There are occasional moments when I chance to describe myself as a media celebrity, with the reservation that I am celebrated strictly within the confines of the Isle of Man.
Unfortunately this is something which causes members of my family and my close friends to laugh immoderately.
They make it plain that they see me more as something of a buffoon.
But they might now like to know that there are other people who see me as a person of consequence. I refer to the good people of the Ramsey-based northern committee of Hospice.
They have asked me, along with other individuals they regard as notable figures in Manx life, to contribute to a book which they are preparing for sale to fund their noble enterprise.
We have been asked, to send in for inclusion, our favourite kitchen recipes. If this is not island-wide celebrity, what is?
What I have sent in, for anybody who might be interested in my dietary preferences, is a recipe for what I believe to be real taramasalata, the Greek dip consisting largely of smoked cod roe: in other words not like the suspiciously pink version to be found in supermarkets.
I must admit that I have plundered it from Delia. But I am giving her a generous name check. We media celebrities often do this kind of thing for each other, you understand.
I have had the urge to make real taramasalata before. But I had difficulty finding a fishmonger in the Isle of Man able to supply me with the essential smoked cod roe. They put me off every time for reasons I cannot fathom. I have had to resort for supplies to a smoke-house business in Scotland. But I would like Manx fishmongers to know that I prefer to support home industry. I am prepared to pay handsomely.
Otherwise I have to confess that it’s not the first time I have been asked to contribute to a charity recipe book.
It happened some years ago and all I could think of was my idea of a classic chip butty. For this I prescribed the use of soft white bread spread thickly with well salted Manx butter and chips cooked, not in oil because this is not for discerning gastronomes like myself, but in good old-fashioned lard.
The twice-cooked chips would be packed between the slices of bread heavy with salt and drenched in malt vinegar, best to be eaten while wearing overalls.
Strangely I didn’t hear anything more from the people concerned. I thought my chip butty was a real killer.
l The name of the Ramsey pub with a sign saying: ‘The front door is round the back’ has been given; well, sort of.
Brian Skelton and Norman Cubbon say it is The Plough at 46 Parliament Street. But a lady living far way from Ramsey in Colby, Muriel Putnam, says she saw the sign on The Mitre.
Next?
l We have more Manx crosswords clues, six of them, from Karl Campbell.
The first is: Pull a vehicle the wrong way in race series (7) – ATTRACT. (Times Jumbo Cryptics).