A Spring salad on a terribly sad day.

Recipe of the week...
... Roasted Spring Veg Salad.

Ingredients: 1 baking potato (or a handful of baby potatoes), 80g pack of tenderstem broccoli, 110g pack of asparagus, half a dozen cubes of feta cheese, a drizzle of cooking oil, a drizzle of your favourite salad dressing, and salt and pepper.

Time taken: 40 mins-ish.

Serves: One big plateful.

Evening readers,

As I write, it’s May 2017, and it’s the day after the attack on the MEN Arena in Manchester. So far, 22 people have died and over 50 are injured, as a result of the attack. We’re beginning to learn the names and hear the stories of those who have lost their lives. In the words of Chris Upton, head teacher at a school attended by an eight year old victim, "The thought that anyone could go out to a concert and not come home is heartbreaking.”

In November 2015, at the time when the attack on the Bataclan in Paris occurred, I had been merrily drinking in a bar. I found out the next morning and, as it was the weekend, I took my time the next day to contemplate the lives of those that had been lost. And the events of their deaths. I cried at my leisure, in private, and I lit a candle and watched the flame flicker. It felt as though everyone in the country as doing the same.

With last night’s attack on the MEN Arena in Manchester, again, I didn’t find out until the next morning. I went to bed early last night and was sleeping by the time news broke. When I woke up this morning and saw the alert on my phone, I was so terribly sad. And moved. Suddenly wide awake, reading in the news that so many people at that concert wouldn’t be waking up today. And yet it was a weekday. So, I had to be out the door within 30 minutes, and on a train half an hour later.

The attack has been sharing my thoughts all day, vying for attention alongside commute-related and work-related thinking. I’ve been tearful throughout the morning and then the afternoon, distracted, and checking for updates on the story. But it’s a strange thing to be busy and to be moved at the same time. You’re publically not-at-all-okay. This event isn’t something you can miss work for, as you aren’t involved in any way, but you feel involved.

Readers, I’m 22 years old. When 9/11 happened I was just seven, and when we had the London 7/7 attack I was eleven. On both occasions, I was at school at the time. I was among friends and being looked after by adults. I don’t remember the Cold War or the Balkan Wars or the IRA. The fall of the Berlin Wall or the Hillsborough disaster. I haven’t experienced these things, haven’t become used to them, and just feel terribly sad for everyone affected or killed during the attack in Manchester last night.

I love going to gigs and concerts and hate that anyone can lose their life at one. Senseless isn’t a word that I really use, but it seems right here. As the attack last night makes no sense to me. I think I will remember the feeling and the people from my commute this morning. People checking their phones for updates as they walked towards the station, gazing out at the world from the windows on the train, wiping away tears in the bus terminal.

My thoughts were and are still with anyone caught up in the events of last night. It’s a terrible thing to have happened, and I wish it hadn’t. Certainly, it’s moved me. And I hoped that it’s moved the people that could do something about terror attacks, so that this might not have to happen again in the future. In the meanwhile, I suppose we carry on. We try to do right. And try to help one another, like the people in Manchester did last night.

In the spirit of carrying on, and maybe hoping to lifting your spirits, I do have a recipe for you, readers. Perhaps this will give you something to take your mind off the events of last night, for a small while. This recipe is for a really simple, light evening meal. This requires only five ingredients and pays you back with 2 of your 5-a-day. I found it in Tesco’s May 2017 edition of their free magazine (entitled ‘The Healthy Issue’), on page 66, a recipe for Roasted Spring Veg Salad.

Want to give this a go? Here’s how it’s done in just ten simple steps…

Recipe: Roasted Spring Veg Salad

1.     Shake away your cares, crack open a window and heat the oven to 200C.

2.     Cut your potato up in bite-sized chunks and tip them into a baking dish.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: I used up a baking potato I had lingering in my cupboard, but I imagine you can use any kind of potato you like. How could this go wrong?

3.     Drizzle with cooking oil and then stir about the dish until evenly coated.

4.     Season with salt and pepper, then safely transport your potato into the oven to bake for quarter of an hour.

5.     After 15 mins, safely take the potatoes out of the oven and add your broccoli and asparagus to the dish.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: I just chucked them in as they were, without chopping them up or prepping in any way. But, do whatever make you happy.

6.     Drizzle a little more oil in there, and stir all the veg until they’re well mixed together and evenly coated in oil.

7.     Crumble a small handful of feta cheese over the veg.

8.     Return to the oven and leave to bake for another quarter of an hour.

9.     When the veg and cheese have all browned, and look as though they’re good and cooked, then you can remove them from oven and turn this off.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: At this point, you may want to drain away any cooking oil left in the bottom of the dish, so that it doesn’t make it onto your plate.

