Your start of the year Heyday Friday newsletter

HERE WE GO AGAIN
WITH YOUR
HEYDAY FRIDAY NEWSLETTER

Hello and happy New Year! How was your Christmas?

We were lucky enough to manage to be all together as a family on Christmas Day, which was chaotic and wonderful. And then, after a busy few Betwixtmas days, I headed off to Studland Bay in Dorset with my lovely fella to hunker down in the completely fabulous Pig on the Beach hotel over New Year.

Just as well we didn't plan to do anything more adventurous than walk along the huge beach (see pic) and the glorious clifftops, 

because he was struck down by the flu lurgy that I know has affected so many people. He did manage to make it through a delicious New Year's Eve dinner, but I ended up watching the midnight fireworks along the distant Bournemouth beach front from our bedroom window accompanied by the sound of snoring! And, other than the journey home, he's been in bed ever since. Poor chap.

I was somewhere rather more exotic than the British seaside (where it rained almost solidly, in spite of how it looked on the morning we were leaving when I took the picture) when I read the book that I review and recommend in THIS WEEK'S BLOG.

I'm confident you'll find it as absorbing and though-provoking as I did, especially as its potentially controversial subject matter can arouse strong opinions and reactions. I'd be interested to know yours when you read it, or if you already have. 

As we begin a new year I'm not sure if I find this

FRIDAY FUNNY

amusing or terrifying. How about you?

It might just be me that's still working their way through the final remnants of leftovers, whilst still trying to ignore the fact that I'm only comfortably fitting into clothes with elasticated waists, but if it's not, then this recipe for 
 
CRUSTLESS QUICHE

is great for using up the former and helpful to take the pressure off the latter! 

Because the point of this is to use up all those leftovers still lurking in your post-festive fridge (I'm assuming I don't need to say: obviously the ones that are still fresh enough to be safely eaten. But I will anyway) the ingredients can be infinitely varied, so this is just a guide. The bit to stick to is the mix of liquid and eggs.

This should be enough to serve 4-6 people with an accompanying salad. 

Preheat the oven to 200C, 180C fan, grease a 23cm flan dish

Combine your various leftovers like ham, bacon, (dare I say it?) turkey, and veg (for a vegetarian version, you can obviously leave out the meat), with 1 small onion finely chopped and up to 200g grated cheese (any kind and they can be mixed together) and season with dried mixed herbs, salt and pepper.

Spread the mixture out on your greased flan dish.

Pour 400ml of cream - double, single, sour, whatever you have, made up to the amount with milk, into a measuring jug. Beat 4 eggs and add to the cream/milk mixture. Season with pepper and pour over the mix in the flan dish.  Sprinkle with dried parsley and some chilli flakes or chopped chilli if you fancy.

Bake in the oven for 30-35 mins until golden brown on top.

How easy, and tasty, is that!

THIS WEEK I'VE BEEN....

.... WATCHING

Like many of you, I'm sure, I watched a... generous amount of TV over the Christmas/New Year break, so I'll be sharing my viewing recommendations from my rummages around the channels for quite some time!
The title and cast of The Only Living Boy in New York were what caught my eye as I scrolled through the film offerings on Amazon Prime. It proved to be as charming and entertaining as the trailer promised, with a terrific central performance by British actor Callum Turner as the eponymous 'living boy', Thomas, serving up an unwaveringly credible American accent. The other Brits in the cast, Pierce Brosnan and Kate Beckinsale stick to their native tones as Thomas's father and the woman Thomas accidentally discovers is having an affair with him.
The ramifications of that discovery and the advice dispensed to Thomas, by his mysterious, alcoholic new neighbour, who is played with typically watchable, low-key nonchalance by Jeff Bridges, and who has secrets of his own, sets in motion a chain of events that will change everything Thomas thinks he knows about his parents (his emotionally fragile mother is played by Sex in the City's Cynthia Nixon) and himself.
The film isn't perfect - there are shades of Woody Allen that are never quite realised, the characters are somewhat two-dimensional and the ending is a bit meh, but The Only Living Boy in New York is still a perfectly enjoyable way to pass a couple of hours snuggled on the sofa. 

You can watch THE ONLY LIVING BOY IN NEW YORK on Amazon Prime 
And see the trailer HERE 
 

.... AND

MAYFLIES, on the other hand needs to be put immediately at the top of your to-watch list. If there's been a more poignant drama on the BBC in the past year (by which I mean 2022 not 2023, otherwise that really wouldn't be much of an accolade) I'd like to know what it is. 
If I tell you Mayflies is about the desire of one man with cancer to end his life with dignity and control and not 'die like a prick', and his request to his oldest friend to help him, I can quite understand why you would wonder where the appeal lies in that. But Mayflies, whilst it's certainly unflinchingly sad, is anything but maudlin. Because at its powerfully beating heart it's a reflection and celebration of male friendship. A friendship forged in youth, cemented by a love of indie music, and maintained over the years in spite of two very different life paths.
Noodles, played with quiet anguish by Martin Compston (best known for his part in Line of Duty) has escaped from the small Scottish town where he grew up and become a successful writer, whilst his charismatic, clamorous friend Tully has remained and become a teacher in a local school. The trio of perfectly pitched central performances is completed by Ashley Jensen as Tully's devastated girlfriend, who, desperate to have as much time with the man she loves as possible, rails against his decision not to have treatment and to end his life the way he wants. 
The two part drama is adapted from the book of the same name by Andrew O'Hagan which was based on his own experience and is shot through with humour and joy alongside the tear-jearking heartache. 
Beautiful, raw, achingly sad, Mayflies is a memorable reminder of the importance of friendship, loyalty, self-determination. And love. 

MAYFLIES  is on BBC iPlayer
And you can watch the trailer HERE 

On the subject of friendship, I've always loved these 

WORDS OF WISDOM

from former First Lady of the United States, Eleanor Roosevelt

Lovely to be back with you for another year of these Heyday missives. I'm toying with the idea of introducing something new to the newsletters this year, but haven't fully formulated what that might be. Which is another way of saying I haven't really thought about what. Is there anything you'd like to see included? 

'Till next time. 

Diane x