SPIDEY SENSES AND A SPRING SALAD

Recipe of the week...
... Cod & Potato Salad

Ingredients: 300g baby potatoes, 80g baby spinach leaves, 2 large eggs, 240g pack of cod loins, zest and juice of ½ lemon, 2 tablespoons crème fraiche, handful of fresh parsley, salt and pepper.

Serves: 2 platefuls of grub

Time taken: Half an hour max

Hi readers,

How are you all today? Are you enjoying a lovely relaxing Sunday? Did you have a confusing start to the day, trying to figure out the time, or did you spring forward with confidence?? I’ll admit, I basically just missed the morning. Had a mammoth lie in and woke up not sure of the month or year, let alone the hour.

But I feel good for it! I’m feeling great today… enjoying a lazy Sunday morning. How about you, readers, how are you feeling today? The sun’s shining, we’re treated to warm temperatures outside, and there are daffodils and hot cross buns and Easter eggs… and yet, as ever, it’s fine to feel up or down or like you’re spinning all around. How are you doing?

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FOOD FOR THOUGHT

I come bearing food for thought, readers. This is what I’ve been pondering this week…

So, I’m a big believer in the importance of dreams. And happenings, occurrences and feelings. I wonder – does anything happen by chance, without reason? Or is it all, every little thing, a collection of signs and indications, nudging you in the right direction with life? Keeping you on track?

For instance. If something goes right the first time, I don’t question that it was meant to happen. As it feels right, and it went right. Say, if I write a sentence or a paragraph and it just fits onto a line in my word document – no single word leftover on a new line. Or, if I walk into a shop with change in my purse and find the thing I’m looking for, at exactly the right price.

Then, if something doesn’t go right the first time but it feels as though it’s the right thing to do, I don’t fall at the first hurdle – I’ll persevere, and I’ll do my best to make it happen. For instance, when I first took up knitting, I tried and failed at following YouTube tutorials for hours and went to bed frustrated, with only a few rows of knitting complete. Then, with a fire in my belly, I tried again and learned how it’s done.

But, sometimes, something doesn’t go right the first time. And then I get a feeling that maybe this is a sign – that it wasn’t meant to be and isn’t meant to be. I get the idea that life intervened, and probably with good reason. This is not something I should pursue. It’s a no go. And so, I change tack. So to speak… I give up on it.

What do you think, readers? Do you get the feeling that a helping hand is steering you, every now and then? Do you let your gut instincts guide you in life? Do you pay attention to your spidey senses when they tingle? Do you feel sure of the way forward at times, without reason or despite not exactly knowing why?

Or do you press on, and think with your head? Use logic to guide your actions – not bother with such nonsense? Not waste your time following whims as they feed through from your subconscious? Not letting these affect your decisions or limit the life you lead?

I wonder, which is the more sensible way to live? Is one better than the other?

I wonder and wonder. Please share your thoughts, readers!

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RECIPE TIME

And I’ll share a recipe. As well as wondering this week, I’ve been cracking on with a recipe or two from the March edition of the Co-op’s Food magazine. Regular readers will know I’m a BIG Fan of the Coop’s recipe mag and this Spring edition hasn’t disappointed.

Today I’m writing to share a simple, delicious recipe which I tried out with great success this week, for a Cod & Potato Salad. You can throw one together in just ten straightforward steps…

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Recipe of the week: Cod & Potato Salad

Ingredients: 300g baby potatoes, 80g baby spinach leaves, 2 large eggs, 240g pack of cod loins, zest and juice of ½ lemon, 2 tablespoons crème fraiche, handful of fresh parsley, salt and pepper.

1.     Set some groovy tunes playing, pour yourself a refreshing bev, and turn your bloody phone off!

2.     Set a kettle boiling and put the potatoes in a pan. Fill with water from the kettle, bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 15 minutes, until your potatoes are tender.

3.     Chop a lemon in half and grate the zest of half your lemon. Finely chop and handful of fresh parsley leaves.

4.     Set the kettle boiling again. Put the eggs and cod in a large saucepan, fill with water from the kettle, cover with a lid, and simmer for 5 minutes.

5.     After around five minutes, once your cod is opaque and cooked through, remove with a slotted spoon and break into pieces. Pop the fish in a serving dish with the lemon zest.

6.     After another minute, remove the eggs from the pan and transfer to a bowl of cold water. When cool, remove the shells, roughly chop the eggs and add them to the serving dish.

7.     Next, add the spinach to your potato pan for the last 2 minutes of cooking, then drain together with the potatoes.

8.     Add the crème fraiche and half the parsley to your serving dish and mix the contents until well combined.

9.     Slice the potatoes and add to the dish along with the wilted spinach.

10.  Squeeze over the juice from your zested half-lemon, mix everything together once more, and garnish with the remaining parsley. Serve!

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What do you reckon, readers? Would you have a try at this recipe? Do is sound do-able and tasty enough for you to want to give it a go? I highly recommend!

Cod isn’t a fish I normally cook with, readers, and I would never independently have though to combine these ingredients, but the dish came out well. I had a warming, classic tea, with strong flavours and lots of nutrition. It filled me up and it’s good to eat something different! I thoroughly enjoyed the food.

Let me know, readers, if you take this recipe on – how did it go?? Did you have fun in the kitchen? Were the steps easy to follow? Did your food turn out well? And tasting good? Please send in all feedback and tips for success! Wishing everyone the best of luck with this recipe, and a lovely rest of your weekend, too.

Everything will be fine.

Boil safely,

Hayley

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