Pasta salad

I’ve just put together a simple pasta salad for our tea, with
the ingredients you can see in the photo… about 150g of dried
pasta between the two of us.

To this mix, I’ve added a tin of tuna, some cooked Bird’s Eye
peas, a little ground black pepper and a little balsamic vinegar
also.

Recently I’ve read about a way of cooking pasta using less fuel
… using the usual amounts of water when cooking pasta, but
boiling the water for less time … I’ve been experimenting with
the timing … a 5 minute moderate boil, then putting the lid on
the pan, turning the gas off, and then leaving it for another
10 minutes … for fusilli pasta. Similarly when cooking peas
from frozen, why not just bring it to the boil, switch off the
heat, put a lid on the pan, and leave it for 5 minutes or so?

I reckon we going to have to get used to using less fossil fuel
as time goes by … and using less gas & electricity will help
us keep the bills down. Our fuel prices across the UK have just
shot up 15%, much to everyone’s dismay.

You’ll see our two favourite kitchen knives that we’re using at
the moment … the “Kitchen Devil” and the “Victorinox”, named
the “bastard” knives by one of our girl’s partners after he
cut himself on one. Why only a week ago, I cut quite deeply
into my left thumb, which I’d mistaken for a piece of carrot.
“OMG!” said I, when I saw bright red blood pouring out the end
of my thumb … luckily Mrs C was on hand to rush and get some
bandage to re-attach a large flap of skin back onto my thumb.
Doesn’t it feel strange cutting into your own skin … our skin
has the same texture/resilience as when cutting into a dead
chicken, don’t you think? ... which is hardly surprising.


I don’t know why a lot of men say they can’t (or don’t wish) to
cook, when it’s so easy to put a meal like this on the table.
I’d rather do this, than go out for a regular take-away. I don’t
know why some blokes prefer to sit on their arses and let their
women-folk do all the cooking … sheer laziness, I think.

When I was a GP (a family doctor), I remember looking after one
couple in their late 80s. The man was a grossly overweight slob,
who rarely got out of his comfy chair, while his wife slaved
for him … did all the cooking, washing, cleaning and subsequently
all the shopping, as he went rapidly downhill with heart failure.

His contribution to the housework was to lift up his feet, while
his wife vacuumed the carpet underneath. He was a tight-fisted
bastard too, and when he died, his 90 year old wife began to
have some fun spending their money … going on trips abroad with
her daughter, and buying clothing and treats for herself.

I was watching an American film recently (the name of which I’ve
forgotten unfortunately), and was impressed by what one of the
main characters said (he was a spendthrift and was dissolute):
“Do you want to die a rich stiff, or do you want to die broke,
but to have had a great life?”

Well, I want both … I want to die fairly well off, but to have
enjoyed my life as much as possible.

PS ... the wine in the photo is Mrs C's current favourite red ...
a lovely Shiraz from the Bleasdale Winery in S. Australia.