10.  Spoon everything out onto a dinner plate and drizzle with a splash of your favourite salad dressing (I used a balsamic vinaigrette). Now... tuck in!

And there you have it, readers. What do you think? Is this salad tasty, or what? And healthy, too! This is a dish that’s all about great big flavours, you’re making use of seasonal British vegetables, it looks fab on the plate and it fills you up… would anyone beg to differ? I’m a fan of this recipe, readers, and hope that it goes down a storm with you, too. Maybe give this a try, while we still have Spring to enjoy?

Mostly, readers, I hope that you’re okay. I hope you can reflect on the events of last night, as I am, but still feel the sun on your face today. Still attend concerts. Still remember all those things that are good in the world, and newly appreciate those people you hold dear.

In memory of those who lost their lives last night,

Hayley

FRIDAY NIGHT FAIRY CAKE FEELING

Recipe of the week...
Lemon fairy cakes

Ingredients: 110g butter or marg, 110g caster sugar, 2 eggs, 110g self-raising flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 2 lemons, ½ a jar lemon curd, 36 lemon jelly slices (for decoration).

Time taken: Half an hour to make and 20 mins to bake. Then a while cooling and half an hour to decorate. So, a couple of hours total.

Hi readers,

Fridayyyyyyyy!!! It’s official.. we’ve made it to the end of the week. HOO-RAY! Can you even remember the start of the week?? I don’t know if I can it seems like so long ago. This week has been looong. Long. Long, and is it just me or has it been a hard one? Like, more difficult than normal. No, it definitely has. It’s been tough.

For me: There was the dentist, not pleasant. I won’t detail. Then there was Valentine’s Day as a single gal, facing the onslaught. Romantic bliss rammed down everyone’s throats via every imaginable form of social media. And, there was work. With many colleagues and clients away skiing over the school holidays! Enjoying the French Alps and leaving the rest of us to chaos. What a week.

How about you – what do you think?? How’s the week been for you, lovely readers? I bet it’s been one hell of a week, one way or another! And, if it hasn’t been one hell of a week, then what are you waiting for?! It’s Friday.. cue the champagne!

 I love the feeling on a Friday evening when you walk out of work. Like: cool shades on and fireworks lighting up the sky, then office explodes in the background as you drive away. That doesn’t happen but this exactly how it feels for me, when I walk out on a Friday. Like… YASS.

One night of irresponsible drinking and reckless behaviour, in my pyjamas on the settee no doubt, and then it’s on with the weekend. And two days of goodness knows what! I love the feeling on a Friday that just anything could lie ahead. There’s wonderful potential in the unknown.

Basically: I’m feeling pumped up for Friday night and the weekend ahead, readers, and I hope you are, too. I hope you're excited and happy and – to quote from The Perks of Being a Wallflower (an excellent film, which I watched last night) – you feel infinite.

You’re not feeling like you could jump out of your skin you’re so excited for Friday night?? Well, readers, that just isn’t good enough. Feed your minds and embrace the potential that the weekend holds.

You need a powerful film to watch – with characters that will have you engrossed and a plot to steer your mind away from work stuff? I say, watch The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

You’re looking for an insightful page-turner to sink your teeth into – a new book to read that contains fresh perspective and food for thought? I say, Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon.

Go read this book, I insist

You’re on the hunt for a fact or a figure or a quote (to save as your phone’s wallpaper or write in the front page of your work notebook, perhaps) – one that will inspire you to think outside the box or dream bigger? I say, how about…

“The work you do while you procrastinate is probably the work you should be doing for the rest of your life”

- Jessica Hische (taken from Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon).  

… that’s been inspiring me through the week! Maybe it’s the ChefBeHere blog?? And I’ll still be here sharing recipes in eighty years’ time!

With a boyfriend by then

Who knows. But I’m definitely here today and certainly do have a fabtastic recipe to share, readers! Don’t doubt it! So. My recipe of the week, this week, is one that I hope will inspire you to look ahead to Spring, readers, and one that I hope will get you baking – because it’s been ages since I shared a recipe for a bake. Far too long.. goodness!

This week, my Father Bear was another year wiser. And so we had a bit of a fuss for him and went out for a birthday tea. We went heavy on a whisky theme for his gifts and, for the occasion, I got my bake on! Had to dust off my baking box when I got it down from the cupboard for this first bake of the year.

How have I not baked in six weeks?

