In celebration of simple food, sunshine and health

This is what my lunch looked like today.  It's funny how fresh food never disappoints and makes you feel just so good when you eat it! :-)

This was merely half an avocado mashed with a bit of lemon juice, salt and pepper on top of a seedy roll with a few spinach leaves and tomato slices and yet it tasted absolutely divine.  A few radishes, cucumber slices, a nectarine and bright sunshine rounded it all off.  It made me feel grateful and happy - not bad for a Wednesday lunch :-)

"Wales - Japan - Peru" or "The perfect herb dressing"

Summer has arrived in Wales and it's another gloriously sunny day here today!  The dog is lazing in the shade and just looking out into the garden with the washing drying on the line makes me feel happy and grateful.

With it being so hot, I've been craving salads and lighter meals.  I used to love having sushi for a summery lunch at my old job and one particular place had this amazing sauce that came with one of their meals.  It was a herb dressing, mainly with coriander (cilantro) and utterly delicious.  I've been trying to find a recipe for it for ages (they obviously don't disclose theirs) and was surprised to find one not from Japan but Peru.  Very intriguing! 

Anyway, I made a batch and am already addicted to it :-)  It's super easy to make and tastes like the best thing ever (if you like coriander, that is) and very similar to that from the sushi place.  Drizzled on my salad today, it was amazing and it would go equally well with grilled meat or fish or small new potatoes or avocado or...I can imagine it with the salmon burgers I wrote about the other day.  In fact, I am salivating at the thought already, so that will be on the menu later in the week.  Food bliss!

Biscuits, gravy...what???

If you are a sports fan and British (or nearly British after having lived in this country most of your adult life as in my case), yesterday was a fantastic day: Britain's Andy Murray won the Wimbledon tennis championships (the first British male in 77 years) and for just a brief moment, nothing else mattered. Yes, there are more important things in life but it was just so lovely to see someone achieve their dream - heartwarming stuff :-)

Talking of heartwarming stuff, there are some dishes that are just so comforting and satisfying, they deserve a special mention.  For me a great example of this is biscuits and gravy which I tried for the first time during our recent trip to the US.  Now, I was a little confused as biscuits here are what I guess other countries would call "cookies", so having those with gravy was not exactly on the top of my breakfast wishlist.  Once I realised though that biscuits are what we call scones and the gravy a type of savoury white sauce, it made more sense.  I tried it, loved it and promised to recreate it at home.  So that's what I did this weekend and we were very happy with the result :-)  I "slimmed down" the recipe a little by omitting the bacon fat. 

A great dish for brunch/lunch or a small evening meal - filling and satisfying and whilst I am sure there are hundreds of variations and handed down recipes for this around, I hope that this version is acceptable :-)