HERE I AM AGAIN AFTER THREE MONTHS OF BLOGGING HIBERNATION.

TODAY IS ST DAVID'S DAY, SPRING IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER.

READING:

 

Hearts and Minds is the latest book by Amanda Craig, and I think it is her best so far.  
In the last few years there have been several books (The Road Home by Rose Tremain, The Other Hand by Chris Cleave, My Cleaner by Maggie Gee) and one or two films (Dirty Pretty Things, Breaking and Entering) tackling the subject of what life is like for an immigrant/refugee/asylum-seeker living in Britain. In Hearts and Minds Amanda Craig has given the most readable, detailed – and at times depressing – overview of how our society functions only because of the huge underbelly of people from other countries who live and work here.  As I read it I kept thinking that this is the book everyone should read if they want to understand something of London life in the Noughties.

Like many big cities, London is a place of contrasts, and these are unveiled to show everything from the pampered luxury of life in a Hampstead mansion, the comfortable middle-class terraces of Islington, and the squalid apartments in ‘Kill Burn’ and Camden where brothels are called Massage Parlours.

The novel has five points of view: there is Job, the Zimbabwean mini-cab driver who is an illegal immigrant fleeing the horrors of Mugabe’s regime and who hasn’t heard from his wife for nearly a year; Anna, the fifteen year-old girl from Russia, who thinks she is coming to work as a cook or chamber-maid but finds she has been enslaved as a prostitute, her passport seized by the traffickers and without any access to the outside world. Katie, a young American who is escaping from a broken engagement, and is working for a pittance on a temporary visa. Ian is a white South African supply teacher working in a sink school in Hackney, and then there is Polly a divorced mother of two school-aged children who is struggling to advance her career as a human rights lawyer. These seemingly diverse individuals are connected through various chains of events which cross each other and interweave, all beginning when Polly’s Russian au pair, Iryna, vanishes without a word, and later when her body is discovered in a pond on Hampstead Heath.

Whilst I wouldn’t exactly put Craig and Dickens side-by-side in the pantheon of English literature, I certainly felt that the author was a very worthy successor to Dickens’s crusading zeal for depicting London life with all it’s social injustices, and she does so with a page-turning story and real characters who are tragic, frightening, charming, endearing and above all, believable.

Rated 4.5*

RANTING:

I have never been one for using much in the way of make-up, though as I get older there is no doubt that from time to time my complexion needs a little help to look its best. I call myself 'low maintenance' but what that really means is 'lazy'. However I do tend to put on some lipstick before I leave the house - that is if I remember.  For some reason I feel better dressed and more confident if I have applied a quick slick of lippy. 

I don't think I'm alone in this, thousands of women would probably choose  lipstick as their desert island luxury and nearly every handbag (or purse as the Americans  call it) probably has a tube of lipstick lurking somewhere in its depths.  Apparently during economic recessions - and we all know about those don't we? - the sales of lipstick actually rise because they are a small, feel-good purchase; if you can't afford a dress by Dior at least you can buy the lipstick.

As I am not what might be called a fashionista, I have a three lipstick policy, one shade for winter, one shade for summer and one shade for special occasions - I also have a little pot of lipgloss, but that is just an optional extra.  Last week I had to buy myself a new lipstick as my default winter shade was worn down to a nub. It should have been easy, but no, yet again the lipstick I like, the lipstick I want, has been discontinued.  

Instead of  just stopping at the beauty counter to pick up a replacement I ended up faffing around for 20 minutes in a swither of indecision whilst being 'assisted' by a young woman with glossy navy-blue fingernails, a tatoo or two, and at least five facial piercings.   

I am sure the cosmetic companies do this just to irritate me. I don't mind them bringing out new ranges of colours (although they always seem perilously, but not quite, like the previous range) with wacky names like 'Just enough buff', 'Wine with Everything' or 'Toast of New York' but please, please, please don't keep discontinuing the colours I like.

 

RECIPE: 

This area of North London has many Greek Cypriot and Turkish grocery shops, and I love some of the products they sell. Recently I bought a large tub of Taramasalata  (for which I have a great fondness) from a shop I use regularly and which always stocks good quality produce.    When I served it up with some hot Pitta bread I was most disappointed, it was artificially pink and bland. On close reading of the listed ingredients  it seemed there was very little cod roe in it, and rather a lot of vegetable oil, water and bread. The pink colour apparently came from beetroot juice! Beetroot juice - what the hell was that doing in taramasalata? 

I decided to make some myself, after consulting various recipes I phoned a Greek friend and she told me what to do - and also told me to leave out potato or bread which some recipes give to pad it out. Likewise any garlic, the flavour of the cod roe doesn't need garlic.  So here is the recipe:

TARAMASALATA - Helen's version

250g smoked cod roe

Juice of half a lemon

250ml olive oil - though you could need a little more

Boiling water

Soak the cod’s roe in a bowl of cold water for several hours or overnight.

Drain and peel off the outer membrane.

Put the roe in a food processor  give it a quick pulse - do not over process it.

