This is your conscience speaking…

When my youngest was a lot younger, she would rarely be direct about anything. If she wanted something out of the ordinary like some new clothes, or something ‘girly’ of which I probably would not approve, she would do something daft like write out a request (along with a smiley face) and slip it under the sitting room door. While she was a little thing and cute, those notes always got the desired result. As she has aged and the ravages of time have started to take their toll (she is 20 now), she trys more subtle methods of influencing me. 

DDDDDAAAAAAADDDDDD!!!!! What are you cooking me for dinner???

Not the shout of a spoilt 4-year-old. It came from a hard-working final year International Commerce student, my eldest daughter. Her sister is out and the wife is away with her parents. So I am cooking for two.

I had bought two good striploin steaks from my favourite butcher, John’s Meat Co. in Dublin’s Monkstown Farm. A quick check in the fridge revealed two sweet peppers and some lettuce. Fearing a tantrum from the tired student, I got busy.