MARIE'S MUSES

“I have spent my days stringing and unstringing my instrument, while the song I came to sing remains unsung to this day.” ~Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941)

I found this quote this morning and I thought to myself, “Wow”. It sounds very similar to the quote I have in my side bar by the late President Kimbell. "Let us get our instruments tightly strung and our melodies sweetly sung. Let us not die with our music still in us."

It’s all about living life to it’s fullest and taking risks and becoming everything we were sent here to become. There’s no point in having a guitar if you never learn to play it and what’s the point in having a life that’s only ever half lived?

Is there some skill that you have always wanted to develop, but up until now have been putting off? Have you always wanted to take singing lessons, or to learn how to play the piano, wanted to do Judo, learn to swim, take flying lessons, bake a cake . . . Maybe it's something simple such as learning to sew or embroider.  Most local colleges and schools offer courses and night classes in all kinds of things. Often they are not that expensive, and if you are a senior citizen I believe that, over here in England at least, they are free.  A wise man once said you have nothing to fear but fear itself, so why not take the plunge and do some of those things you have been putting off? Why wait for a rainy day? Why not sing the song you have been placed here on earth to sing?

I think I’ll drag my clarinet out this afternoon and start practicing it. There’s a little girl at church who would be very pleased to hear me say that. She’s been rather looking forward to playing a duet with me at Christmas time and I don’t want to disappoint her, not to mention Todd. He got it for me for Christmas two years ago and it was so sweet of him to do that. I had played the clarinet when I was at school and have longed to play again in my adult years. It has sat there in it’s case for two long years now and I guess it’s about time I took it out, dusted it off and did something with it. I may never be Acker Bilk, but I bet eventually I’d make some beautiful noise.

I baked this salmon yesterday for our lunch. We had it with my cheese and chive potato crush and some mixed vegetables. Salmon is not one of Todd’s favourite things tohave, but he does love it done this way. It really does have a lovely flavour. Be careful not to over cook it. Dry fish is horrible.

Serves 4

You can buy something very similar in the freezer section at the supermarket, but why bother when it’s so easy and infinitely tastier to make your own from scratch at home!

1 cup fresh bread crumbs

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced

2 TBS finely chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

3 TBS finely grated parmesan cheese

1 tsp dried thyme

The juice of half a lemon, divided

3 TBS of butter, melted

Salt and black pepper to taste

4 good sized boneless, skinless salmon filets (6 to 8 ounces each)

Pre-heat the oven to 180*C/350*F. Lightly grease a baking tray large enough to hold the salmon filets without them touching and then set it aside.

Mix the breadcrumbs, garlic, parsley, parmesan cheese and thyme together in a bowl. Juice your lemon and then divide in half. Put half of the juice into a bowl and whisk it together with the melted butter. Toss the bread crumb mixture together with this mixture.

Wipe your salmon fillets and lightly dust with some salt and black pepper. Place them on the prepared baking tray and then drizzle with the remaining lemon juice. Top with the crumb mixture, dividing it equally amongst the four filets and patting it on with your fingers if you need to, in order to help it to adhere better.

Bake in the heated oven for about 25 minutes, or until the crumbs are lightly browned and the salmon flakes easily when tested with the tines of a fork. Do not over bake.