Because you're worth it

Sometimes someone will tell me they think it's not worth cooking for just oneself. I'm not sure how good I am at hiding how shocked I am at this. Ok, I may not pull out all the stops either, when I eat by myself but once in a while I even might and I think it's always worth making some proper food for yourself - even if it's something very simple. Where do people get this idea? If you take yoga or have a massage, that's probably something you do just for yourself but you'd never think that the time/money invested isn't well spent, do you? To me, it's just the same with food. Even when I lived on my own, I used to cook for myself and I still do now when the Boyfriend isn't around. That doesn't necessarily mean that I slave in the kitchen for hours but I put the same care into cooking as I do when I have company. When I'm feeling a little fancy and want more than one course, I sometimes make myself what I call the russian starter: pickled cucumber with honey and sour cream. I still have some of the real thing I bought in Helsinki but any kind of cucumbers in brine will do.

Russian starter (serves 1)

• one cucumber in brine, cut into quarters lengthwise
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1 large teaspoon sour cream

Arrange the cucumbers on a small plate and drizzle with the honey. Eat the cucumbers (immediately, as the honey goes hard after a while - some weird reaction to the brine, I suppose) adding a little bit of sour cream to each bite. It may sound funny but do give it a try, it's a delicious combination.

And: MERRY CHRISTMAS!