Bitter Sweet

Has been a strange old week, I have to say. Have moved to my new flat in a very green and leafy part of Hertfordshire, which is lovely.

 However, the energy it took and the emotional upheaval of losing my dog of 6 years (she has gone to my daughter, via my best friend) have certainly taken their toll but nothing that an upped dose of medication could not handle.

The illness itself has inspired me to throw myself in to a couple of new projects, which excites me and will hopefully gain big support from you all.

We have the Target Ovarian Cancer with Georgina May  and then we have numerous things going on with Pancreatic Cancer UK and Peggy's Collection between now and November, which is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness month and will hopefully launch with a big cheesy 70's night :)

I have also had to deal with one or two issues, which have made me Grrrrr, which in some ways is a relief and shows me that despite the illness, I am still human and have feelings

Live the life we have

So, now I have introduced myself to you all, makes it easier for me to talk about the issues surrounding me. As you saw from my first blog, I am 46 and have terminal cancer. I have just about come to terms with it but it is the others in my life that it has hit the most.

However, main reason for going down this road on my blog is simple, to introduce you to the wonderful work that is going on by the wonderful people in my life

We have Angie Spencer who recently organised a team of super heroes to Run 4 Cancer and raising money for families to get a small holiday together while they can. She also is heavily involved with a lovely charity in Romania .

We then have Fiona from Georginia May who are working closely with Target Ovarian Cancer and will be offering a special charity chocolate section on her site, so make sure you buy.

Diana, who runs the wonderful Peggy's Collection and Peggy's Yarns is in conversation with Pancreatic Cancer UK with a lovely idea that will raise a great deal for them and is obviously the closest to my heart.

I am proud to be associated with all of them and between them, they keep my faith in humanity alive. There are also others who are brilliant at being there too, despite their own issues, such as Jayne Cox, Dinah Livesridge, Barrie and Chris Kaplin, Liz from Smiley Petz,  Emma Porter and of course the lovely Jenni Smith, who is so prominent in her own work with Harrison Fund (which I personally support too). There are tonnes of others who help me with cheery tweets and messages and I thank them all.

All this going on, is not going to heal me but as i said, I am comfortable with the fact that I am surrounded by beautiful people.

Sorry no pictures on this one folks but lots of lovely links to the important people in my life xx

Some Easy Home Cooking Treats

CAPONATA

4 Courgettes

2 onions

4 sticks celery

Can of chopped tomatoes

Tablespoon sugar

Tablespoon capers

12 olives (without stone)

Tablespoon pine nuts

Fresh parsley

Olive oil

Chop onions and celery into size (about) a third of your finger. Cook in a pan with olive oil for about 3 minutes. Chop courgettes into small squares and add, along with the chopped tomatoes. Add capers, sugar, pine nuts and olives, cook on low heat for 2 minutes. Turn of heat and transfer to large serving bowl. Allow to cool at room temperature then cling film and in fridge. Parsley scattered before serving.

Serves 6, so just multiply your quantity as you need. 

Garlic Tomatoes

12 Large Red Tomatoes

6 Thyme Sprigs

12 Garlic Cloves

Quarter cup of olive oil

Cut tomatoes in half and in baking dish (casserole dish is best) place cut side up

Arrange unpeeled garlic cloves and 3 Thyme Sprigs among tomatoes

Drizzle oil over

Put in oven at Gas Mark 8 or 220 C uncovered for about 40 minutes (tomatoes should just be darkening)

Take out oven and throw away cooked thyme

Use the cooked garlic to squeeze on to tomatoes

Put the three fresh thyme sprigs on top and serve

HOT NEW POTATO

1lb Small New Potatoes

6 teaspoons of lime pickle

2 teaspoons tomato puree

2 tablespoons of natural yogurt

Quarter of a cup of olive oil

Wooden skewers

Pitta Bread or Mini Naan

Wash potatoes but leave skin on.

Boil for 5 minutes, then drain and leave to cool.

When cool, place 4 on a skewer.

Mix all other ingredients in a bowl and using a spoon coat potatoes

On a plate, tin foil loose over and in fridge

Can be served cold or put on BBQ for two minutes. Serve on pitta bread.

KIWI AND GINGER

6 firm Kiwi’s

6 pieces of crystalised stem ginger in syrup (all supermarkets sell)

3 tea spoons icing sugar

Cut Kiwi’s length ways in their skin

Chop ginger and spread on top of each Kiwi

Sprinkle with icing sugar

Wrap in tin foil

Place on cooling BBQ for 5 minutes

Serve with vanilla ice cream

Mediterranean Mushrooms

(My favourite)

Large flat mushrooms

Swiss cheese (Emmental or Gruyere)

Dried Oregano

Dry wholemeal breadcrumbs

Chorizo Sausage

Olive Oil

Take stalks out of mushrooms and leave to one side.

Use paper towel to wipe mushrooms (never wash)

Grate cheese and mushroom stalks and add to breadcrumbs and oregano

Add olive oil to breadcrumb mix and stir with fork

Slice chorizo (one that costs £2 in supermarkets cut into 20 slices)

Place chorizo in mushroom, then top with breadcrumb mix

Wrap in tinfoil and either 20 minutes in medium oven or 5 on BBQ

Just be careful when opening as water from mushroom very hot)

MOROCCAN SUGARED LETTUCE

1 Crisp Curly Lettuce

125g (about 6) of fresh dates, halved and stoned

3 Satsumas

2 Tablespoons Caster Sugar

3 Table Spoons of White Wine Vinegar or light olive oil

Pepper

On the day, it takes two minutes.

Wash, drain and shred lettuce by hand into salad bowl

Grate the peel and zest of one Satsuma

Peel the remaining satsuma’s and break into segments and put in with lettuce

Add the dates

Pour over white wine vinegar or olive oil

Sprinkle with cater sugar

Sprinkle with pepper

ONION BITES

2 Red or White Onions

Garlic Salt

4 tablespoons double cream

Tablespoon coarse black pepper

6 teaspoons butter

Peel onions and cut about ½ inch thick slices (Do not separate into rings)

Season with garlic salt

Brush one side with the cream and sprinkle with the pepper

Butter underside of onions

Put on plate and cover loosely with foil and into fridge

Cook on BBQ for 4/5 minutes butter side down 

Before the split

I run three separate entities when it comes to business, so before a parting of the waves where each blog will operate on it's own site, this is my opportunity to show who I am and what drives me.

So, me?  46 year old male with terminal pancreatic cancer, who after being diagnosed, gave up a career as a Child Protection Officer and trainer of internet safety, and decided I wanted to cook. Had always loved cooking as a hobby and decided I would try and make a gentle living out of offering Home Made Dishes, which could be prepared and cooked at a Host's house for dinner parties, where I would also serve and clear up. This of course leaves Host/Hostess to entertain their guests and enjoy some quality meals.

To add to this, I wanted to make my own after dinner chocolates, just so there was something special to give the guests rather than the usual mint wafer with their coffee. now make 12 different specialist chocolates, some of which are being used by companies and charity.

After 2 years of retirement from Internet Safety Training, I had a chat with a couple of friends who had suffered with harassment and abuse, simply because they were female small business owners. I put up a tweet asking if anyone would like to send me a message if they had suffered similar and within 2 days, I had 37 messages, the majority from females. Almost ashamed to be a male at this point, I decided to devise a training course for Safeguarding Women In Small Business through my training company ACT 700 which also works with professionals working with teenagers and Anger Management.

So, now you know who I am and what I do.

David Lewis