hungry thursday: red thai vegetable curry with toasted cashews

You know one of those meals you make just to use up something that's been sitting in the fridge for ages, and it turns out to be really, really good so then you have to go out and buy more of that thing you've been trying to use up for ages....because you want to make it again? :)

This was one of those.  A meal I didn't think would be anything much....but turned out to be a total winner!

This isn't your typical thai curry though - I had a bit of a Mother Hubbard situation and wanted it to be filling, fast and use up pretty much everything I had, which meant tossing in a few unorthodox ingredients.  Like potatoes.  And chickpeas.  Things you might find in an Indian curry, perhaps.  But wow, it really worked!

What follows is what I did, but I've made a few suggestions for other things you could use if you have them lying around.  Try not to miss the toasted cashews part though if you can possibly help it, as they add a really nice buttery richness to it.  I think they are the key to making this dish this taste explosion that it is!

And one other thing - broccoli, which is in season here at the moment, comes alive in a Thai curry.  Not sure why, but I don't question these things!

Red thai vegetable curry with toasted cashews
Serves about 6 moderate portions, or 4 hungry portions!

Olive oil, or cooking spray
1 onion  or  1 leek  or  2 or 3 shallots, finely chopped (or a mixture of all three)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or minced
4 small-ish potatoes, quartered  or equivalent of sweet potato/butternut squash  or  tofu
1 x 420g can chickpeas, drained
1 small bunch chard, chopped (separate stalks and leaves) or spinach  or  kale or bok choy
1 small red pepper, chopped into strips or any other vegetable you fancy
1 medium head broccoli, chopped (including the stalk!)
4 tablespoons thai red curry paste (or as much or little as you like, I use about half of a 285gm jar)
1 x 400ml can coconut milk (light or full fat)
A bit of vegetable stock, if you need it
2 handfuls cashew nuts
Brown rice, to serve
Lemon or lime juice, to serve
Red chillies, sliced, to garnish

Heat enough olive oil or cooking spray in a cast iron casserole pot or wok over medium-high heat.  Add the onions and garlic, saute a little until they start to soften, and then add the potatoes, chickpeas, the chard stalks, the broccoli stalk, pepper strips and curry paste.  Reserve the chard leaves and broccoli florets.

Just a note on the curry paste: I've found they tend to vary in heat and intensity.  I can use anything from 2 teaspoons to half the jar!  It just depends on hot you like it and how familiar you are with the brand you use.  Experiment until you find the right heat for you.  Also, veggies take note: check if there's fish sauce in the ingredients if you are a strict vegetarian/vegan.  I have found some lovely vegan curry pastes in my local health food store.  You can always make your own too - here's a good recipe.   You can also make this recipe with green, yellow or any other curry paste you have handy.

Coat all the vegetables in the curry paste and continue to saute until fragrant.  Add the coconut milk.  Mix everything well.  Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer and place the lid on top.  Set a timer for about 20 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.  Add stock if it gets dry.

Add the chard leaves and broccoli florets, stir and replace the lid for another five minutes or until the broccoli is tender.

While that is happening, toast the cashews in a dry non stick pan until golden.

Serve the curry in deep bowls with brown rice, toasted cashews on top, chilli if using, and a squeeze of lemon or lime.  If you have some basil or coriander floating around, scatter a few leaves on top as well.  Yum!

Store cupboard eating never tasted so fine!!

Are you a fan of Thai curries?  What's your favourite? 

superethique: green plant love

Today is my day over at Superéthique and I've written all about the virtues of house plants.  It's wonderful to finally have a home where plants thrive instead of wither and die within a week, like my old flat!  In addition to my phalaenopsis and hyacinth, I'm also trying to grow parsley, pumpkin and leek seedlings on my kitchen window sill, for transplantation into the outdoor garden when they're big enough.  The kitchen is going to be propagation central :)

But overall I love having plants around, and having a piece of nature indoors.  If your plant is doing well then that usually means the environment you're living in is pretty healthy - what is good for them is good for you too!

And UK readers, there's a chance for you to win your own house plant too, thanks to Me and My Plant.  Hop on over to Superéthique and check it out!

Do you have any house plants?  What are your favourites?

Have a great Wednesday!  xx

phil's greatest hits! instalment two

Hello my lovelies!  Today, I've turned another of my favourite posts into a podcast for your listening pleasure.  Whether you're walking to work or the shops, sitting on the bus or the train, or would like a motivational start to your day, I hope you'll enjoy it!

Listen here:

Podcast Powered By Podbean

Or download

Or get it on iTunes

You can also read the original post here.

Get out there on this magical Tuesday, my friends, and just do it!!

monday mantra

source

a duty so underrated

Happy Sunday readers!  How are you all doing?

