I’m far from being a pessimist. I see life as a gorgeously-ironical, beautifully-indifferent, splendidly-suffering bit of chaos the tragedy of which gives Man a tremendous significance, while without his losing fight with fate he would be a tepid, silly animal. I say ‘losing fight’ only symbolically for the brave individual always wins. Fate can never conquer his-or her-spirit. So you see, I’m no pessimist. On the contrary, in spite of my scars, I’m tickled to death with life!
Welcome to the Kitchen Table Blog
The playwright, Eugene O’Neil said of himself
April 24th, 2012 by admin
Coach Yourself: Top Tips
March 30th, 2012 by Penny
How to stay committed to moving forward
Always make sure your goals are realistic and never too easy. You need to be just out of your ‘comfort zone’ and accept some challenges.
Once you’ve made a plan, remember to stand back and monitor it’s appropriateness and effectiveness. You may need to re-calibrate as things change or enter the scheme of things. Then re-shape your plan/goals.
Never give up………get help.
Keep moving. Don’t stagnate. By all means indulge in some ‘poor me’ time, because we are all entitled to this but only indulge when you know things will be better soon because they nearly always are.
How to motivate yourself
Remind yourself of what you already have and what you have achieved (not what you have not achieved!!).
Remind yourself of the benefits of changing things
Challenge your limiting beliefs – your ‘shoulds’!
Never compare yourself with others
How to deal with obstacles
Identify the things you can influence and choose the best one to tackle first.
Avoid indulging in feelings of guilt or blaming others. Remind yourself that if you choose to ignore a problem you have every right to do so. You may be waiting for the best moment to strike. It’s your choice.
If you feel sad, don’t let sadness dull your light for too long. Whatever the cause, move yourself forward as quickly as possible. Sadness can only bring you down and thereby limit what life you have left to shine in. Learn and move on.
Avoid focussing on/making up small problems to avoid dealing with the big ones.
Though for the day
March 6th, 2012 by Penny
Thought for the day: Well being depends on how good you are at adapting.
IF……………..
February 2nd, 2012 by Penny
Children Learn What They Live
Dorothy Law Nolte, Ph.D.
If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.
If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.
If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive.
If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves.
If children live with ridicule, they learn to feel shy.
If children live with jealousy, they learn to feel envy.
If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.
If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence.
If children live with tolerance, they learn patience.
If children live with praise, they learn appreciation.
If children live with acceptance, they learn to love.
If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves.
If children live with recognition, they learn it is good to have a goal.
If children live with sharing, they learn generosity.
If children live with honesty, they learn truthfulness.
If children live with fairness, they learn justice.
If children live with kindness and consideration, they learn respect.
If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those about them.
If children live with friendliness, they learn the world is a nice place in which to live.
Copyright © 1972 by Dorothy Law Nolte
The Magdalen Arms
July 8th, 2011 by Penny
The Magdalen Arms, Iffley Road Oxford. 01865 243159
Now clearly it would seem obvious that I would want to promote a relatively local and new gastro-pub enterprise. BUT this is not one of those ‘for the sake of it’ cases. I have been waiting to find somewhere consistently brilliant to eat in our area for years and heard about the above a few weeks ago. Yes I am well behind the times because it opened early last year (!!) but this says more about my being stuck in my ways than anything else.
Anyway, last night we tried it. I was stunned. It was the best meal I have eaten since last in Paris at Chez Andre on the left bank and that was so memorable I can still conjure up the flavours in my mouth to this day. I have tried to re-create that menu many times in my own kitchen – never quite matching it of course, but nearly. I know a bit about cooking, both my granny and mother having been Cordon Bleu trained to different degrees. I also know how important the role of the environment is to the experience of eating. The Magdalen Arms hits ALL the buttons – and particularly mine!
I had deep-fried cornish squid with aioli followed by mustard rabbit, pureed broad beans and new potatoes sautéed with spring onions and hispi gabbage. Everything was freshly prepared and cooked – quite exquisite. A feast also for the eyes! I won’t go on about each honest morsel, just trust me it was the best!
We’d had a drink in the pub garden before the meal and left our jackets on chairs to denote ‘ownership’ (no reservations in the bar and the restaurant was fully booked). On our return we found two little duralex water glasses and a wonderful old pichet (german with vines and leaves around the bowl, wide lip and a few chips in the base), a small basket of thinly sliced, very fresh, coarse breads and fabulous Normandy (my guess) butter. A lovely welcome.
The service throughout was friendly, authoritative and appropriate at all times.
The place itself (ex ‘Victorian working man’s’ pub) combines rustic/bistro and vintage/homely a la N-N/East London. Not pretentious just stylish and completely comfortable with itself. So of course the people eating and drinking in it also felt comfortable – and so did we.
I want to go at least once a week and at around £50/60 for two which included a really good bottle of vin de Pays D’Oc (no pudding but they looked amazing), we may very well do this.
Summer celebrations
July 1st, 2011 by Penny
Having celebrated this summer’s solstice down by the river Thames last Sunday evening with friends, summery poems and readings, sparkling wines and a good number of delightful nibbles (the food-fest part of our midsummer revels gets increasingly various as the years go by!), I can confirm Summer is truly here!
