Wednesday morning thoughts on beauty . . .

Have you ever wondered why some of us are quite plain and ordinary, or seem to be, and yet others of us are strikingly beautiful in comparison? One might be tempted to think that it just isn't fair. why should some get burdened by being plain and ordinary, whilst others have the gifts of being pretty, talented and seem to have lots of money to go along with it! (Insert stamping foot and pouting mouth here!)

We must take heart though, and remember the old gardener whose garden plot was a riot of beauty and colour, except for one small patch of the original old stock of polyanthus . . . plain and quite drab.



"Why do you keep those when there are so many other brightly coloured and modern plants to choose from?" he was asked.

His reply??

"Ahh, but it's the plain ones that set off the rest and help them to look prettier."

How true, and how very applicable to life that statement is. We may not all be pretty and showy, but we and our various talents do have a special purpose in life, even if it is only to help set off the rest!! It's nice to know we come in handy!



Personally, I like to think it's what's inside that really counts. The plainest of people can be found to be quite beautiful, especially when you see that they have an honest, sincere and lovely spirit. I've known some people who were very attractive physically, but were made quite ugly because of their insides. I think I'd rather be pretty on the inside . . . how about you?

My Todd is a real meat and potatoes man. I love a salad myself, and could quite happily eat salad for every meal, especially on these dog days of summer. Todd could really take or leave salad and, although he would never really complain, I know he'd rather have sausage and mash. I like to think I've taken sausage and mash to a higher level though. Even Todd had to agree that this was mighty tasty!



*Grilled Sausages with a Rustic Pesto Mash*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

This is comfort food at it's tastiest best! Quick to make and it uses things that I have in my larder and fridge most of the time. It's quite, quite delicious!

800g of potatoes (use a good mashing or baking potato)
4 fat pork sausages (Use a full flavoured one such as a Cumberland)
1 small red onion, peeled and sliced finely into half moons
200g bag of baby spinach leaves, washed and dried thoroughly
3 TBS extra virgin olive oil
2 TBS good quality pesto (make your own or buy the refrigerated kind, that stuff in the jars is nasty)
the juice of one lemon

Peel the potatoes and cut into chunks. Put them into a pot of lightly salted water and bring them to the boil. Cook for about 15 minutes, until tender. Drain well.

In the meantime heat the grill (broiler) of your stove and cook the sausaged under it, until thoroughly cooked, turning them frequently until they are nicely browned all over. Alternately you can grill them in a lightly greased non-stick skillet on top of the stove. Set aside and keep warm whilst you finish the mash.

Roughly crush the well drained potatoes with the tines of a fork, leaving them quite rustic looking. Tip in the spinach leaves and the sliced onion, carefully folding them into the hot potatoes until the spinach begins to wilt slightly.

Mix together the olive oil, lemon juice and pesto. Carefully stir this dressing into the potatoes, adding a touch of salt and black pepper for seasoning. Gently toss it all together to mix and coat well.

Serve hot with the grilled sausages piled on top. A heated crusty loaf goes very well with this!



All this heat and humidity we've been having this week calls for drastic measures, such as a cooling, yet spicy fruit salad! Check out The English Kitchen to see how I deal with a heat wave.