Carpaccio di Courgettes

Carpaccio was originally only used to refer to a dish of thinly sliced red beef, dressed with olive oil, lemon juice, capers and onions. It was first served at Harry's bar in Venice and named after the  16th century venetian painter Vittore Carpaccio  who loved painting with red pigments.
Now you will often see a dish described as Carpaccio on a menu in Italy and it might not be meat, it could be anything that is served raw and thinly sliced then dressed with seasoning.
If you are lucky enough to have a friend who grows their own courgettes then make a refreshing Carpaccio di Courgettes. You can serve it as a main course salad or just a side dish.

Carpaccio di Zucchini, courgettes

Serves 4 as a side dish

4 courgettes, preferably organic, washed well and dried
juice of one lemon
olive oil
pine nuts, very lightly browned in a non-stick pan
slices of parmesan cheese, optional


Slice the courgettes as thinly as you can and arrange them on a pretty dish

Drizzle over some lemon juice, then the olive oil
Season with salt and pepper to taste
Scatter over the pine nuts and thinly sliced parmesan if using.

The Light at the end of the Tunnel

March is a special month, it leads to Spring. At the beginning of the month we can still feel winter lingering in the air but by the end Spring has taken over and we know we are out of the tunnel that is Winter.

Don't get me wrong, I love Winter. Hot chocolate, log fires, mulled wine, snow flakes, frosty mornings, wearing boots, frozen ponds the list goes on. It's just that after awhile that's enough.

 Like going through a tunnel. as a child I loved going through tunnels so much that on the way back from London my dad would make a detour to go through the tunnel that leads to Heathrow airport.
It was wonderful, we would get all excited about going through the tunnel, come out the other end then turn round and go back. I loved it.

A tunnel serves a great purpose, it gets you somewhere quicker and safer. It doesn't expose you to dangers, like steep mountains or runways! It can take you to the other side of a mountain instead of climbing over lots of passes,or along the coast so you don't have to detour a long way. Just like Winter. The earth needs a rest, so in November we enter the tunnel and then at the beginning of March we can see the light at the end. The midday sun is warmer, the birds sing in the early evening light, the mornings are brighter and there are flowers everywhere.

Life can be like that sometimes too. you can go through a dark patch, a cloud over your head, you might be frightened by challenges thrown your way, hurt by people you thought cared about you, undecided about career paths, worried about your situation, but then when you least expect it you will see a chink of light in front of you and as you move towards it you will feel hope in your heart again and when you are out in the open you might just see that the tunnel was there to protect you.

 

 

Pussy Willow

Infinity pool for ducks

Love is an absolute value

Just been thinking about my post about love from the other day and one of the comments from one of my regular readers, by the way I love getting your comments.

This what I think but of course it is open to debate.
 You have to separate love from feeling.
 Of course when you fall in love, the sort that makes your heart beat fast and feel all funny, you need that to make you want to be in a relationship with someone. A lot about falling in love is the way that person makes you feel. If they fall in love with you too then of course it makes life wonderful and you should both make each other feel good about yourselves. How wonderful it is to be able to say to someone that being with them has made you a better person, because that's what we all want to be isn't it? We want to feel good about ourselves and that we are getting better all the time. That's why it hurts so much when people harm you with careless and unkind actions or words.
Over time though love cannot always be about feelings, it has to be a value, that you live by and that guides your actions.

Friends and family can make us feel good about ourselves too. A parent has a lot of power in making children become the adults they will be. we try to please our parents and become what they expect us to be. So if throughout your child you hear that your elder brother is the clever/good looking one and that he needs to be looked after and you have to be careful with him because he is a bit fragile, then you do what they say. If you hear them say she's always going to come up smiling, she's got such a happy nature, then it reinforces your behaviour in that way.
Because you love your parents and your brothers or sisters you pretend that you haven't noticed that they consider the elder or younger one more, because you love them.
Friends can make you feel good about yourself too, make you laugh, let you know how much they enjoy your company, they might even let you know when you're going off track.
People that you love can hurt you , badly, sometimes just too much so you have to distance yourself from them, but that doesn't mean you don't love them anymore, as Shakespeare so eloquently phrased it in his sonnet.

'Love is not love that alters when it alteration finds..'


So to sum up for today love is an absolute value because it doesn't need anything else to survive, it stands alone. Other values  like honesty, loyalty, fairness, bravery can be relative and change and be interpreted in different ways, but love is love and that's that.
You cannot make someone love you, you can win their approval but do not mistake it for affection.