A Little Hello and a Grate 20% Offer

It’s Jeanne here this week. Dad is off galivanting to see a friend in Birmingham, so you have me. And no, I don’t have any trips booked at the moment, so no more wild stories to tell you. Let me go back to Sri Lanka and I will no doubt have another one, we seem to have a love hate relationship!

Before I go onto an attractive offer code and a little recipe or two, I thought I would briefly bring up a recent trip to Norfolk, which was pleasantly flat and had very beautiful coastal towns.

Southern inhospitality

I was walking from a car park to Wells-Next-the-Sea when a couple jogged by, and being a southerner, I was already looking into the distance. To my surprise, they said, “good morning” and I thought “where am I? what’s going on?” Anyway, I replied, and funnily enough that made me feel really happy. Along my walk to the beach I also tried out saying greeting strangers. Very quickly I could tell who was a tourist and who was a local.

Imagine making someone’s day just because you said “hello” to a complete stranger. They could be having a rough day, and a little kindness from someone they don’t know could help lift their spirits.

I have decided to try it back home. Easier said than done, as the fear of not getting a response... oh man, that does fill me with dread. But there’s a security guard in Waitrose Cobham who says “hello” and something like “you have a wonderful rest of your day” and I always leave happy.

In a world of ever-increasing connectivity through technology, it's amazing how valuable even simple but genuine human contact can feel.

Right, onto recipes

One evening this week I was home alone and I couldn’t be bothered to do any cooking, so I wanted something quick and tasty while also trying to use odd bits from the fridge before they went off. Admittedly, what I came up with isn't warm comfort food, but I’m the odd person that can eat hot things in the summer and cold things in the winter! I wanted to make a different take on coleslaw, that we sometimes make at home.

Jeanne's 'All-Season' Coleslaw

• Red cabbage

• Carrot

• Olive oil

• Lemon juice

• Salt

• Cracked pepper

• Parsley

• Pomegranate

• Mayonnaise

• Garlic puree

I need to apologise as I don't use exact measurements for my Coleslaw, I'm the type to just grate a bit of this and pour a bit of that, taste and keep adding things until I’m happy with it. Our commercial chap Paul is going to ask for measurements, so I am going to try my best, but feel free to employ my method instead. Here we go!

1. Using an extra course grater, grate 1 quarter of red cabbage and 1 decent sized carrot in a bowl.
2. Drizzle enough olive oil to coat it all.
3. Grind enough salt and pepper to your liking and add a splash of lemon juice (try 1 tsp at a time).
4. Mix all these ingredients together and adjust to your taste.
5. Add a handful of roughly chopped parsley and a good sprinkle of pomegranate seeds.
6. In a separate bowl, mix some mayonnaise with garlic puree. *
7. Add a tablespoon of the garlic mayo to the grated coleslaw and mix well. Voila!

Jeanne's Spicy Cucumber & Carrot Salad

• 1 cucumber
• 1 decent sized carrot
• 1 small clove of garlic
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 tbs lemon juice
• 1 tsp soya sauce
• 1 tsp gochugaru (Korean fermented red chilli flakes)

1. Using your peeler of choice, julienne or peel the cucumber and carrot to get thick ribbons or noodle like sticks. To do thinner ribbons, rotate the cucumber and carrot as you peel.
2. With a zester, grate a small clove of garlic or if you’re like me and love it, then grate a big clove. Using a zester gives you minced garlic over tiny chunks so quite important for this recipe.
3. Add the oil, lemon juice, soya sauce and gochugaru in and give it a good mix.
4. Taste it and if you want more salt, add a small splash of soya sauce until you are happy. If you want more spice, add more gochugaru.
5. Leave it for 10 minutes as this helps to develop the flavours and the garlic does get stronger.
6. Then add some white and black sesame seeds. Voila!

To Product: Knives & Mandolines

Warm regards

Jeanne