Growing Apart, or Simply Independent?

I have recently "allowed" my husband to go on a holiday without me. It was a dream opportunity for him, so although he went through the motions of asking me if it was OK, it would have been unnecessarily cruel of me to forbid this journey. In short, I felt I had no choice. Now one might ask, is this the beginning of the cracks in our relationship, or is our ability to have separate holidays a sign of our profound love and trust of one another? Although we are undoubtedly accountable to each other and our children, I find the notion of interpreting marriage as meaning being joined at the hip completely unacceptable. I married a man who has some interests I don't share, and if I were to take our marriage as a license to stamp out those things in his life, then the things that make us different from one another and interesting to each other would be gone. I don't want to melt into a pot with him and lead identical lives.

Anyway the good news for me is I now have a trade holiday ahead to look forward to, and no, he doesn't want to come along...

I am so deep in BBQ mode I simply have to give you another couple of interesting salad recipes:

Crunchy Creamy Broccoli Salad

Roast a packet of sunflower seeds in the oven (190 C) for about 7 mins or until they turn a touch brown. Watch out, as they burn very easily. Chop a good sized head of broccoli into bite size pieces, including the stalk, and steam it all for 3-4 minutes, so not too cooked. It should be slightly firm and bright green. Once the broccoli has cooled, add the sunflower seeds and a large handful of grated cheddar cheese. Add enough mayonnaise to coat it all, plus a generous splash of white wine vinegar, salt and fresh pepper.

Borlotti Bean Health Salad

All salads are healthy, no? Drain a tin of borlotti beans and chop up half a jar of sun dried tomatoes. Grate 3-4 good sized carrots and chop up a large bunch of watercress or rocket. Mix all of these together with a good glug of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.