Sweet-peas are blooming in abundance and lavender spikes are as fat as I’ve ever seen. It’s also been the best for roses in my garden: hundreds of gorgeous blooms hanging heavy on bended boughs, intoxicating scents, rich reds and pinks, yellows and whites. I’ve even got one called Penny Lane (my maiden name!), which died in the hard winter but has started to grow again (how symbolic!). Hollyhocks are beginning to bloom and purple-red poppies are just forming their seed pods. And…..it’s time for a party!
Here is the most amazing recipe for Cold Curried (Coronation) Chicken:
Cold Curried (Coronation) Chicken
- Serves 8-10 (so can be doubled or tripled as I have just done for a party)
- 2x 1.5 kg fresh free-range chicken, with giblets
- ground black pepper and lemon juice or/and salt
- 1 celery stick
- 1 carrot
- handful of herbs
- chicken stock cube (organic, free range)
- 1 lb rice (basmati, long grain, short grain, white or brown- whatever you like best)
Sauce
- 4 tblspns oil
- 2 medium onions
- 2 tblspns good quality curry powder
- 300mls white wine (fragrant/fruity rather than too dry)
- 150 ml stock
- 1 X 411g can apricots strained
- 600 ml mayonnaise
- juice of 1 lemon
- 150 ml whipping cream, whipped
Garnish
- 100g flaked almonds, toasted
- Fresh coriander
Method
Rinse and wipe the chooks then put them in a roasting tin half filled with water, stock cube, carrot, celery and handful of herbs, sprinkle liberally with pepper and a squirt of lemon juice/salt. Cover the whole tin in foil. Bring to the boil on the top of the cooker then roast/boil in the oven (200+ degrees) for an hour or so.
Cool the chicken in the liquid. Lift out and remove the meat from the bones, taking care to keep some good-sized bits intact. Reserve 150 ml of the stock (it’ll be jellied when cool) for the sauce and use the rest (top up with water if necessary) to cook the rice in. Then let the rice cool.
To make the sauce, heat the oil and fry the onion until transparent and softened, not brown. Add the curry powder (mmm – fab. smell!) and cook for 2 minutes, stirring all the time (don’t risk it sticking/burning at all – it’ll ruin the taste).
Add the wine, stock and season to taste. Cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes, then blend or process until smooth. Strain and cool.
Puree 8/9 of the apricot halves and stir into the sauce.
Stir in the mayonnaise. Add the lemon juice. Fold in the whipped cream and then the chicken meat. Put this gorgeous mixture onto a bed of rice and sprinkle with the toasted almonds (you can mix these into the mixture if you prefer) and sprigs of fresh coriander. Chill in the fridge but make sure it’s not too cold when you serve it. It needs to be just cooler than room temperature (not more than 18 degrees) to allow all the flavours to come alive in the mouth. Enjoy.
Wizard of Oz
April 27th, 2011 by admin
Dorchester on Thames Festival,
Dorchester on Thames,
Oxfordshire
This promises to be really worth seeing.
• Amazing cast with full orchestra.
• By arrangement with Musicscope and Stage Musicals Ltd of New York
• £15 adults and £7.50 under 16’s
• Tickets at www.dorchesterfestival.com and 0300 030 3003
Chorizo and Bean Stew
February 17th, 2011 by admin
Something spicy for at least 2 greedy people and some left over!
- I Chorizo sausage, chopped into 2cm chunks (can be diagonal if you feel like it)
- 4 pork spare ribs, roasted in hot oven with salt and pepper until cooked (20 mins or longer as necessary),
- 2 tins cannellini beans, opened (!)
- 2 onions, peeled and sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled, crushed and chopped
- 1 tin of tomatoes, opened (!)
- 4 fresh tomatoes, skinned, de-seeded and quartered
- 2 tbspns tomato puree
- 2 glasses of basic red wine
- 1 bunch of thyme, parsley and bay, tied together with some cotton.
- Large handful of fresh white breadcrumbs OR use one or two pitta bread (white or brown, torn into small bits) if that’s all you’ve got and just whizz in a grinder/chopper.
Method
The idea is to layer beans and meaty, onion/tomato mixture in an earthenware or cast iron pot: 3 layers of beans and two of mixture, ending in beans with a breadcrumb top.
So – in a big/deep pan, fry the onions until soft in some olive oil. Add the chorizo and fry ‘til the red (paprika) juices flow. Add the garlic, tomatoes and red wine. Simmer, until reduced. This intensifies the flavours. Remove from the heat.
Put one third of the beans in the cooking pot. Then place two ribs and half the chorizo mixture on top, then more beans, then the other two ribs and the rest of the chorizo mixture, finishing with the last of the beans.
Push the bunch of herbs into the middle of the mixture, leaving the stalks just sticking out for removal, later. Add boiling water (with an organic chicken stock cube if you want extra flavour/salt) to just under the top of the mixture.
Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the top. Put the lid on the pot and bring to the boil on the top of the oven. Then place in a simmering oven (300F ‘ish) for at least 1½ hours. It should come out thickened and smelling wonderful with the crumb top having absorbed some juices and gone brown and a bit crispy. If it isn’t, take the lid off and cook a little longer in a hotter oven, just to finish it off – but take care there are still enough of the juices in the stew to keep it moist.
This stew can be left in a low oven for a good few hours (the crust just gets crispier) or can be made the day before and re-heated. Absolutely delicious with loads of dressed, green salad and a good strong bread to mop up the juices.
Clearly can also feed more than two people!