Recipe for a change narrative

First catch your ‘why’.

Ingredients

• 1x background
• 1x what’s changed
• 1x what’s the challenge
• 1x what’s the strategy for facing the challenge
• 1x how will we need to behave to make the strategy work
• 1x how do we know it will work
• 1x what’s the first step we need to take

Method

Mix all your dry ingredients. Make sure that your why and how are evenly distributed.

Use this mix as the basis of your messaging. It is versatile and can be turned into:

• Key messages
• Presentations
• Speeches
• Elevator pitches
• Web content (static pages / news content)
• Social media content
• Staff briefings
• Videos
• Animations

But remember

Show, don’t tell. It’s essential to include the examples of where it’s already working (how do we know it will work), and to keep giving new examples of where it s happening, working, changing…

Even better if you can include a diversity of voices telling stories about where it’s working: colleagues from different areas (managers/ frontline/ leaders), customers, external stakeholders…

Ikigai

Blogging about: How To Find Your Ikigai And Transform Your Outlook On Life And Business

Listening to all the former colleagues and current contacts who’ve been kind enough to speak to me so far has prompted me to have a think about what I want – rather than just which roles I could potentially be placed in.

No-one has mentioned Ikigai – but the conversations so far have brought it to mind. I think I saw it first last year when Rich Baker posted something about it on LinkedIn.

With no direct English translation, it’s a term that embodies the idea of happiness in living.

http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20170807-ikigai-a-japanese-concept-to-improve-work-and-life

I’m a sucker for a visual aide to thinking – especially if I can sketch it myself with sharpies on huge sheets of paper – but I’ve quickly realised that I need input from people who aren’t me.

I’d be grateful if you can help me to validate/ add to these lists:

Things I love (I know that I should really be able to fill this one in by myself – but sometimes I forget things)

Family and friends Cats Food (cooking, eating, watching TV about, Slimming World) Reading and books Running (and walking) Travel (especially in Europe – and by train) Gin Sleeping Dahlias Rupaul’s Drag Race J.K.Rowling Dancing Languages Stationery Drawing Social Media Organising/ planning/ writing lists Learning new things

Things I am good at (I might have been a bit too inside the box here – what would you put on a list?)

Writing (copy editing/ subbing) Organising/ planning/ writing lists Communicating Presenting Social Media Events (planning/ organising/ delivering) Coaching Leading (teams) Developing (teams) Sharing enthusiasm Cooking Getting to grips with a lot of information quickly Explaining things Empathy (putting myself in other people’s shoes) Getting to the point

What I think the world needs (Tell me I haven’t forgotten anything that you know I care about)

Less poverty Less hunger More equality (gender / LGBT+) No homelessness Toilets and sanitary-ware for all No Brexit Less Trump More education Social justice No torture – more human rights Animal protection Employee Engagement Trade unions Less exclamation marks

Things I can be paid for (Now then folks – keep it kind – and again I think I’ve probably been a bit narrow with this)

Writing and editing Comms planning Events Employee engagement Change communications Internal comms IC team set-up/ team development

Thank you – once I’ve got your input I will make a beautiful Venn diagram and use it to guide me.

Cats: Rosie & Jim

Charlotte G’s Malteser Cake

• Box or large bag of maltesers
• 12 crushed digestive biscuits
• 4oz (125g) margarine
• 1 tbsp syrup
• 6oz (175g) chocolate
• Topping – 11oz (325g) chocolate

1. Melt the margerine, syrup and chocolate
2. Add malesers and digestives
3. Press mixture into a tray/dish
4. Allow to cool
5. Topping – Melt the chocolate and cover the base
6. Allow to set in the fridge
7. Remove from fridge so that chocolate is not too hard, then slice.

A recipe to mark the start of my new hardcore diet!

57 Varieties

Writing about https://caseyleaver.wordpress.com/2006/10/04/tomato-soup-for-the-soul/

A different tomato soup – and one which I am trying not to spill over my keyboard as I type.

Incidentally I was reading Lindsey Bareham’s A Celebration of Soup the other day, and she claims to have over 20 versions of pumpkin soup – there surely must be more. Mine never turn out the same twice for a start!

• 6 (or so) fat over-ripe vine tomatoes
• A good slug of olive oil
• Sweet smoked paprika
• Salt & Pepper
• 1 bottle of passata
• Chilli oil
• Glass of good red wine
• Water – splash
• Beef stock (condensed in bottle) – glug

Roast the tomatoes in a good slug of olive oil in a medium over for 20 minsa of so (I did mine while I happened to be doing some tray-baked sausages). Then transfer to the hob and add all the other ingredients to taste. Bring to a simmer and then hand blend and serve.

I ended up unable to wait for the soup so I served it with a roasted sausage and onion baguette each! But I have brought the substancial left-overs into work.

