All fixed in post. And yet ... Every so often it completely fails to work as expected. Most likely it is my expectations that are wrong, but that’s no excuse.

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Quinoa is not a staple at our house. I like it a lot, but I don’t make it that often. If I did, I would probably already have negotiated a way through the ethical maze that confronts me. Should I buy quinoa from its homeland in South America, and if so should it be the morally superior stuff grown by small farmers on the altiplano of Peru and Bolivia, or the industrial stuff grown on the coast by greedy land barons cashing in on the mystique cultivated by the local people they despise?

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One reason I have had so little to say here is that I have been too busy having fun, and today was no exception. Rain, however, stopped play early and so here I am, forcing myself to share a few of the spoils before a little nap.

There’s more ➢