Shopping for fish

When we lived in Brussels, we had a fishmongers on our street. Family-run for generations, it was enormously popular and on Sunday mornings the Bruxellois would queue out of the door for the fresh mussels, prawns, sole and monkfish to conjure up some culinary delight for their family lunch. Fish was filleted in front of you on a huge, ancient wooden block and on your way out you could pick up a bottle of the best Sancerre or Chablis to enjoy with your purchase.

The Bahrainis are also fish-lovers and many families have been fishermen for generations. They have been suffering in recent years as reclamation and development work has not only robbed them of their harbours and jetties, but has also led to a loss of fish stock to Qatari and Iranian waters.

While some fish is available in supermarkets, the best place to go for the freshest catch is the fish market. Fishermen yell out the prices of their daily catch, the floor swims with briny water and the smell by midday is overwhelming. It is a part of Bahrain that, for now, remains unchanged, unmodernised. And while the fishmongers may not have the panache of their Belgian counterparts, they have a charm all of their own.

New Year, New You

Every paper and magazine I pick up at the moment is full of those early January articles extolling the virtues of the post-Christmas detox, the latest exercise fads or the most recent innovations in skincare.

I arrived back from the UK with flu, and looking decidedly less healthy and more sallow than when I left Bahrain in December. So I decided that perhaps I should heed the advice in some of those articles and pay more attention to my skin.

Unfortunately, most of the new, high-tech skincare products on offer in the UK have not yet arrived in Bahrain. But my scouring of the shelves of the local pharmacy did reveal a range of alternatives, my favourite of which (located right next to the New Zealand bovine colostrum pills) was this offering from the Philippines:

This herbal beauty soap promises to renew damaged skin tissues and fade away blemishes and contains a healthy dose of placental enzymes to help you on your way. The box doesn't specify where the enzymes are sourced.

A quick bit of internet research revealed that placenta extracts have been a popular health and beauty product in the Far East for centuries and products containing them are now being touted by swish Swiss clinics and top-end skincare lines beloved of Madonna and the like.

My sister has just had a baby. We were discussing her placenta only last week. Somehow I can't bring myself to open the packet.