Hello-lo! I’m creeping back after an unplanned hiatus due to the general state of the world. In todays Afternoon Delights I beg for your blood in return for a naughty mushroom recipe and round off with some Really Good Reads™. I hope your Easter has been full of the very best eggs, rest, and fresh air. It’s great to be back!
If I wasn’t so pathetically squeamish, I think the Welsh Blood Service would be a great place to work. You get to play a part in saving peoples lives AND give out some top notch snacks on a daily basis. You also get to say things like “now then my dallin’, you’ve answered yes to the question ‘have you paid for or been paid for sex,’ which means we can’t take your blood today. That’s fine if it’s right, but if not I’ll just move that over to no?” like the valleys nanna who worked for Welsh Blood who had already got her sexual health clinic leaflets out of the box as I stammered that I had not, in fact, been paid for or paid for sex. She didn’t bat an eyelid either way, and I couldn’t help but wonder some of the things she’s heard over the years. Donating blood three times a year is something I take weirdly seriously - you get to see the best of humanity in a room with free squash and biscuits.
My brother and I are quietly competitive about blood donation, (read - very loudly competitive.) He’s been giving for at least a decade longer than me, and can give once a year more than me too. And now the bugger is giving platelets, which you can do much more often, and he’s not far off his fiftieth donation. I think the only way I can top him is by donating an organ, all of which I’m fond of, so hopefully I can encourage some others to give some of their blood instead and the universe will call it evens.
Me, giddy with my tenth donation pin.
I have a fair few friends who had tricky labours resulting in them receiving blood transfusions, meaning they can no longer donate themselves. Each time I donate, I give a little drop for them. Then there’s my gay friends, who until recently have a had a blanket ban on donating despite wanting to, so I give a little drop for them too. (Great to see progress made here in the rules being loosened slightly - especially with recent news that for the first time in a decade there are more new HIV diagnoses in heterosexuals than gay men, and the fact that straight couples are less likely to know their status.) And then my brilliant nan, who passed away twenty years ago but gave twice a year without fail, even when it was a two bus journey and the snacks were probably no where near as good as what we get now, I always give a little drop for her. I give my last drop in thanks for the orange club biscuit I’m about to get (I got two on my tenth donation!) and briefly wonder if drinking more water would make me a better candidate for donating platelets to have a really good go at overtaking my brother. Then I’m back in the car, wondering if I’ll bruise (I never bruise) or if I’ll feel faint (I never feel faint) and marvel at the fact that I’ve just saved a life?! And that science is weird and brilliant?!
Anyway, only 3% of the eligible population actually donate, and the majority of them are over 40. One donation can save up to three lives, from people in accidents, people giving birth and those undergoing long term treatment. So if you’re feeling a bit hopeless at the moment (fairly) and are eligible - I’d massively recommend carving out an hour of your week to give up a pint of your good stuff - you’ll save a life, feel smacked off your chops on smug AND get an orange club. Morning well spent I reckon.
Garlicky Sherry-y Mushrooms
Please note - there’s a lot of garlic in here - that’s the point. If you hate faffing with cloves, or, like me, touch peoples faces for a living, I can’t recommend the pre diced frozen ones you can get from Tesco or Sainsbury’s enough. I’m not saying it’s a straight swap for flavour, but if the other option is simply missing out on garlic because you can’t risk the smell on your hands for days, they have to be worth a shot. Whatever makes your kitchen life easier! You can also use white wine if you don’t have any sherry knocking about, but the sherry gives the mushrooms a slightly nutty flavour which is to die for.
Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp garlic and ginger paste
30g diced garlic
250g closed cup mushrooms, left whole
Good splash fino sherry
Vegetable stock pot and 1 cup boiling water
Knob of butter
Fresh parsley, chopped.
Method
Heat the olive oil in a heavy based frying pan over a medium high heat, and when the oil is hot, briefly take the pan off the heat and add the garlic and ginger paste. Shop bought is fine! It will spit! A lot! Wear an apron! Stir with a wooden spoon to prevent it from catching on the bottom of the pan, then turn the heat down to medium and return the pan to the stove.
Add both the garlic and mushrooms (keep them whole - you’ll want them to be browned and sticky but not burnt and crispy by the end.) Give them a stir fairly frequently to stop the garlic from catching. Once the mushrooms are fairly browned, turn the heat back up to high and add a really good splash of fino sherry. Again - it will spit and sizzle but that’s exactly what you want. There should be about 2cms of liquid in the bottom of the pan. Keep stirring everything whilst the liquid cooks off.
Meanwhile, boil the kettle for the stock. I like to add the stock pot to the pan first and allow the heat to melt the jelly, giving everything a good stir so the flavour coats everything in the pan, then add the liquid after - I find you get much better flavour pay off this way. (This isn’t an ad, but if Knorr want to sponsor me, contact details are at the top of the page!) You want about 500mls boiling water, the mushrooms shouldn’t be completely submerged. Turn the heat down again to medium and let the liquid simmer off.
Once there’s barely any liquid left in the pan, add a good knob of butter and stir it through, then chop some fresh parsley over. The garlic will be deep brown - this is fine, provided you’ve kept stirring it won’t have burnt and will be lovely and sticky and is great served with the mushrooms.
The mushrooms seen here behind Nigella’s Fish Finger Bhorta - which photo’s much better!
Micro Doses of Delight
Left over sherry? Cutting back on booze but not ready to cut it out totally? Enter the Rebujito.
Only Nigella could make a fish finger the star of the show!
Tank.
Really Good Reads™
Radio 1 DJ Greg James on embracing his geeky hobbies is a really lovely read.
What it feels like to enter the hundred club - very much in my wheelhouse here.
It gives me no delight that this is ever needed, but seeing a Ukrainian women’s magazine pivoting to give advice on how to live in a war zone reminds me how resilient we are when we need to be.
This piece on learning to ski at 29 is just pure joy!
“All the people who were, as he would say, “hit with a splash of happiness.” This is what I’d discovered getting to know Vaughn: By putting in the effort to learn someone’s language, you’re showing them that you value who they truly are.” Finally, a man who speaks 24 languages. I absolutely must re download Duolingo.
Thanks ever so much for taking the time to read - and if you were looking for the kick up the bum to donate blood, I hope this is it! You can check your eligibility here, and find out where you can give blood in Wales here, and England here. If you have any questions on the process, or, like me, just have a pathological need to know a step by step process before you do something new, I’m more than happy to answer! And ifyou think someone else would enjoy this, please feel free to share! N xo