And then none of my ingredients were all that inspiring! They were too Christmassy. So I braved the sleet and made it to the shop for some new baking kit.. and found, readers, that (in Asda, at least).. Spring has sprung! Daffodils and Easter eggs and hot cross buns and, even if it’s freezing outside, some small signs that Spring could be around the corner.

So. I put all my eggs in one basket and went for a Spring theme. Lemon was my flavour of choice – as it’s fruity and yellow – and I decided to adapt a basic fairy cake recipe to give it a citrus twist. And this went really well! I had fun in the kitchen, baking away and watching the miserable weather outdoors, and then the fairy cakes were met with rave reviews both at work and at my Father Bear’s birthday bash. Result.

Do you have a special occasion coming up? Someone’s birthday, maybe, or you’re hosting a dinner party for friends?? These fairy cakes could be a lovely addition to any celebration! And even if you don’t have a reason for a party, really, there’s always cause for baking one way or another! Why not bake up a batch of fairy cakes and invite friends over for a cuppa and cake at the weekend? Or surprise your colleagues at work with a cakey treat?

If any have some time to spare for a spring-inspired recipe, for some citrusy little cakes (that aren’t too big and so aren’t really naughty!), then I think you should definitely roll up your sleeves and give lemon fairy cakes a go. Ready to get your bake on?? Here’s how to magic up a batch of tasty buns in just 15 simple steps…

1.     Stick the kettle on, brew a cuppa, and get all your ingredients and baking kit out.

2.     Heat the oven to 180C and line a 12-hole fairy cake tin with paper bun cases.

3.     Grate the zest of your lemons into a bowl.

4.     Measure your butter and sugar into a large mixing bowl, and use a wooden spoon to cream them together until you have a smooth, pale paste.

5.     Crack your eggs into a mug and use a fork to whisk them up a bit, then cut your lemons in half and squeeze the juice of lemons into the mug.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: Look out for any lemon pips falling into the mug! If they do, be sure to fish them back out again.

6.     Tip your eggy mix into the big mixing bowl, and spoon in your lemon zest. Give everything a good stir together.

7.     Measure out your flour and add 2 teaspoons of baking powder.

8.     Sieve your dry ingredients into the main mixing bowl, so that they lightly coat the contents, and then use your wooden spoon to gently fold all the cake mix together.

9.     Once the mix is quite smooth, with no major lumps, spoon it out evenly between the bun cases until they’re half full.

10.  Carefully transport into the oven to bake for 10-20 minutes, until they’re golden brown on top.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: The bake time is quite vague here as it depends greatly on the oven you’re using. I would advise checking on your buns after ten minutes to see if they’re done; if they are then you can take them out, and if they aren’t then this is the perfect time to swizzle your bun tin around to face the other way. Then, keep checking every five minutes after that. Fairy cakes are only small so they can quickly go from baked to burnt! We don’t want that so keep a good eye on them.

11.  Once your buns are nicely browned, safely take them out of the oven and turn the oven off. Leave your buns on the side, to cool for half an hour, and in the meanwhile you can get your dishes done and clean up the mess in the kitchen!

12.  Come back to your buns once you’re ready to decorate. For this you will need a sharp knife, a jar of lemon curd and a teaspoon, and some lemon jelly slices for decoration.

13.  For each bun, take it out of the bun tin and sit it on a square of kitchen towel. Use your sharp knife to carefully cut a circle out of its top. Take the top of the bun off and cut this circle of cake in half (to make your two fairy wings).

14.  Then spoon a dollop of lemon curd into the hole you’ve just made in your bun, and arrange your two cake wings, pressing them into the lemon curd so that they point upwards as though your fairy cake were flying.

15.  Finally, take a few lemon jelly slices and press these into the lemon curd in a row running between the two wings, like the body of a butterfly. Repeat this for each of the fairy cakes, and try not to eat all the lemon curd and jelly slices in the process!

And that, readers, is all there is to it. Not too difficult is it! Maybe don’t attempt this bake while drunk – there is some skill required during the decoration stage when you’re slicing the heads off your fairy cakes (although on BBC Good Food it does claim “this easy peasy recipe is perfect for baking with children”… ha!) – but as long as you’re relatively sober and have the right ingredients, and enough time, then I reckon you should be fine.

Even my Brother Bear and his Lady Bear could do well with this bake! And they are not bakers, readers, they really aren’t. Do let me know! Let me know how you get along with this recipe, if you give it a go. I hope it works out well for you and you have some lovely fairy cakes to share with your colleagues or loved ones.

Have a fun Friday night, feeling infinite, and a fantastic weekend.

Friday safely readers,

Hayley

Get your bake on, readers!
Such pretty cakes to bake