Peanut, meet Chicken

Thai-ish Peanut and Chicken curry

In celebration of Women's Day and the fact that I have more work than I know where to begin on, I thought that I'd do my favourite thing: plan my next meal.

Tonight, Sal and Tash are coming over. And I have big shoes to fill: the last time we went to their house, Sal made the most incredible roast Karoo lamb, with perfect roasted potatoes and a delicious salad. She also served cuddles with the world's cutest puppy for dessert.

So, I'm going to make the peanut curry of deliciousness:

Where to next?

I’ve reached a perplexing stage in life: despite my best efforts to the contrary, I have to enter the real world. This, alas, is not a ‘Real World’ sitcom with a charming adolescent co-star. Instead, it is a world in which all of the decisions that I made in earlier years, rather than coming together and saying “Do this, Claire!”, have manufactured a tension that lends itself to no job in particular, only an introspective blog post.

In essence, this tension is one that I think that most people can relate to. It’s not as simple as “Hmm, what should I be when I grow up?”, although if I could resolve it, it would likely generate an answer to that too. Rather, it is: "What do I think is important?" As I see it, there are three things that I could prioritise: intellect, belief or security.

Do not let your fire go out

"Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark. In the hopeless swamps of the not quite, the not yet, and the not at all, do not let the hero in your soul perish and leave only frustration for the life you deserved, but never have been able to reach. The world you desire can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours."

This is by Ayn Rand, the Jewish Russian-American novelist and playwright.

The image is my own: it is of a stray glove on a sidewalk in Stratford-upon-Avon.

I'd do it all again

There are few things that I like quite as much as words, and among my favourite things are words that paint a picture. In the spirit of the hell I'm experiencing at the moment, I thought I'd post a few of my favourite uplifting ones in the next few days:

"She got her pleasure in small things - in Coronation Street, in white pudding suppers, in Abba songs, and in horrifically violent horror films. Her favourite film in her last years was Saw III, in fact. But most of all, she got her pleasure from knowing she had looked after her family. And she did that better than anyone I know. She was absolutely consistent in being loving and caring and kind, and when she was dying I thanked her for everything she had done for me, and she said – it was almost the last thing she said to me – "I’d do it all again.""

This one is from Johann Hari, a British journalist whose blog I enjoy, on the occasion of his grandmother's funeral. You can read his whole speech here.

Wal-Mart, Massmart and Mass murder

Oh dear, Wal-Mart is coming to SA.

Apparently, 97% of the shareholders of Massmart, the company that controls South African retailers such as Makro and Game, have approved a bid by Wal-Mart to buy a 51% stake in their company. All that is pending is an analysis of whether doing so will be anti-competitive, and then the deal is likely to go through.

Spicy chorizo and lentil soup: Not just for winter!

Technically, this is a winter favourite. But as Cape Town has failed to warm up properly, even in October, this is a Saturday-night-at-home-with-friends favourite. (Disclaimer: this is a variation on a soup that my mother kindly made me this weekend)

There are a couple of things that are essential for a truly splendid soup; ones that are true for other kind of soup too:

First, good stock. In this one, I dilute two to three tablespoons of marmite in around a litre of water (it’s delicious with any meaty soup or stew!) and add an equal amount of organic vegetable stock. You can also make amazing chicken stock and use this in any soup (except for fish soup). I’ll try to remember to post the recipe for this at some stage.