Bring the speed up a little and add the lemon juice.

Now, just like making mayonnaise, start adding the olive oil in a thin stream, little by little whilst the processor is running slowly  Keep adding the oil until the mixture begins to look like a puree . The amount of oil needed varies and you will have to keep an eye on it.

Then add boiling water, a tablespoon at a time, until it becomes light and mousse-like.

Scoop into a serving bowl and scatter chopped parsley on the top.

Keeps well in the fridge (cover it tightly)

Better late than never.....arghhh, its been days since my last blog, dear reader please forgive me. It has been worrying me that there don't seem to be enough hours in the day to fit everything in, never mind writing a blog. I am going to have to set myself some kind of timetable and NO Gin & Tonic will be allowed if I don't stick to it. Something else will have to give - cleaning the downstairs loo for example!

READING:
Just like my blogging, reading has been relegated to the sidelines by the number of visitors, the number of court sittings, the bathroom renovation etc etc. Having said that, I have enjoyed "Freakonomics" by Steven D. Leavitt and Stephen J. Dubner. Easy reading, it presented fascinating ideas , statistics and a sideways look at how the world works from a maverick economist at Harvard - ably assisted by a top-rate writer. You might not agree with all the ideas that are presented in the book, but you will certainly have lots to think and talk about. It is a very different perspective on things that is presented in this book. For me the most fascinating section was the one on the primary reason for the rapid decrease in crime in New York...if you thought that that was a result of Mayor Guliani and his zero tolerance policies, think again. Well worth reading.

RANT:
Here in England the outcome of a court case in which a drug dealer was charged with a double murder has been receiving a good deal of press coverage. Three years ago Bertram Byfield, a Jamaican drug dealer living in London, and seven year old Toni-Ann, the little girl he considered his daughter, were shot dead by another violent drug dealer, Joel Smith. The child was shot in the back by Smith, presumably to prevent her being a witness to his having killed her father. A truly henious crime, to shoot a child in cold blood. Smith has been tried and found guilty and will serve a life sentence.
It transpires that Toni-Ann was in the care of Birmingham Social Services at the time of her death, and they have been getting a lot of criticism/blame for what happened to her. What none of the media have really addressed is WHY was this little girl in the care of a local authority in a country far from her mother and other close family? Her mother, who lives in Jamaica had sent her - as a four year old - to the UK on a 'holiday' . Having had a 10 year relationship with Bertram Byfield (who was serving a prison sentence himself when Toni-Ann arrived here) the mother must surely have had some inkling of his involvement with the criminal drug culture. Neither Bertram Byfield nor Toni-Ann were British citizens, and correctly speaking neither of them should have been here at all. Toni-Ann was passed from one set of people to another in Birmingham until she ended up being taken into Care. Byfield then started to make applications to have her with him. Birmingham Social Services were lied to by him, and by his ex-girlfriend who claimed to be Toni-Ann's aunt, and so they permitted the child to move to live with the so-called aunt in London, who immediately passed her over to live with Byfield himself.
Nobody has questioned all the adults - particularly her mother - who used and abused the benefits and advantages of British residence, as to why THEY should not be held to account for what happened to Toni-Ann; why they allowed a man most of them must have known was a violent drug dealer with a criminal record to have her with him. For the press to focus on an overworked social services department is not helpful, they should cut to the root of the problem and condemn the whole Jamaican drug culture which is so damaging our inner cities, THAT is what killed Toni-Ann.



RECIPE:

Cumin is possibly my favourite spice, it is used so widely in cooking, from India through the Middle East to North Africa, and I can't get enough of the taste.
I also love meals which consist of lots of small dishes. 'Meat and two veg' is all very well from time to time, but I prefer tapas, meze, dim sum. Tonight we are having just such a meal and one of the dishes I've made is:

CHICK-PEA, CHILLI & CORIANDER FELAFEL

2 425g cans chick-peas, drained
2 fat cloves garlic, crushed
1 bunch spring onions – white parts only, finely chopped
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 large fresh green chilli, seeded and finely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh coriander, finely chopped
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons plain flour
Salt & freshly ground black pepper

Seasoned flour for shaping
Vegetable oil (NOT olive) for shallow frying

Lemon wedges and fresh coriander for garnishing

Tip the drained chick-peas into a food processor or blender, and process until smooth. Add the cumin and ground coriander, garlic and spring onion whites and process again until well mixed.

Turn the mixture into a bowl and stir in the chopped chilli, fresh coriander, beaten egg and flour, mix together well. Season. Mixture should be fairly stiff, if it is too soft add some extra flour and mix again. Cover the bowl and put in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up.

Using floured hands, shape the mixture into small balls the size of a squash ball, roll each one in the seasoned flour and flatten slightly to make into a patty.
Heat the oil in a frying pan and shallow fry the patties in batches for about one minute each side until they are crisp and golden. Drain on crumpled kitchen paper.

These are delicious served with a tzatziki style dip made from yoghurt, garlic, mint and grated cucumber.