I'm a simple sort of bloke; Not in respect of my intelligence, just in a general. I'm reasonably easily pleased, not overly fussy and certainly not pretentious. I like nice things of course, don't we all, however I'm typically easygoing and uncomplicated and don't pursue material things, possessions, all that much. I don't need to feel I am driving the right car, wearing the right logo on my shirt or, in fact, feel any need to spend money or make efforts to keep up appearances for those around me.
My wife and I don't go out much these days, not as much as we used to. I'm not sure why that is although I expect it's because we are not very "peoply" which essentially means we are happy with our own company mostly. Sure, we go out and socialise, but we are pretty selective when, where and with whom. This means we eat in a lot which suits us just fine.
A couple of days ago I was put in charge of dinner preparation by my wife and was told that "anything was fine." Right, it's on!
So, I decided to create a retro-dinner with a food I haven't had for about 30 years! Fish fingers. Yes, I know fish fingers are probably more intended for children but I felt a craving that needed to be sated. You can see my creation here to the right. I dubbed it fish finger Jenga with steamed vegetables and cheese sauce.
On the plate you can see the Jenga-stack of fish fingers, corn, asparagus, carrots, zucchini, broccoli and cauliflower...(All probably genetically modified of course.) I've covered the veggies with cheese sauce and threw a little butter on the corn. A pretty simple meal which tasted ok and was reasonably healthy.
I know what you're thinking...There's nothing special about it and you'd be right. It's not supposed to be special. It's simply meant to nourish my body and be easy to make.
We sat together, chatted about our day, and week, just gone and about what we might do on the weekend whilst eating this very simple meal. We enjoyed the meal and the time together without the need for anything fancy or complicated. In fact I think it was more enjoyable for being so easy to prepare.
Life can be complicated for all of us and I know I have been guilty of adding to that complexity in the past. I don't think it needs to be though. I believe there's a certain value in simplicity and that it can allow a person a little more time to engage with life, and themselves, more effectively. Sure, some people want to invest their time and efforts in the vain pursuit of keeping up appearances but not me...I'm happy to engage in my own life, design and create it as best I can and to extract the most from it in every aspect.
Oh, by the way, my fish finger craving is over...I think I want toasted cheese sandwiches for dinner tomorrow night. Simplicity in its purest form!