Crescent Moon

Today’s been a slow one! John in Dublin tonight, so just me and the dogs snuggled up on the dog bed (children’s cushion as the dogs much prefer the sofas)! They have just jumped up in favour of the sofas and left me lying here, besides the television. The heating is on but it feels cold now. The children have only just settled, they were holding a leadership debate themselves, up on the top floor. Tara of course, remains in control of the not so famous five (as does Theresa at no 10), well, for now at least. One of the mums from school, called over this morning and very kindly purchased some of Dadda’s Jams. Thank you Anthea! A real shame that none of the other parents from our school year turned up to the Schools Christmas Fayre to see the array of options available on my stall. Most of the day spent catering as usual, along side some Kiss and Hugs form Amritsar, Tara, Thor, Aaliyah and Caleb. No big dramas, some drawing before dinner, really quite non eventful. I made three fish pies and a pot full of Dal (lentil curry) to freeze for later consumption. Yes, the chest freezer is rather full. I kept one of the fish pies for John and I tomorrow for dinner and had a bowl of dal with paratha for myself tonight. This wasn’t just the usual dal that I would throw together (I added sugar, crushed cardamom and lots of extra garlic), so it became a Dhansak recipe, one you might find at your local Indian restaurant. An ancient Persian dish that found its way into Indian cuisine, via the Parsi Zoroastrian community. This is my historical, all time favourite dish if eating out at an Indian restaurant, made with either lamb of chicken. That is if you exclude tandoori king prawns! Once frozen, I can of course thaw it out and use to cook pre marinated chicken or lamb. I attached a picture of the fish pie above as I mentioned this morning to Anthea, don’t use a fork on the top and definitely hold off on using grated cheese. Use a wet pallet knife and get creative. It too easy not to. It’ll put a smile on ‘hubby’s’ face at the very least if you make individual portions. To be honest, I’m a frugal man if truth be known! With only me here, just the simple lentils and Indian flat bread fed me well.

If it had been a choice for John, on an evening without me, definitely the fish pie. This time I didn’t add white wine or cream to the sauce of the fish pie, as the base of the sauce was a combination of the liquor from mussels (frozen after I last cooked mussels and frits) and a strong, reduced crab stock. Leave things simple. But as I stressed to Anthea this morning, avoid making a roux and use the beurre mannet method of whisking in a butter and flour mixture to the enriched fish cooking liquor. So much more refined in its consistency than a gloopy bechamel type sauce.

Okay, onto the crescent moon, the heading of today’s diary entry. I just spotted the early crescent moon from the window. And I thought ironically that my fish scales on my fish pies looked a little like a succession of mini moons! So I have talked about the moon on a couple of occasions now and I have seen two full moons blossom and slowly ebb away, this new crescent moon being the third moon cycle since starting my blog. Just like my definition of the start of Winter in yesterday’s writing (Astronomical Winter), to me the moon is a commodity of time. I am not so surprised that pagan man (and woman) idolised and worshiped it. I am definitely no ‘Tree Hugger’ But the moon, like the Sun is always a constant that is always there, along side us! Though unlike the sun, the moon does sneak away, but it always comes home to us…