...In The Kitchen

Method:

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan, over a medium to high heat.

2. Dice the red onion and garlic cloves as coarsely as you like, and then add to the saucepan once hot, and fry off until they soften and some colour is lost from the onion.

3. Grate the carrot as finely as possible and put to one side.

4. Add the tomatoes and stir at high heat, then simmer for around 3 minutes.

5. Turn the heat down to between medium and low heat, and add the rest of the ingredients, including the carrot. There’s no need to make stock with the stock cube – quite literally just add it in.

6. Cover partially and let simmer over a low heat for around 40 minutes, giving the occasional stir.

7. About 15 minutes before the Bolognese is ready, heat the kettle and pour the hot water into a saucepan, ready to be salted and add the spaghetti.

8. Strain the spaghetti once cooked, and take the Bolognese off the heat once reduced slightly.

9. Plate up and enjoy with optional salad alongside.

Adapting this recipe is easy enough too, so do play with it. I like experimenting with bell peppers and courgette, but you might want to stick a whole head of broccoli in there. The point of this filthy yet gorgeous recipe is really the fun of it. Get weird and enjoy!

Editor: Saiba Haque

Deputy Editor: Maya Glantz

Digital Editor: Emma Witham

WELLBEING.

Editor: Sophia Smith

Deputy Editor: Ursula Glendinning

Digital Editor: Helen March

Sub-editor: Zara Whistler

Last summer I told my Dad, ‘I don’t think I could ever feel miserable again, I’m just too in love with being alive.’ I meant it, and my recently inked inner arm dawning, a ‘happy to be here’ banner, was certainly a testament to that. Having emerged from my teenage years, characterised by frequent depressive episodes and eating disorders, I moved into my 20s in the best state of health I had ever been in. After studying abroad, I returned to the country with reams of energy, memories and new friends, and the most genuine love I could have ever imagined. I was assured of the fact that nothing could bring me down.

And most of this has held true.

Over the past few years, I’ve come to cherish the simplest things in life: live music, nourishing food, dinners with friends, sunsets, sunrises, birds, dogs, cats, snails. There truly is so much to love. Regardless of what comes my way, I’ve found it hard not to remain optimistic, or at the very least appreciative, about what’s here for me.

It’s this optimistic outlook which has given me the reputation of being the ‘happy’ friend, and I will admit that, for the longest time, I took it in my stride that this was the perception people had of me. It felt like a win for the younger me who couldn’t seem to dissociate herself from her anxiety, depression, and general ‘sad girl’ vibe.

In truth, I am generally a happy person. However, thinking I was immune to both the regular emotional and hormonal fluctuations every human being experiences, and the physical toll that excessive stress can take on both the mind and body was silly. And I fear that, in making everyone else believe that this was the case too, I only exacerbated an issue that would otherwise never exist.

Indeed, being the ‘always happy’ friend comes with a downside - the identity crisis when in a period of not feeling so good. Truly it’s a self fulfilling cycle of doubting authenticity. Am I really content with life if I’m sad right now? What will people think if I’m not content after I’ve preached about so much love for life ? Does this mean that they’ll also start to doubt this ethos? Do I pretend that I’m doing perfectly fine just to prevent this? No. The truth is, you don’t have to always be in love with life to want to keep living it. Likewise, you don’t have to always add resolute joy to your friends’ lives to be a good friend.

When the most extreme workload coincided with the bitterest winter during a period in which .we were unable to put the heating on, I hardly had the energy to dance down the street every day like I had done all summer. And when I had pulled my 5th allnighter in 2 weeks, I hardly had the enthusiasm to make plans.

It felt like I was doing not only myself, but my friends an injustice, which, in turn, made me feel a lot worse about my ‘lower’ period. “This is so out of character. She’s never been like this?” Of course she had. And of course she always will, at some points. That doesn’t mean she’s just not as in love with all those little things, she is still so happy to be here, she’s just waiting for a time when she actually has the physical space to treasure such things.

To anyone who has fallen too deep into this archetype, I want to emphasise that your worthiness is not dictated by your mood, outlook energy or level of serotonin. You don’t owe anyone unwavering idealism, but you do owe yourself the capacity to feel all feelings, good or bad, optimistic or pessimistic, without an interrogation of your authenticity, progress or identity. You don’t have to be anyone’s rock, pick me-up, or guaranteed source of happiness. It’s great to be in love with the little things, a people person, easy to impress. It’s great to have friends who appreciate your energy. But you’re also not a character. You exist outside this singular aspect of your personality. When my ex called me a ray of sunshine whilst we were breaking up, it infuriated me. This was a boy who had neglected all my painful, genuine, emotions, and couldn’t seem to handle it once he realised that I was a human being with actual desires and not a gimmicky stock character who only existed to be sweet, smiling and subservient. Am I fuck your ray of sunshine. Your validity to be cherished, understood and appreciated doesn’t change when you can’t, for however long, bring light into someone’s life.

I’m saying all of this truly on-brand. For it is very likely that, despite my anxieties, none of my friends have ever actually worried about my perceived lost spark as much as I have worried about them worrying. This whole journey, which can be summarised, woefully accurately, by my genuine discovery of the cliche, “its ok not to be ok”, has forced me to confront my own toxic positivity. Always on hand to make people feel better, and preach optimism, I’ve been prioritising making myself feel better, and that’s by letting myself feel worse for a little while.

TRAVEL.

Editor: Finnuala Brett

Deputy Editor: Grace Burton

Digital Editor: Isobel Edmonson

Subeditor: Eve Baird