I just wanted to start by saying thank you again for all the wonderful comments and support that continues to flood in after Wednesday's post.  I really wanted it to help people going through something similar, as it was a frightening and utterly deflating experience, especially when I was first told it was happening.  I couldn't find anything on the web that told me redundancy was anything but a disaster.  Every blog or article I found basically said the economy is terrible, the odds are against you, and basically you need to get another job straight away, immediately if not sooner.  As I was off to Australia for six weeks the day after my job ended, applying for other jobs wasn't really an option for me - they would have all laughed in my face.  And then, to make things even more cheerful, I read an article on the Guardian website about people who were still out of work, years after a redundancy.  It was so, so depressing.  I started to wonder whether my genuine feelings of excitement and positivity about the situation was just an avoidance tactic.  But I also wondered whether fear is deliberately instilled into people put in this situation, through no fault of their own, to make them take other jobs they don't particularly want to do to maintain the status quo and make them believe that the life they truly want just isn't possible.

So I really hope people find my post and know that while I don't have all the answers, and I do have scary days where I freak out, I want people to know how empowering it is to look at redundancy as a new start on your own terms.  I don't know how things will work out for me but I'm willing to give it a try.  I appreciate your support so very, very much.  And thank you to all the brave people who have shared their similar stories with me.  We can do this!!

I think, since taking my destiny into my own hands, I have never worked harder in my life.  I dread bedtime!  I've been putting in 16 hour days.  I've been so enjoying it, but my loving concerned husband said it might be a good idea to structure my time a bit better, allowing for some downtime as well.

And so I spent Friday with Google calendar, and yesterday I had a day off.  My first one since I came back to the UK.  The laptop didn't go on once!  iPod and Blackberry don't count, surely? ;)

Tom and I went for a run first thing - only 7km but I have to work twice as hard when I run with him!  He's taller, skinnier and has longer legs!  I came back quite pooped!!

I cleaned the house - well, reorganised the bookshelves.  This is a corner of my "office":

I paid a visit to the library, borrowed heaps of books and promptly sat down on the couch with one, and barely moved for the rest of the afternoon/evening.  Thank you Miranda for recommending Jasper Fforde to me, I couldn't put this one down!

The effect of all that downtime was such that I retired to bed quite early (for me) with another book, fell asleep, and then woke up this morning to realise it was nearly midday!  I haven't slept that late for a very, very long time - not since my partying days, certainly!  I took it as a sign that I needed it.

More chai:

More crumpets:

A cake (Amelia's recipe!):

And our living room currently smells like spring:

Every year, since we first moved in together four years ago, Tom has bought me hyacinths around this time of the year, the gulf between the final days of winter and the first of spring.  I love how they infuse the air with their sweetness.

And no weekend of mine recently has been complete without Yogalates, thanks to a recommendation from my friends The Food Fairies.  We met up for a mulled cider before Christmas and the girls raved and raved about it.  Curious, I ordered it just in time for the last three snowy weekends where it was too cold/scary to go running!  I have to say, this DVD is amazing.  The fairies recommended Yogalates 8 - the title "Dynamic Weight Loss" is a bit deceptive, so don't be put off by it as I was initially.  It's a great combination of pilates and yoga, and perfect if you don't have a lot of space.  There's an upper body, lower body and total body workouts, with a lovely long relaxation at the end.  The lower body workout is probably my favourite, it's fantastic for runners - heaps of lunges and balances and downward dogs.  And Louise's voice is so soothing, the relaxation sequence that ends the DVD is quite wonderful.

I've noticed after a few weeks of doing this how toned my stomach is again - and also how much harder my abs work when I run too.  When I run I consciously hold my abs in to take the pressure off my lower back.  After doing a few Yogalates workouts, I felt something like stomach cramps while I was running and it took a few minutes for me to realise it was my abs, sore but working hard!

Have you ever tried Yogalates?  What do you think?

And also, because I can't keep myself out of the papers at the moment (ha ha!), just thought you might like to check out Holland and Barrett's latest Healthy magazine - I'm in there as this month's Healthy Hero!

It's been lovely to have some down time this weekend.  Working for myself is still all very new to me and it's hard to separate my work from my play, because it used to be the same thing when I worked full time in the day job.  Any spare time I had was spent pretty much doing what I do now!  It's been a strange but wonderful adjustment.  Life gets fuller and busier every day.  And I'm very happy.

Have an amazing week, lovely people.  I hope you'll like what I have in store for you this week :)

“There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy.” 

- Robert Louis Stevenson

some girl with words

Taking a break from Retro Friday today.  I wrote the bulk of this post a few years ago now, but for some reason decided not to hit publish.  I'm not sure why.  Today, I've decided to share it with you.


Seven years ago, I met someone - a young girl who had just moved to Tasmania. It was a briefer-than-brief encounter really.  The university research centre I worked for at the time was running an open day at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. I was told to expect her at some point during the day, as she was the first recipient of the honours scholarship that the Centre offered. She was wearing all black, which was offset by her gentle, gingery hair. I gave her her name badge. Her name was Genevieve Ryan.

