Thursday 27th January 2022 - Bag of Sweets and Won't Buy Again

Facebook can be annoying, when it throws up something that is absolutely of no interest whatsoever. This leaves me to wonder whether others find Facebook’s algorithms feed them with pages of no relevance. However, from time to time something grabs my attention. The other day there was a post, likening life to a bag of sweets. If you imagine a bag of mixed sweets, similar to ‘pick and mix’, which for me was a highlight in years past when visiting Woolworths. I imagine many of us have bought such a bag then eagerly delved into the contents, trying the different flavours we have selected. As time went on and the realisation hit, that the bag would soon be empty, consumption slowed and time was taken to appreciate each individual sweet. If you think about it, life is like that bag of sweets. When we are young we seek new experiences, taking on as many as we can, just like eagerly trying different sweets, until as years advance we learn to slow down so as to enjoy things more, just like the slow consumption of those last sweets in the packet.

The other week, I had a real fancy for scampi. I can't remember how many years it has been since there was a food fashion for scampi in a basket, so it was like stepping back into the past when I added a bag to our online shop last week. This is going to be good, I told myself, a retro meal of scampi, sautéed potatoes, peas and tartare sauce which, as it would be quick to prepare and cook, would also serve as ‘cooks night off’. Good it was not, to be more precise, the scampi was the big let-down. A very reputable brand, the product was described as being, ‘formed British and Irish Langoustine tails in a light and crispy crumb’. Really! What we had was some soft indistinguishable small piece of mush in a thick layer of crumb. I now know to be wary of any product that contains the word ‘formed’ in its description, as it means it has been made of small pieces, even mince, which has been bound and pressed. I’m not buying that product ever again, a real rip-off. If I ever fancy scampi in the future, I will buy langoustine tails and coat them myself, in egg and breadcrumb.

Today’s photo features the first of the camelia buds to open in our garden. We have three mature plants, all slightly different, but this one is always first to bloom.