Spring has come.

Chapter 1.

There are days when the amount if things to do or matters, which, I think, need my immediate attendance, overweigh my energy store and expand beyond there-are-only-24-hours-a-day thing. Before now I'd take my pains to care about moments that seemingly were important but, in the event, were not.

Lots and lots of time I spent diving into the choppy sea of worries and doubts, fears and unconfidence. Endless 'what ifs' and 'buts' continuously enjoyed my loyal company for years, and I whole-heartedly thought such an approach the inevitable part of my life.

I guess it would still be 'on my agenda' but for a single moment, which left me gasping and happened instantly to take its place in a row with those titled as life-altering (pardon me if I sound a trifle too clichesque here *wink*).

All right. As trivial as it may seem I was looking at my own reflection in the mirror the other day (please do not tell me you're surprised, thank you! *smiles*). Personally, what surprised me was that after twenty three (23!!!!!) years of not noticing I discovered a certain positive feature of my hands (yeah, I'm that much eccentric about my hands, but this post is, in fact, about something different! *broad smiles*). Twenty three years of looking and not seeing - that's, I tell you, is a real shocker. I suddenly realise how much of my time I gave to worries and haste in numerous attempts to put an order in my life, which more often than not turned out to be futile.

I am here not to worry. I am here to live. In tune with my heart. In tune with myself.

Chapter 2.

Time has come to expand my warm welcome to the offals, there! And I began with...

*****Chicken hearts in white wine*****

Serves 2/3

500 gr chicken hearts (trimmed from fat)

1 medium white onion, chopped

1 medium pickle, diced

1/2 cup French beans

1/2 cup white wine

1/2 tsp Chinese 5-spices mixture

salt and pepper to taste

1 Tsp fresh mint, finely chopped

1 Tsp olive oil

1. In a medium non-stick saucepan, saute onion until slightly golden.

2. To the onions, add trimmed chicken hearts, mix and season with salt (in fact, you might not want it at all in this dish as later you'll add a pickle to the hearts) and pepper to taste (I couldn't help but throwing in a small dried and crashed chilli, too) and add chinese 5 spices mixture.
Stir fry the hearts for 3-4 mins. Add white wine, cover the pan with a lid and simmer the mixture for about 10 mins.

3. 4-5 mins before the end of cooking time, uncover the pan, add french beans and saute all mixture until the excess liquids have evaporated.

4. At the end, season the dish with freshly chopped mint, stir well and let it wilt slightly (or else the flavour might be a bit too strong).

Serve warm with rice, boiled/mashed potatoes, pasta or greens of your choice.

The flavours of the dish are complementing each other fairly good. Sour juices of a pickle and softness of french beans compensate for a springy texture of the hearts, whereas spices and herbs outbalance the earthy/subtly liver-y core-taste of the dish.

Chapter 3.

This photo I shot on my way back home from work. I like to interpret it as this: an aged lady walking away into the distance is associated in my mind with winter retiring itself to a withdrawal. Spring has come. Officially.

P.S. Dear Winter, please take care and goodbye for now.