Sitting in on one of the lectures later that afternoon, I noticed how enthusiastic and excited Genevieve was when an idea for her honours research project was suggested to her. Every part of her seemed to be vibrantly alive.

But I barely gave it, and her, another thought until four days later, when I arrived at work on Monday morning. My boss called me into her office, looking grave.  She told me that the day after our open day at TMAG, which was February 17th,  Genevieve had died. She had been bushwalking at Mt Wellington, Newtown Falls to be precise, and had slipped on the rocks of the waterfall there and died instantly. It had taken two days to find her, apparently. I remember being shocked, utterly shocked.

I remember my boss saying to me, "it just proves that Mt Wellington really is a wilderness. It isn't just a place you go for a picnic.  It's a dangerous place."

I remember having to send an email to all the members of the Centre to tell them the sad news, and agonising over the wording of it.

I remember a slightly dazed barefoot girl, one of Genevieve's housemates, coming into the office to make sure we'd heard the news.

It was just so strange. And sad.  Unbelievably sad. She was just 20 years old.

Six months later, I left Tasmania to live in Melbourne. My own life underwent radical changes, leaving me only with the tools to begin another one. I left Australia indefinitely soon after.

In November 2007, I returned to Hobart briefly for my sister's wedding, which inevitably led to many catch-ups with old friends. While waiting for some in the Afterword cafe, the eatery attached to the wonderful and deservedly popular Fuller's Bookshop in the centre of the town, I browsed the shelves and found a book compiled by Elizabeth Ryan, Genevieve's mother. Regards...some girl with words is part biography, part compliation of Genevieve's writings and philosophies, but most of all I think it is a moving and beautiful tribute to someone who was so tremendously loved and still mourned by her family.

I bought it and read it in one sitting, on the Melbourne to Hong Kong flight as I made my way home to London a week later.

It is a beautifully written book. Emotional, thoughtful, deliciously detailed and pulsing with a yearning to share her daughter's words with the world, for her message to still have a chance to reach people. And the collection of Genevieve's writings is quite stirring - fresh and interesting, and throbbing with the possibility of what more she could have done. I have wanted to write to Elizabeth Ryan ever since I read the book, to tell her basically what I've written in this post today.

My family's structure is identical to Genevieve's - I am one of four sisters, but I am the eldest whereas Genevieve was the youngest in her family. Even two of her sisters have the same names as two of mine. Maybe that's one of the reasons her story reverberated with me so strongly. I simply cannot contemplate how my own family would survive losing one of us. I can't even go there.

I strangely thought of Genevieve while I was in Amsterdam in 2008, about nine months after I read the book. As far as I know she never travelled overseas, and I wondered what she would have thought of that lovely city, with the innate attitude of tolerance in the air, the mellow atmosphere, the friendliness. I think she would have liked it. I would have liked to have taken her to Puccini for to-die-for chocolates, or to Cafe Latei with its strange cacophony of seventies travel posters, kitsch plates and cups and excellent Melbourne-evocative coffee.

I hope the Ryan family's pain has lessened with the years, although I'm sure this time of year is never easy for them. If anything the passing of the years must be very difficult for her parents and sisters, thinking how much she would have accomplished by now, had she lived, and all the momentous family occasions that no doubt have happened and will continue to happen - birthdays, weddings, births of grandchildren/nieces/nephews - where there will always be an absence, despite the joy these events bring and the knowledge that life, in all its unfathomable and mysterious ways, must go on.

It's funny how I didn't know her, and she didn't know me, and yet those brief seconds where she was alive and breathing in front of me have stayed with me all these years. And yet, if she hadn't passed away, no doubt those vague memories would have been long forgotten about. I find it fascinating how death, particularly tragic death, makes us cling to things and remember them when they are beyond reliving.

I have marked every 17th February since then as a kind of day of gratitude, to put it simply. A day where I celebrate the fact I am alive, and those that I love are alive, because Genevieve's story has taught me to be grateful for that very fact. No matter how much we are loved or how much talent and potential we have, our lives are all equally fragile, able to be snatched away within a split second.

That's why we must enjoy life, even if it means one more red wine than you should, or staying out late to listen to live music on a Sunday night even if you need to be up early the next day. Dance like a maniac. Shun the norm, and dare to express yourself. Write the poems and letters you would if you knew they'd never see the light of day. Do things you're afraid to do, they are so character building. Be truthful, to yourself and others. Fill your life with beautiful things. Never hesitate to tell someone you love them. Be interested in people and the world, stories are found everywhere. And never, ever, ever, think that it's too late to do something you want to do.  Just do it while you have the chance.

