The Petals of Forgiveness and some Mighty Tasty Haddock

"The difference between holding on to a hurt
or releasing it with forgiveness -
is like the difference between laying your
head down at night on a pillow filled with thorns
or a pillow filled with rose petals."
~Loren Fischer

One thing that I have learned in life is to let go of all the things that people may have done to hurt me in the past or to cause me distress. I used to hang on to these things and hold them close, allowing them to hurt me time and time again. I'd forget them for a little while and then I'd revisit them, allowing their sting to bruise my heart all over again.

Then, one day I realized what I had been doing. In hanging on to the hurt, I was allowing the perpetrator to have a toe hold in my life. I was allowing them to have some power in my life. I was allowing them to continue to victimize me. In most cases, they were long gone . . . and their life seemingly unaffected by what they had done. Perhaps they didn't even realize what they had done, and never had. What was I doing hanging on to these slings and arrows of the past? I was hurting no-one but myself . . . and so I learned to let go, and I forgave . . .



It is not enough just to put these hurts in the past . . . one also has to learn to forgive. Forgiving doesn't mean that you agree with what's been done. Forgiving means that you agree to put it in the past and move on, and then you do just that. Accept that forgiveness is something that you do for yourself. It's like the difference between walking through life wearing a pair of sunglasses and then finally deciding to take them off. While you have the glasses on, everything seems distorted and coloured over with darkness . . . taking them off allows you to see everything in a clean and crystal clear light. Oh what a relief it is to let it all go . . . to drop that heavy load and leave it behind.

I came to a point in life where I realized that all anyone was really doing in this life, was the very best that they knew how to do, according to their own experiences and history . . . the same as what I, myself, was trying to do. I recognized that, when I knew better I did better and so did they. I cannot be responsible for another's actions . . . but I can choose and control my own and I choose to forgive.

Forgiveness is truly a gift we give ourselves.



I was looking through some cook books at work the other day, and I came across a recipe that sounded divine . . . Roasted Cod with an Herb-Bacon Crust. It got my taste buds tingling as soon as I saw it. Reading it though it seemed like an awful lot of work. It involved cooking the fish first and then making a separate crust that you sliced and lay on top of the cooked fish and then broiled. I decided to take the idea and the flavours and then adapt it to my own lazier way of doing things and I came up with this tasty dish. This is a real winner and it uses Haddock instead. The recipe is for two but can very easily be multiplied to serve more people.



*Bacon and Herb Crusted Roast Haddock*
Serves 2

Fish and bacon go together like . . . well, peas and carrots! Sweet and succulent haddock covered in a crisp crumb full of the lovely flavours of bacon, shallots and cheese. What's not to like with this dish!

2 thick haddock fillets, about 5 ounces each
4 slices of streaky bacon, fried or grilled until almost crisp
1 small shallot, peeled and minced
1 fat clove of garlic, peeled and minced
1 cup of fresh bread crumbs
2 ounces of grated strong cheddar cheese
2 TBS of finely chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
1/2 tsp chopped fresh thyme leaves
2 springs of thyme (optional)
2 TBS unsalted butter
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Pre-heat the oven to 200*C/400*F. Lightly butter a shallow baking dish and set it aside.

Cook your bacon until it is almost crisp and then set it aside to cool. Place the butter into the same skillet you have cooked the bacon in and heat it gently until it begins to foam. Add the chopped shallot and the garlic. Sweat gently until both are soft and fragrant. Add the bread crumbs and give them a good stir to coat them in the pan juices. Cook them for a few minutes longer until they begin to crisp up just a bit. Remove from the heat and add the chopped parsley and thyme leaves. Chop the bacon up and stir it into the mixture along with the cheddar cheese, giving it all a good mix.

Rinse your fish fillets with some cold water and then pat them dry with some kitchen paper toweling. Place them into the buttered dish, placing a spring of thyme underneath each if so desired. Sprinkle each fillet with some salt and pepper. Pat a good handful of the crumb mixture over each fillet and around it so that they are completely covered.

Bake in the heated oven for 15 to 20 minutes until the fish flakes easily under your fork and the crumbs are nicely browned. Remove from the oven and let sit for a few minutes before placing onto warm plates to serve. This is absolutely delicious!