Which reminds me:

Bubble and squeak and homemade chutney are back on the menu as part of a campaign launched this week to urge people to return to the values of wartime food rationing and cut the mountain of food waste emerging from the nation’s kitchens. (more)

Quite right too!

Research by the government’s waste reduction agency, Wrap, found that one third of all food bought in Britain is thrown away – of which half is edible. Wrap will claim that this discarded food is a bigger problem than packaging, as the food supply chain accounts for a fifth of UK carbon emissions and decomposing food releases methane, the most potent of the greenhouse gases. Wasted food is estimated to cost each British household from £250 to £400 a year.

The reason this came to mind is that when this recipe specifies over-ripe tomatoes – that’s because it was either soup or the bin… You (better housekeepers) can of course use fruit or veg at the peak of its perfection!

Here Today, Gone to Marrow

Immediate apologies for the title of this post.

Today I have embarked, with a sense of due deprivation, on the Special K drop a jeans size thing.

It seems no less sensible than any other diet – at least in the short term as a bit of a kick start. And things have been lapsing recently so it’s time to get back on the wagon again.

So, with that in mind, I’ve been unable to think about anything but food all morning and am currently torturing myself by trying to decide how to stuff this evening’s tea-time marrow.

I’ve decided on a rice-based stuffing and maybe a tomato sauce over the top for extra flavour. My dilemma is that a lovely saffrony Claudia Roden rice dish would be utterly overwhelmed by a tomato sauce.

At the moment I’m leaning towards a kind of sumac-y, lentil-y rice stuffing with a cinnamon-y tomato sauce – but I’ll probably change my mind another six times before this evening.

Incidentally Jane Grigson was little help – she virtually says that marrows are only any good for padding out chutney. The problem is that she’s not wrong – they do need a hefty helping hand with flavouring.

Cheesy Tikka

Writing about Indian Food Made Easy

I remain to be convinced about buddy food programmes – Tony & Giorgio didn’t work but Neneh and Andi is much better – probably because they are very obviously genuinely friends and comfortable in front of the camera.

Anyway, I’ll give Anjum & Panthea a go…

But what intrigued me most was the addition of grated cheddar to the tandoori marinade!  I understand the logic (increased moistness, lardings of fat) but it seems so wrong – I have to try it.

Perhaps for Nan and Grandad’s annual BBQ this weekend?

It Would Honestly Never Have Occured to Me

Celeriac and Brussel Sprout Risotto

Which is just as well because Himself would never eat it anyway and
I’m not entirely convinced myself. But then you shouldn’t knock things
until you’ve tried them. Mentally adds this to a long list of things to knock and not try.

What you should try however is my version of my dad’s version of Claire MacDonald’s Brussel Sprout Purée taken from, if memory serves The Harrods Book of Entertaining.

I can’t conceive of a Christmas without it and will also knock up a batch at the merest excuse at any other time.

I imagine that it was initially intended as a way of getting my
sister and I to eat sprouts – well it has become a victim of its own
success. So simple as well.

Brussel Sprout Puree

1. Make a white sauce – proper bechamal or Delia all-in-one
   depending on how much time you have (although I must confess that you
   can taste the difference if you’ve bothered to infuse the milk).
2. Boil sprouts for no more than 8 minutes (don’t bother to criss-cross the bottoms, it just makes them water-logged).
3. Blend the two together with plenty of seasoning and a very heavy handed grating of nutmeg.
4. Sprinkle with toasted cashew nuts and stick in oven to keep warm until ready to serve.

It’s a very good-tempered dish and will happily sit around or
reheat. And most boxing days will find me eating it out of the serving
dish with a spoon without having bothered to warm it.

Charlie’s Request – Queijadas de Sintra

Writing about web page http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/03/15/1079199151474.html?from=storyrhs

Charlie came
back from holiday with a request for these. I’ve done some research
based on the recipe he gave me and have found this on theage.com.au
website.

These little custardy tarts are also name checked on Chocolate & Zucchini

And as I’ve been shopping and bought the ricotta Charlie could be in luck!

I’m imagining that they should look something like this

Queijadas de Sintra

All
over Portugal, towns large and small have their traditional tartlets or
sweets. Many are similar and the most notable characteristic is
sweetness. However, these tartlets are a famous and tasty sweet from a
town high in the hills north-west of Lisbon. Being famous in Portugal
almost always means there’s a secret recipe, so this version is the
result of tasting and guesswork. The queijadas consist of a thin pastry
case filled with a mixture of sugar, egg, cinnamon, and fresh cheese
(queijo fresco, but we have to use ricotta here). The final consistency
is like moist almond meal and few would guess that the filling is
cheese. The cooked filling can sometimes end up wetter than desired,
due to the moisture in the ricotta, but it will still taste good.