"Being 'liberal' has limits, limits which I plan not to adhere to. I love people who stand by a cause, even if this cause is not the whole truth. There are others to stand for other strands of truth. I prefer to stand for one than sit limply while we all tiptoe round....I think there is a place for stamping the foot down, a place for resistance - otherwise why write or say anything?....Fire might burn - but it makes things grow too."
- Genevieve Ryan, May 2004

hungry thursday: the perfect winter salad

First of all, thank you for the lovely comments on yesterday's post.  It means so much to have such support and faith from you all!  I’m so excited about this next chapter - I'm not sure what will happen but that's all part of the adventure and my evolution, and I hope you'll stick around to see what happens next.  I'm proud of everything I've managed to achieve over the years, and that was with a full time job and loads of other distractions.  I wonder what will happen now....now that I'm giving it 110%?!  I can't wait to find out! :)

I'm feeling very hungry this Thursday.  I've made so many yummy things this last week, including:

Pear and banana loaf

Sourdough bread (served with Sas's marmalade)

Dairy free sticky date pudding and caramel sauce...surprisingly good!

And that's just the stuff I took pictures of!  There was also a thai red vegetable curry with roasted cashews which Tom raved about for days; a spinach and lentil bolognese pie; a braise of fennel, leeks and artichokes; gnocchi with basil cashew pesto; and spicy lentil tacos.  I'm certainly not going hungry, am I?! :)  

But the winner of the week has to go to this little baby:

I give you... roast butternut squash, artichoke, fennel and rocket salad.  Exquisite.  You can thank me later!

Apart from the cold and the dark, I actually don't mind winter - snow is still such a novelty for me, and I think the UK is actually quite beautiful in the winter, when you get a clear day with a bit of sunshine.  And I love winter food.  But I do miss my salads and sometimes I just want something light, not a heavy stew or casserole.  Until recently I didn't appreciate how many lovely seasonal winter vegetables can make a half decent salad.

After a rather full on Yogalates session where I made the mistake of eating a bit too much pear and banana loaf before it (cue stomach ache halfway through!) I really wasn't up for anything massive for dinner, and this hit the spot perfectly.  We're still going dairy free and normally I would have smothered a salad like this in feta or goat's cheese - didn't miss it at all.  I find that toasting some nuts and putting them on top gives a richness and unctuousness to the salad which means you don't need anything else.  Try it and see!

Roast butternut squash, artichoke, fennel and rocket salad 
Serves 2 generously, with bits and pieces left over

First of all, you'll need:

1 large butternut squash, or pumpkin, peeled and cut into chunks
4 shallots or small onions, peeled and cut in half
2 or 3 bay leaves, or any other herbs you like (rosemary, sage, etc)
Salt and pepper
Olive oil or cooking spray

Preheat the oven to 200 C.  Place butternut squash chunks and shallot pieces on a non stick tray, drizzle olive oil over the top (or you could use cooking spray if you don't want to use oil).  Season with salt and pepper, and add the bay leaves (crush them slightly in your hand first).  Place in the oven for about 40 minutes or until the squash and shallots are cooked and brown.  Set aside.

Then you'll need:

1 x 390g can artichoke hearts in water, drained
Plain flour
Olive oil or cooking spray

Cut the artichoke hearts in half.  Coat them lightly in plain flour.

Heat a non stick fry pan to medium-high.  Add a little olive oil or cooking spray.  When hot, add artichoke pieces and cook until browned all over.  Drain on paper towels if need be.  Keep warm.

As an aside, one of my favourite things in the world is an artichoke omelette.  I got the idea from Tessa Kiros' Twelve.  Cook the artichokes this way and then use as an omelette filling.  You don't need anything else in the omelette.  So good.

Finally, to assemble the salad, you'll need:

1 bulb fennel, top removed and then sliced thinly
1 small bag rocket
Handful of walnuts and pine nuts, toasted lightly in a non stick pan
Olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon (or an orange if you want to be different, it goes well with fennel)
Freshly ground black pepper

Arrange the rocket on two plates.  Place chunks of butternut squash, shallot and artichoke pieces on top.  Dress with lemon juice and olive oil.  Scatter some toasted nuts on top and finally a grinding of black pepper.

Serve immediately.

You won't need to use all the roast butternut squash - there will be some leftover for more salads, or to go on top of pizzas.  It's a good habit to get into, to roast a bit more than you need for one meal, then you have more to use later!

I just loved this salad.  I love fennel, it's just so fresh and zingy.  Combine that earthy roast vegetables, the floral sweetness of the artichokes, and the peppery rocket....it's a gorgeous combination that I think would work all year round!

And when I think of how easy this is to make, it makes me wonder why the vegan and vegetarian options you get in pubs and the like are usually always the same old risotto, lasagne and veggie burgers.  I think most of us would love something like this!  What do you think?

And if you have any requests for upcoming Hungry Thursdays, please let me know! :)