When we were wee bairns in school studying the good books (aka Shakespeare), there was always a fierce amount of oh woe is me, alack the day, oh woeful day etc going on. We shorthanded this amongst ourselves to alack the woe to describe any terrible situation. And lo, it has come to pass. My sister Louise, her current husband (CH) and the kids (aka Dreadful Creatures) are moving back to Brooklyn in 10 days. Only my therapist really knows how to handle traumas like this and i shall be wringing €60 of comfort out of her the minute they depart. For those of you who have not been following CH's take on being a Yankee in-law in Ireland for the last year, i heartily recommend his blog: http://travelingaway.blogspot.com/
For those of us left rebuilding our shattered lives-and seeing as this is MY blog I shall make it all about ME, I can only say they shouldn't have come in the first place. Better we would have remained in our little Irish lives with no furriners coming in with their furrin good cheer, furrin lovin' and furrin ways. I shall stand forlornly on the Musgrave terraces watching Munster storm to yet another victory all on my onyo, with no FH to share Laura's hipflask or to explain what the hell is actually going on (as opposed to my own slow backwards version). No popping over from the hospital to have coffee with Louise and assorted DC's. No Friday nites after work for a V & T with FH and herself accompanied by the comforts of the mini off license they always kept in their flat. And most of all, no laughing with Louise til we almost choked, the way we've been doing since we started sharing a bedroom at age nought.
It's rough lads, rough.
To comfort myself, i am having some comfort food tonight-fishcakes to be precise. These are dead easy to make, and if you have been brought up like me to act, culinarily speaking, as if the next famine was just around the corner, can be made with stuff you already have lurking uselessly in the fridge.
First of all, have some mashed spuds from another dinner left over-now, once you've dished up your dinner, WALK AWAY FROM THE SPUDS, JUST WALK AWAY. Cover them up quick before you can go back with a teaspoon and, when cold, refrigerate. I eat a lot of smoked salmon, partly cos it's good for me, but mainly cos Weightwatchers doesn't have the word "Eveeel!"" asterisked beside it in the book like the way it does lamb chops, sadly.
Chop up the smoked salmon fairly small-you can be liberal with the amount-no you can, really. Check your spuds for flavour-don't eat them!- and add a good tablespoon of chopped capers, some fresh herbs (parsley and mint is good-i hate dill but it would be perfect for this)-see my post re freezing fresh herbs- and grate in finely the zest of half a lemon-you then juice the rest onto the cooked cakes.
Roll them around in Matzo meal or breadcrumbs or cornmeal or nothing if you have nothing to hand. Let sit for about half an hour. Add a beaten egg if, when mixing, it all seems very crumbly.
If you're not afraid of your WW leader (as i am), put 2 tabs of sunflower oil in a hot hot pan and heat well. Add the cakes and turn down the heat to moderate after a minute or so. Otherwise, spray some oil on. Turn over after about 5 minutes and the same on the other side. Meantime, make a yummy dressing with some natural yoghurt, garlic oil, and some fresh herbs like parsley etc. Prepare and dress a green salad. Serve and eat straightaway. Lots of cut lemon on the side.
Christina
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