I’M sitting in the shade of a palm tree, under a cobalt blue sky, trying to imagine what the people of Bury will fancy cooking this week.

I’m guessing the skies there are various shades of grey and milky white and that, unlike me, you haven’t all been living on barbecued food all week.

But I have, and it has been wonderful and so I’m going to share some of the hits of the week.

It may not be barbecue weather at home yet, but it will be soon, right? Right.

The hands-down winners of the week were the various slaws we made for heaping on top of our barbecued meats.

It is so easy to make and homemade tastes so much better than shop- bought.

You can also add any flavouring you like and make it with or without mayonnaise, so personal preferences are easily catered for.

In its simplest form, thinly sliced white cabbage, a tiny bit of onion and mayo combine to magic effect; add a squeeze of lemon juice and some chopped herbs and it is transformed again into something light and refreshing.

Or try replacing the white cabbage with fennel and dressing with lemon juice and olive oil instead of mayonnaise to make a fabulous accompaniment for barbecued fish or the pork belly, right.

Barbecued fish always sounds appealing but can be a bit of a nightmare in reality. If the barbecue isn’t hot enough, the skin will stick and the whole thing will look a mess and fall apart.

Also, loose-textured fish doesn’t work very well, as we discovered this week with a disastrous attempt at hake which fully disintegrated when I tried to take it off the grill.

Stick to firmer-fleshed fish such as sardines, mackerel, sole (locally caught megrim sole can be an absolute steal, as little as a couple of pounds for a whole fish), turbot, brill. So, firm flesh and a hot grill should lead to beautifully barbecued fish.