Ingredients

Dough:

• 120g plain flour
• 60ml water
• large pinch salt

Filling:

• 210g ricotta
• 2 egg yolks (preferably from 50-55g eggs)
• 160g sugar
• 20g plain flour
• pinch salt
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon

Method

• You
  need one or more standard muffin trays or individual muffin/tartlet
  pans. Each pan is about 7cm in diameter at the top and about 2.5cm
  high. The recipe also works well with pans slightly larger or smaller
  in diameter.
• Prepare the dough first. It can be made up to
  24 hours ahead. Mix the flour, water and salt, and knead to a smooth,
  firm dough. Leave it to rest.
• Finely mash the ricotta or
  push it through a sieve. Do not use a food processor. Add the egg
  yolks, sugar, flour, salt and cinnamon. Mix until fairly smooth.
• Preheat the oven to 250C.
• Grease
  the pans. To make the pastry cases, roll out the dough thinly on a
  smooth surface or use a pasta machine. Keep the surface and your
  rolling pin lightly floured at all times. You need sheets of dough no
  more than 1.5mm thick. The pans in a standard muffin tray have bases
  about 5.5cm in diameter, and you will need to cut circles of dough of
  8.5cm diameter, to make walls about 1.5cm high. If the bases of your
  pans are larger or smaller, adjust the size of the circles. If the
  dough is soft, leave it to dry a little before cutting the circles, as
  this will make it easier to handle.
• For each circle of dough, use a sharp knife to make five 1cm incisions from the edge inwards, equally spaced around the circle.
• When
  you finish each circle, place it over a pan, push the centre down to
  form the base of the tartlet. Overlap the edges of the incisions and
  press them lightly against the walls of the pan. The walls of the
  pastry case do not have to reach the top of the pan. Try to avoid gaps
  at the bottom of each incision, as the filling could leak.
• Spoon filling into each pastry case up to about 3mm below the rim.
• Bake
  for 10-15 minutes, until the filling begins to turn dark-brown in
  places. Remove. Allow to cool briefly, remove the tartlets from their
  pans and transfer to a wire rack.
• Eat at room temperature. The tartlets keep for a few days stored in an airtight container.

Makes: 12-15

Tomato Soup for the Soul

The perfect time of year for a communal lunch or tea. How better to get to know your new kitchen group or housemates?

Plus
this should be an extra cheap recipe using up the Autumn glut of
tomatoes – even the supermarkets are doing BOGOFs on most packs of
tomatoes at this time of year – but if you go down to a greengrocers
then they should be even cheaper.

The only issue with this
recipe is that it does demand a handblender. But I count mine as one of
my dearest and most-used kitchen tools, so I’d rate it as a good buy.
And you can pick one up from Amazon for as little as £9.

This recipe should serve 4 amply or 8 light eaters if served with a large crusty loaf.

Ingredients

• 2 – 3 kg fresh tomatoes – £2.48
• 5 tbsp ordinary olive oil (not extra virgin) – £3.99
• 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar – £1.58
• Salt
• Pepper
• Loaf of good crusty bread – £1.28

That’s
£1.16 per serving (for 8) and £2.33 per serving (for 4) – and you will
have masses of olive oil and balsamic vinegar left over.

See the note about Olive Oil

Time Taken

40 minutes of roasting and less than 5 minutes of handblending. And that is literally it.

I’d
recommend popping the tomatoes in before you get ready to go out and
then having tea just before you go – I’d also recommend doing the
blitzing before you put your going out clothes on though!

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees centigrade and rearrange shelves to make sure that there is enough room for your dish.
2. Put all the tomatoes whole into the largest and deepest ovenproof dish that you have.
3. Add oil and toss to coat the tomatoes.
4. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Put in oven for 40 minutes.
6. Remove from oven.
7. Add vinegar.
8. Handblend until no lumps of tomato remain.
9. Serve with bread.

There should be no leftovers! And this recipe is easily multiplied to feed even more.

We’re Off Again

Follow-up to Recommencons le Regime from Casey’s Blog

Here we go again. The diet started again today.

We even had a valedictory take away curry last night (my favourite – Balti Saag Paneer).

But virtuously I cooked the rice at home and made a Vicky Bhogal Dry Chickpea side-dish.

Which is just as well because I have a prior commitment to meet a friend for curry tonight – not very good planning on my part…

So now, I’m trying to think of healthy-esque things to order at the Delhi Palace tonight.

I
think I should be ok with some combination of chicken tikka, dhal and a
vegetable side dish. No rice or bread and definitely no poppadoms or
lager!

So far today:

• 1 x mint tea
• 1 x freshly squeezed apple juice
• 2 x toast with marmite (no spread)

• 1 x diet coke
• 1 x medium portion vinegretki (russian beetroot, carrot, potato and gherkin salad)

In fact, disasterous planning on the curry front. I’m off to give Himself the good news, wish me luck!