In which time passes and we still haven’t posted… nor have we mentioned any books until now.

I recently read a book  (which I won’t name, those of you that have read it may recognise it, those of you who don’t won’t have it spoilt), which I was very much enjoying, right up until the point where one of the main characters suddenly dies.  I had not expected this. It hadn’t been the sort of book that leads you to the supposition that there will be no happy ending.

I was not prepared.

I was shocked.

More than shocked.

I was betrayed.  

All my enjoyment up until that point had been swiftly killed off, not unlike the character I refer to. All the time (well the few hours) I had invested in this book had been for naught. Naught!

I should say that overall, I am a huge fan of literature, which translated means: I like depressing books. I like books that make me think about the tragedy of the human condition. I voluntarily read these books and am often found with tears streaming down my face overjoyed at the beauty of the suffering; by the ability people have to overcome adversity. Bravery in particular seems to set me off. But I do accept this result in books I expect to have a happy ending. I find it unacceptable. When I read what I expect to be escapist fiction, I expect a happy ending. I do not expect squealing brakes, collisions and imminent death.  I do not need to be reminded in my escapist world, of the reality that life is not fair and that things don’t make sense. I live that. I don’t need to find it in books that are supposed to be selling me a dream!

So, instead of the lovely, relaxed, warm glow I expected to have following this book, I have outrage. So much so that I had to abandon my attempt at reading The Cider House Rules, which I was enjoying, because the outrage has pursued me into those fresh pages.  The only way to combat the outrage is to fall back on my old favourites, which means that I’m working my way through Juliet Marillier’s books for the second time this year (and I suspect I have now read each book at least 6 times).

This was not my plan.

I have a stack of serious adult books waiting to ambush me every night when I go to sleep. Since I am no longer working in children’s publishing (in actual fact no longer working at all currently), I have the mental space and capacity to tackle something longer than YA fiction (although I still have a weakness for YA fiction) for the first time in many years. I’m catching up on books I should read, books I want to read, books that will teach me something and books that sit somewhere between. Only I’m not. Because of the outrage.  So in that sense, I guess it was a good book…

Salads are something I normally associate with summer. Unfortunately, we seem to have skipped summer altogether this year in Sydney. We had a monsoon season and then skipped straight to autumn. Consequently, there were not as many salads as you would expect.

Two of my favourites are very simple:

Nino’s Tuna Salad.

Slice carrot, celery and tomato, and combine in bowl. Drain a tin of tuna, a tin of four bean mix and a tin of corn and add to the bowl. Rinse and dry baby spinach leaves and add those. Toss salad and dress (I used a little white wine vinegar, vino cotto, olive oil and balsamic). Add a handful of almonds. Add some sliced gherkin if you have it.

Serve with toasted flat bread.

Quick, simple, healthy and tasty – perfect for when you don’t feel like cooking, and there's even some leftover for lunch sometimes...

Variations – tuna, baby spinach, avocado, apple and almonds is a nice combination.

Nino’s Chicken Salad

This salad is better layered in the individual serving bowls.

Ingredients:

6 chicken thigh fillets

6 large mushrooms (Portobello are good)

Half a butternut pumpkin (or pumpkin of your choosing)

Four handfuls of baby spinach leaves (or a small lettuce)

Two stalks of celery

1. Slice pumpkin into small cubes. Toss in a mixture of olive oil and soy sauce and bake in a hot oven until soft on the inside but crispy outside. Remove from oven and put to side.
2. Slice chicken thigh fillets into cubes and marinate in olive oil, garlic, dijon mustard and white wine vinegar. Leave for at least an hour.
3. Slice mushrooms into chunks and marinate in Dijon mustard, olive oil, garlic and red wine. Leave for at least an hour.
4. Fry chicken in a hot frying pan and add celery. Cook until chicken is golden brown.
5. Fry mushrooms until cooked the way you like them.
6. Rinse and dry baby spinach (or lettuce) leaves. Toss in a mixture of olive oil, balsamic vinegar and vinno cotto. Put to one side.
7. Place a serving of the spinach into bowls, add pumpkin and chicken and celery mix. Top with mushrooms. Serve with toasted flatbread.

I experiment with salads a lot and tend to enjoy the ones that have a mixture of textures.