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Showing posts from September, 2025

Shakshuka

Shakshuka is one of those meals that makes you feel like you put in way more effort than you actually did. It’s rustic, vibrant, and comes together in one pan, which means less cleanup and more eating. Plus, there’s something ridiculously satisfying about cracking eggs right into a bubbling tomato sauce and watching them gently poach. It’s said to have started in Tunisia and spread through North Africa and the Middle East, which makes sense, everyone who tries it seems to adopt it. What I love most is that it isn’t only a breakfast meal. I’ve had it for brunch, lazy dinners, and even “I forgot to grocery shop” nights, and it always hits the spot. Ingredients 2 tbsp olive oil 1 small onion, diced 1 red bell pepper, diced 2–3 garlic cloves, minced 1 tsp ground cumin 1 tsp smoked paprika ¼ tsp chili flakes (optional, for heat) 1 can (14 oz / 400 g) crushed or diced tomatoes Salt and pepper to taste 4–5 eggs Fresh parsley or cilantro, chopped (for garnish) Optional: crumbled feta, olives, ...

The Fog That Won’t Lift: Living (and Laughing) Through Brain Fog

There’s this little side effect of chemotherapy that no one really warns you about. It’s not the nausea, or the bone-deep fatigue, or even losing your hair... people at least prepare you for those. It's the brain fog or as I like to call it: the brain farts. It feels like my brain’s running on dodgy WiFi. Some days, the signal is strong and clear, I can think straight, string sentences together, feel sharp again. Other days, it’s like everything is buffering mid-thought, mid-sentence, mid-task. One minute I’m totally capable, the next I’m wondering if my brain is actively sabotaging me on purpose. Take the time I tried to organize a fun night out at the cinema with my girlfriends. I booked the tickets online, feeling very “on top of life.” Halfway there, it hit me: Brighton doesn’t even have a Vue cinema. I’d booked us tickets for London. Cue me, standing on the pavement, staring at my phone like: Really? Again? Or the time I was invited to speak at a cancer conference in Londo...