Photo by Aron Mifsud Bonnici

Trapped somewhere between life and death, a young woman seeks freedom and peace while she tries to remember what drove her to kill herself.

Eva Hamilton remembers wanting to die, and the relief she felt as she fell to her death, but not what drove her to it. Alone and filled with regret, she exists now in her own private purgatory, destined to dwell amongst the living, never able to communicate with them.

When Eva meets Timothy, she hopes she has found someone who can help her uncover the secret of why they are forced to remain amongst the living, and if there is any escape. But Timothy is far more accepting of his fate, and seems content to ponder, rather than solve, the riddle of their existence. Torn between the warmth of Timothy’s friendship, and the aching desire to find a way out, Eva must choose between comfort and darkness.

But maybe there is a third option; a chance meeting with two grieving orphans has Eva thinking there may be a purpose for her after all.

Back in 2009 I awoke one morning from a dream that I had started writing a novel about a girl called Eva. The name of the book in the dream is way too embarrassing to share with you, but it did plant the seed of an idea in my mind.

I have been writing in one form or another since I was five or so years old. I used to write little books, complete with (terrible) illustrations, staple them together and give them away as gifts. Even back then I would brag about how I was going to be an author when I grew up.

The problem was that I never had any truly good ideas. Even when I decided to study “Professional Writing” in my 20s, I had a horrible time coming up with ideas to complete the assignments. I’m fairly sure most of what I wrote was complete rubbish. Don’t get me wrong, I think the writing itself was probably quite sound, it was the fact that it was based on almost nothing that brought it down.

So anyway, after I had the Eva dream I started to think about writing again, for the first time in years. Walking home from work one day I looked around at the other people going about their business and thought to myself, “I really don’t pay attention to any of these people. They could be ghosts, and I would never know.” And the idea for Amaranth was born.

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Latest medical research has uncovered a previously unrecognized infectious disease that affects millions each year. It can hit you out of nowhere, it is deadly, and it could be fatal. Most who have been ravaged by it will tell you they only narrowly escaped death.

It is MAN FLU!

Attacking only males of the human species, Man Flu comes in many forms, but it is always severe and always requires complete immobilization. If infected with this insidious disease, the patient almost always requires complete bed-rest for several days, or he will collapse and may require hospitalization.

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How many times have I heard people say that the modern woman can “have it all”? So many that I’ve lost count. I’m here to say that you can’t. Anyone who says you can is either kidding herself or has a very different definition of “all” than I do.

You know what I’m talking about. It’s one of the most common dilemmas for women today; career or children.

Feminism and the women’s liberation movement have given us so many options that I sometimes feel like it would be easier to go back to being oppressed. At least when women had so few rights, they didn’t put unrealistic expectations on themselves. In many cases they simply accepted that their lot in life was to raise children and look after their husband and household. Sounds gleefully uncomplicated, doesn’t it? (Notice I didn’t say easy.)

I am playing Devil’s advocate here; I don’t actually want to be a 50s housewife. But I never expected to feel so conflicted about motherhood.

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I started my new job on Monday last week, and by Friday I had somehow managed to volunteer to supply some sort of home-baked snack for my team at Monday’s team meeting. I thought about making my Victoria Sponge, but didn’t like the idea of trying to cover it with whipped cream on Monday morning with a toddler clinging to my leg. Not to mention trying to get it to work in one piece, given that it would have to ride under the pram. So instead I decided to make apricot muffins. I found a couple of recipes online and combined them to come up with what turned out to be a very tasty result:

I apologise for the crappy picture; it was taken in bad light with my phone. But you can see that I did some in paper muffin cups and some with a silicone muffin tray. If you’re using a muffin tray, make sure the muffins are cooled before you attempt to pop them out. It’s a good idea to run a butter knife or rubber spatula around the edge to loosen them.

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Here’s my recipe for the classic Indian lamb curry known as Rogan Josh. You can make it as spicy or mild as you like by adjusting the amount of chili powder you add. It’s really simple to make, and the preparation doesn’t take long. The cooking time is an hour and a half or more though, so make sure you get started early!

Enjoy!

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This is a recipe my mum always used to make when we were kids. Lately she’s been making it for my niece and nephew, who love it, and when she was over in Norway recently, she made it for Ella’s first birthday party. It was very popular with the guests, several of whom have asked for the recipe, but most amusingly it was popular with the birthday girl. My tiny girl stuffed an entire piece into her mouth in one go, and somehow mushed it up enough to swallow, and then looked around for more. I then made it to take to her kindergarten summer party, where kids and parents alike tucked in with enthusiasm. It’s also a great way to get kids to eat vegetables (you can even use yellow zucchini to really hide the veggie content!). So here it is;

Ingredients

• 1 large or 2 small zucchinis (courgettes, squash… whatever you want to call them)
• 1 onion
• 1 medium sized carrot
• 3 rashers of bacon (can be omitted for a vegetarian version)
• 1 cup of grated cheese (cheddar or similar)
• 125ml vegetable oil
• 1 cup of self-raising flour (or 1 cup plain flour + 1.5tsp baking powder)
• 5 eggs (lightly beaten)
• salt and pepper to taste

Method

Wash and grate the zucchini (skin on).

Peel and grate the carrot

Finely chop the onion and bacon

Combine zucchini, carrot, onion, bacon, cheese (reserving a small amount to sprinkle over the top) flour (and baking soda if you’re using it), eggs, salt and pepper in a mixing bowl.

Mix together until everything is mixed evenly. If the mixture seems too wet, add more flour (up to a further half a cup) until you get a cake-dough type consistency.

Pour into a baking dish so that the mixture comes about 3cm up the sides. Make sure your dish has a little room for the slice to rise.

Sprinkle the remaining grated cheese evenly.

Bake in a 180°C oven for 30-40 minutes until the top is browned and a skewer or knife comes out clean.

Cool slightly before slicing into squares. Can be served hot or cold.

NOTE: You can add other ingredients such as sweetcorn, leek, mushroom, asparagus… and the bacon can be removed, or replaced with shredded cooked chicken, tuna or smoked fish, such as cod. Experiment!