Serves: 8

Why do I find this word so difficult to say? After all, it's not long, I can spell it, and everybody else seems to be able to use it remarkably well. But for me, saying "no" seems to be a no-no, even though I think it all the time.

By contrast, the word "yes" just trips off my tongue. There it is, out there before I've even had a chance to think through the consequences of always trying to please.

Take the time I was asked to do the barmitzvah party run in the middle of the night (ok, 11.30pm), shlepping to a new rural hot spot in the middle of nowhere. I had been inundated all day with desperate pleas: "Are you collecting? Do you have room for my bubbelah?" Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. OMG, there's no room in the car for me.

I have even considered therapy in my hour of need, knee-deep in apple crumble, chocolate mousse, lockshen pudding, meringue roulade and grandpa's favourite coffee and walnut cake, trying to answer a dessert trolley of requests that once again I have just not been able to say no to.

Topics:

Ingredients

Name: No nonsense chicken schnitzels
Yield: 8
Ingredients: 8 chicken skinned fillets; Medium matzah meal (use as much as needed); 3 large eggs; Salt and pepper; Corn oil for frying For the topping; 2 tablespoons olive oil; 1 large onion diced; 2 courgettes peeled and sliced; 2 aubergines peeled and diced; 300g mushrooms sliced

8 chicken skinned fillets
Medium matzah meal (use as much as needed)
3 large eggs
Salt and pepper
Corn oil for frying

For the topping
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion diced
2 courgettes peeled and sliced
2 aubergines peeled and diced
300g mushrooms sliced