baked potato salad - mustard dressing

I keep losing this recipe for baked potato salad, it is more to do with the dressing but by posting it I will not lose it again:

potatoes cubed
sweet potato cubed
red onion (sliced)
cracked pepper
sea salt
1/2 cup flat leaf parsley
2 tbsp thyme

dressing:

1/2 cup sour cream
1/3 cup whole-egg mayonnaise
2 tbsp mustard (preferably wholegrain)
2 tbsp water (or a bit more if needed)

Roast the vegetables and then toss through the herbs. Mix the ingredients for the dressing and toss together and serve warm.

A new year has started well. It is unusual to feel happy about work and life in general and to not have some thing or another muddying the waters. For the first time in years, I feel at ease. I am not stressed and I am looking forward to every day. It is interesting to look back on times when I have been anxious and worried (normally about work) and to consider how this has affected by ability to enjoy the rest of my life. Weekends took on an almost medicinal aspect where I had to carefully monitor the ratio of social interaction to rest. Now, I feel more enlivened again and happy at the prospect of socialising with friends. I look forward to work as something interesting and enjoyable rather than something I need to get through so I can enjoy everything else. It is small things that have made the difference but I feel so lucky to be where I am. All those years of crazed workload have paid off well.

I am back on the diet post-christmas. While I don't have much to lose, it is a good way of making sure that I stay healthy. It is amazing how easily I slip into not-so-good habits and how much that affects how I feel. Now I am eating a really healthy but varied diet and am making sure that I get what I need. I have more calcium and fruit in the diet and am feeling energetic and sleeping like a child . This health surely is something to be thankful for.

Three Colours

I have been missing 'Three Colours Red' from my collection but remebered to rent it this weekend. I had forgotten what a wonderful film it is. I have never been able to decide whether I have a favourite in the trilogy. I love Blue, it is so deeply tormented and beautifully shot, the music is spine chilling. Red has always been a favourite too but for different reasons. It is a wonderful collection of films. For me though, White was never a film that I really connected with but I have found things changing a lot as I have got older. Different perspectives are emerging on things - quite often I am changing my mind about films I never really connected with. Perhaps it is just the result of more experiences...

I drank too much, need some fresh air, have a headache.

I have just watched 'Sunshine' and am now watching it with the commentary. There is an interesting similarity between existential philosophy and some of the aspects of physics theory they are discussing.

They are also talking about the end of the the universe. Based on what they are saying, there is an inevitable end to all life - everthing - they call it HeatDeath. At some point, all the stars will die, all the planets will die, all organic life will (obviously) die and all that will be left is radiation. Everything will end. Everything will return to its constituent parts which are all the same anyway

I need some fresh air

Birthday avoidance

It is my Birthday on Monday and this year I have decided that it is time to spend some time with friends and celebrate it. Every year, I avoid this. I spend time with the fam and boy but havent had a party for longer than I can remember. I am not entirely sure what my concern has been but it is a cross between not wanting to be in the spotlight, which you can't avoid if you ask people to come out to celebrate your existence. Also, I think I have some latent fear from childhood that no-one will want to come and you will be stuck alone with the kid that you know is only there because their Mum made them go!

I went with the safe option of a dinner out at a restaurant with people I know are my close friends. It will be a fun night - we are off to have some Thai and then cocktails at a little bar I love. I have made a vow only to invite people that I really want to spend the night with and have not asked anyone out of a sense of obligation. Hopefully it will be a good night and everyone will get along (or at least find someone that they connect with). That is the problem at this age, there are friends from all over the place and they are not all the same type of people. It will be interesting if nothing else!

Happy New Year

Already the New Year again! This year, we decided to stay in and avoid the crowds and it was one of the best New Years that we have celebrated. We were planning a dinner party for friends but then decided that we were totally exhausted by the madness of the year. It seemed a much better idea to see it in just the two of us. Also, our neighbours put on some afternoon drinks which seemed social enough for me! After the terrible drought, we have had the most enormous amount of rain that seemed to start around boxing day. NYE was torrential so the idea of going anywhere was just horrible. In the end, we decided on paella (I got boy a paella pan for Christmas) which we cooked together over a bottle of champagne. It was delicious and we ate the whole lot!!! It was a great thing to spend the night together after a year that has brought some extreme events and emotions.

Often, at this time of year, I find myself spending a lot of time thinking about where I am in my life - generally in spiritual terms. I often seem to spend a lot of time exploring ideas and reading a lot about something that takes my interest. It is always a time for a lot of reflection. This year though, I have simply felt quite content. Looking back, I have been through so much this year and have spent so much time analysing what is happening and how I am feeling and what might happen that I have enjoyed a period of just 'being'. I feel quite refreshed and, although I haven't had the amount of time off that I normally would have, as I started my new job on 7 Jan, I feel quite rested. It has been an enormous weight off my shoulders that I don't have to go back to the two jobs I was doing before in what was starting to become a toxic state. I feel really excited to be starting in a new area that is full of really positive people who work really hard and are really engaged with their work. It will be a year of change but in a positive way.

I do have some health challenges again for the start of 2008 after 'finding' a few of thos kilos I lost last year. I refuse to focus on the weight aspect and feel pretty good at the moment. My main concern is knowing that I have not been healthy and it is time to take care of the old body again. It will be good to get cycling again when this rain finally stops! The rain has been so heavy a number of areas have flooded badly. Our garden flooded but receded again within a few hours, I really feel for the people whose homes and farms have been so badly affected by this. The stupid thing is that we are still technically in a drought!

Anyway - hopefully I will be able to get organised with this blog this year. It is just a matter of finding the time to put down thoughts before too much time passes.