Each day is a little life...Travel memories, baked fish and spa quality scrub...

  Town hall.   Honfleur in Northern France...   Picturesque, and lots of happy wandering done in the village.   *sigh*.....   Life is conducted at a different place in these small towns, as is the case with small towns across the globe. Someone once said that moving to the country or beachside, means living a longer, healthier life. I don't know if that is true, but it certainly sounds appealing.   We, in the city, try hard, but miss the mark. No amount of Farmers Markets or sidewalk cafe's can really duplicate the feeling of wandering down the narrow cobbled lanes or dusty streets, or salt scented laneways of a true country or seaside town.   But we try.   Today I have an Ocean scented potpourri in a silver compote dish, the sound of the ocean on my iPod, a whole fish to bake for our dinner, and a sugar and salt scrub to exfoliate my Winter worn limbs. That's as close to a seaside escape as we'll get today, but we can live with that. Our turn for a Sea Change will come.   Here's how I bake my whole fish:   Ask for your fish to be cleaned and scaled. Get him home and pat him dry outside and in with paper towels. Rub him generously with salt and pepper.   Dice two shallots (green onions), a 4 cm piece of ginger, one onion, 1/2 a red capsicum (pepper), 2 red chillies, 2 lemongrass stalks and 4 garlic cloves.   Score the flesh of the fish, and rub this mixture all over him, inside and out. Wrap him in foil, and bake him for between 25 and 50 minutes depending upon his size and how fleshy he is. He's done when the flesh is white and flakes easily.   Remove him from the oven and take him, steaming in the foil and on a platter, to the dinner table. Squeeze some lime juice over him, and scatter him with freshly chopped coriander.   Sublime.   As for my Spa quality sugar and salt scrub, well that's easy.   In a jar or bowl, combine 1/4 cup oil (olive, jojoba, macadamia) and 2 tablespoons of pharmaceutical glycerine, with 2 tablespoons of sugar, 1 tablespoon of salt and 20 drops of your favourite essential oil. I love the combination of Lime oil and Peppermint oil. The glycerine helps the scrub 'stick' to your skin, facilitating a good scrubbing and exfoliation session, and is the secret ingredient in all the Spa scrubs. Your skin will be left so silky smooth, you won't believe it.   I promise.   ...Mimi...