Happiness comes from within

You must be thinking, "she is out of her usual territory of keeping things light". Well, not really. I just notice so many unhappy people around me, including some very special ones that I care about deeply. This makes me sad because so many people have it all wrong; they expect life to veer round the corner and to just be perfect, or, they expect their partner, friends and/or kids to make them happy. To sum up their expectations, they want their happiness to come from external sources, from other people or happenings. I doubt if they will ever feel happy...
Happiness comes from within ourselves. We make ourselves happy by doing what we enjoy, by reaching out to people who we value, by creating enjoyable moments. We can give without expecting anything in return, we can like and love without expectations of being liked or loved back. You can smile when you feel like it and just enjoy little, everyday things.
Enjoying a cup of your favourite herbal tea, watching your favourite series of the moment, or crafting something out of that amazing shiny card you bought....all those things are so simple but are what makes a simple everyday special. Keep doing what you enjoy doing, that's the only way to be happy. What we enjoy may evolve and that's ok too, just as long as it happened naturally and not through pressure from other people.
Ok, enough of all that deep talk:) Now on to serious business, food! (how did you guess?? lol)
Yesterday I thought how nice it would be to have some cheesy scones to eat for lunch and the only way to get exactly what I wanted was to make it! So I did!

Perfect flaky soft cheese scones

Now I've done it, I made you hungry! lol That's ok, you can go and try to make these scones too. They are easy and quick to whip up and take only 15 minutes to bake. The recipe is from Rachel Allen and appeared on someone's blog. That's how I found it: I looked for cheese buttermilk scones. Anyway, I would post the recipe but not sure if it's allowed.

Something else I| made that was quick, easy and tasty is Jamie Oliver's pizza dough. I topped it with some tomato and basil pasta sauce, slices of basic mozzarella and finished with a layer of pepperoni slices. Justine (my daughter) loved it and I also thought that this dough was a keeper.

That is how it turned out...

Messy, gooey, homemade delicious pizza

Today I will be cooking some Mauritian dishes, ready for when my work friends come over for dinner on Thursday. A lot of Mauritian dishes actually taste much better if they sit in the fridge for a couple of days so that will work very well. "Vindaye Poisson"* with French bread slices for starters, brown lentils, "beef rougaille"* and plain rice as the first main, Mauritian pilau rice with sausages, peas and egg as the second main. For dessert, I am thinking along the lines of a pudding...."Poudine Mais" (translation: maize pudding).

* Vindaye is a mustard seed, turmeric and vinegar paste

   Rougaille is a tomato sauce with ginger, garlic, thyme and parsley 

I will be busy cooking while Justine goes off with her friend to the trampoline park and has a sleepover. Tomorrow, my friend is coming with her two kids and I have booked a slime workshop and bowling to keep them entertained! 

Be happy, keep smiling!