If someone invented a giant comfy grandfather chair that recharged your ‘life’ levels, I’d totally get it - crumple straight into it like dead batteries to a charger and stay in there lifeless till I’m good and ready for the world.
Grilled Salmon, Courgettes & Apricot Jam with Lemon Herb White Wine Sauce
Completely maxed out in terms of energy today. Never realized 4 hours in the library could be so soul-sapping (since it has never left me so dead tired before), to the point that I turned down a pub quiz night and pound-a-pint, and an invitation to Gatecrashers. Normally, if there is a lack of events for the evening, I’d happily light my row of candles by the window sill, turn the lights down, slap on a face mask and cuddle under the covers with my readings. My brain is completely fried, my eyes red and tired, and my neck stiff as hell. I can’t seem to do anything else other than sit my laptop on myself and struggle immensely hard at completing this post.
What I’d give my life for right now? A back massage, an eye mask and the comfiest king-sized bed with the most luxurious bedspread and most decadent down duvet in the world!
If my week (subtract last week’s amazing nights out and my 21st) of bad karma was not depressing enough, it would be laughable to think the people up there were letting me go scot free without a next round of setbacks. Round Two is a fucked up shower that might fall through the ceiling, a injured right hand that got caught in a door and being woken up by a deafening faulty fire alarm. Some tribes somewhere believe that your soul travels out of your body whilst you sleep. Hence, one should be gently woken up (if truly necessary) to give the soul sufficient time to return to the body that houses it. Reckon, not only was my body shattered from lack of sleep, my soul has been given a right electric-shock from that horrible alarm. If I were crazier than I already were, which is really a bad thing, I’d go up to that dastard man made invention and give it a good talking-to. Only I was taught in school that there’s a difference between living and non-living things. Cheeky as I am, I ain’t gonna try and provoke that barrier between them. Not all binaries of the world can be exploded.
The pictures for this post aren’t much. 3 out of 4 of the light bulbs in the kitchen went bust and I didn’t have a spare lamp anywhere for extra lighting. I forget that a return to student life is equivalent to foregoing little luxuries like not having to pay the bills, groceries bought and ready-stocked in pantry and fridge, and err… lights?
The sauce is power-packed and inspired by a gorgeous sauce paired with scallops from Melonfish. The strength of the garlic and lemon were pretty superb with the sweetness of the courgettes. The flavour of the salmon, it being an oily fish, pulled everything together and tamed the piquancy of it all.
Lemon Herb White Wine Sauce
Ingredients
knob of butter
1 tbs olive oil
2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped or minced
200ml white wine
3 tbs chopped tomatoes with some natural juice
dried basil leaves
dried Italian parsley
pinch of dill
grated zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1 lemon
3 tsp shoyu
2 tsp sugar
salt and pepper
Courgettes & Apricot Jam Ingredients
2 courgettes, sliced into medium-sized strips
olive oil, for cooking
2 tbs good apricot jam
salt and pepper, to season
Grill salmon steaks as you normally would.
For the sauce:
Melt butter in a heavy-based saucepan. Add olive oil. Sauté garlic in the fats, be careful not to let them brown. Add wine, tomatoes, lemon juice and zest and mix well. Next, add the rest of the ingredients. Lower heat and let it simmer until thickens. Season to taste.
For the courgettes:
Heat olive oil in large frying pan. When oil is hot enough, add the courgettes and stir-fry till slightly browned. Remove from heat. Add jam and stir, making sure to coat all courgette strips with jam. Season a little. Serve.