Sunday 2 March 2008

Sushi, spaghetti and sleep






I love sushi. I like the idea of it. Something so simple and so, well, small can be fulfiling tasty and complex. So I dabble. I make no claims for expertness but I dabble and here are some photos from my latest play.

The much heralded courgette and cream cheese nigiri didn't really work because when the courgette is cooked it goes very thin and moist which isn't good for sticking to the outside of the rice.

*****

In other news we have had some great success in roasting fresh beetroot and jerusalem artichokes which we made into a simple spaghetti supper.

Serves 2
1 large beetroot
250g jerusalem artichokes
Olive Oil
Spaghetti
Garlic
Mushrooms
Thyme

Put the oven on at 200C
Skin the beetroot and then chop into thin wedges
Wash and chop up the artichokes into small pieces
Place both in the roasting tin, season with salt pepper and herbs and cover with olive oil.
Put in the oven for 20 minutes and then turn them over.
Leave for a further 30 minutes.
Chop the mushrooms and garlic.
Fry gently.
In the last ten minutes put the spaghetti into boiling water and cook until al dente.

Mix together and eat!

I actually used some garlic that I had roasted before and put that in with the mushrooms and it was really good but it doesn't matter if you have any!


*****

"My candle burns at both ends
It gives a wondrous light
But oh my friends my enemies
It will not last the night."

This poem was one of my sister's favourite when we were growing up. I forget the author but it has stuck with me. Last week was such a week although rather than been a libertine I was burning both ends at work. I had no sense of the balance needed and felt dog tired for more than a few parts of the week. Even though I was being a sad work monkey I went to see "There will be blood" as part of the Thursday Night Movie Club and it was amazing. I was so glad to have made the effort to go and see it but the point is that I need to be better at enjoying life as well as working hard at it.

Finally I have to confess to loving the song "When do I get some sleep?" by Bic Runga and am going off to play it at high volume.

2 comments:

C said...

The sushi looks amazing!

Fran said...

Are you a chef?!