"Let go of it", people often say. "Try not to think about it", or "Forget it" even. As everyone knows, it's easier said than done. Some psychologist or healer might say, "You grab a pen, imagine that the pen is the source of your negative feelings, and just drop the pen. There! It's gone, hasn't it?" and you think, "No, it hasn't. The pen is still there in front of me".
The reason I'm thinking about this is because I saw a complete stranger earlier (at a tube station) who was angry and agitated. I told him to calm down. After I said it I realised that it was the worst thing I could have said...
I talked about meditation in this post. I'm still a bit confused as to how I should be doing it, but I try to do it a few times a week. I'm pleased to say that I'm getting better at thinking about nothing :) I'm living a life and of course I get worried or angry sometimes, but when this happens I try not to let any stupid incidents affect me. You untangle or untie yourself, if you like.
It's a kind of choice, I think - either to stay as a slave or to become a master. Ha!
A really really good tart this. Use some good chocolate. It makes a world of difference.
Ingredients (for 24cm tart tin):
(for pears)
3 pears, peeled and quartered with core removed
300ml water
300g sugar
(for the pastry)
160g flour
80g butter
(for almond cream)
2 eggs
100g almond powder
100g soft butter
80g sugar
100g dark chocolate, melted
a tablespoon of plain flour
(optional)
3 tablespoon of apricot jam
Preheat the oven to 200C.
Do the pears first. Melt the sugar in the water and make poaching syrup. Gently immerse the pear quarters in the syrup and cook for 10-15 minutes until tender. Leave to cool in the syrup.
Make the pastry next. Put the flour and butter in a large bowl and keep pinching with your fingertips to rub it in the flour. Try to do this quickly before the butter starts to melt. Stop when it looks like wet sand. Add cold water by the teaspoonfuls and combine the whole thing into a dough.
Flatten the dough into a disc and sandwich it between two large sheets of cling film. Roll it out into a size large enough to cover the bottom and the side of the tin. Take the top cling film off and put this side down to line the tin. Gently put all around the side and leave the tin in the fridge.
In a separate bowl mix all the ingredients for the almond cream.
Drain the pears and slice each one into fans.
Take the pastry out of the fridge, spread the cream evenly over the pastry, and fan out the pear slices on top of the cream. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the centre come out clean.
Melt the apricot jam in a small pan and glaze the tart with a pastry brush.