Take It Out

Butterfly farm with one visitor too many, marring the experience

What would I put on a 2.5m ledge running the width of my dining room wall? Well, a vase of freshly cut majestic heliconias and showy birds of paradise would be the piece de resistance, as paintings in purple and orange hues hang on an adjacent wall. But that still left 2.48m of ledge insipidly bone bare – not a good look for a white wall.

Now my hubby has inherited a lot of memorabilia from his mother’s estate last year. “Perfect for the ledge,” I thought. And they did take up its length: it wasn’t bare anymore, but my lush tropical floral arrangement didn’t continue to keep centre stage either.

Right, Interior Design principle 101: less is more, stupid!

So I went back to displaying Necia’s beloved treasures in her towering glassed bookcase in the cosy study upstairs – where they rightfully lovingly belong. And replaced them with four definitive pieces of home décor, working on Interior Design principle 102: balance and harmony.  

As such, hubby was again happier, as he was when I decided from the start to leave the chicken liver out of the lasagna al forno; thereby removing the liver’s bitterness from overshadowing the richness of the beefy mince. Now we can savour to contentment the soulful intensity of the meat perfectly sandwiched between mashed plum tomatoes and velvety creamy béchamel sauce, and in total oblivion of the layers of pasta.

He was beaming like a Cheshire cat too, when we took the generous heap of salted butter out of the surprisingly Italian garlic prawns. Immediately, the olive-oil infused gravy took on a lighter and healthier texture. And the dish remained as aromatically balanced and harmoniously tasty; not surprising, as we continued to season it just before plating it. Long after the prawns are gone, a really long-time friend always insists on soaking up every last drop on her plate with fresh warm chunks of olive ciabatta.