I get great joy from knowing that I can count to 1023 on my fingers...

But it doesn’t help you sleep – not at all. Now for those of you who are not familiar with electronic language or binary you may be tempted to stop reading here but please don’t. Even my sister (who doesn’t grasp consternation although she can use the word paronomasia in a meaningful sentence) can count in binary and understands the joys of 1023 on ten fingers. As a tool against insomnia you first have to recognise that each digit (thumbs included) represents 1 if it is up and 0 if it down, next you work from right thumb through to left little finger, so you’re viewing the numbers as if they were printed in a book.

            Starting with all your digits down on zero, you raise you’re right thumb for one and then lower it whilst simultaneously raising your right index finger – this is now two.  Then you raise your right thumb and add it to the index finger – making three (this is because we're working in base two remember). For four you lower your thumb and index finger and raise your middle finger – on paper this would be 100 (or four in binary). There are loads of videos to help on You Tube but this is the best I found.  I keep setting myself challenges in the hope that eventually I’ll answer every possible question and then fall asleep.

Now Thursday night last week was a particularly long although beautiful night, when I wasn’t counting binary I was star gazing (and the Anglesey sky is great for that job). In a desperate attempt at sleep I decided to see how far I could count if my toes were as flexible as my fingers – thus giving me twenty digits to play with. I kept getting tired around the third toe in and making mistakes, the answer – if you have all preceding digits raised at this point –  is 8191 but my sleepy counting is not so good. If you make a mistake you have to go back to zero. Luckily you feel tired by this stage and finally drift away – unless of course you’re in Anglesey and you know the stars outside the window are fabulous – then you just wake right up again… still when you tire of stargazing you can always count… actually perhaps counting sheep is better.

Now here’s a brilliant little recipe if you’re pressed for time, you only need three things from the shops and you may just have some of those in already and then you’re good to go. There’s no way you can get a take-out any quicker than you can make this little beauty. I first made this heaps of years ago – before I travelled in fact – so I don’t know where I got it or if I’ve altered it at all but if you want to have a good search through Good Food Magazine archives I would guess I got it there.

Hot Smoked Salmon with Honey Mustard Dressing

Ingredients:

Smoked Salmon (about 100g per person)

New Potatoes

Green Beans

Honey

Mustard (I use a mix of Dijon and wholegrain but use what you like)

Juice of a lemon or sherry vinegar (optional)

Olive Oil

Here’s What I Do:

Put the potatoes on to boil (halving them if they’re large) and top and tail the beans then halve the long ones. In a dish mix together your dressing ingredients – for the two of us I used a teaspoon of each mustard, the juice of a lemon (it makes the dressing looser and gives it a tang), a bit more than a teaspoon of honey and then a generous amount of olive oil. You really have to keep tasting it until you think it’s to your liking. 

When the potatoes are just getting tender add the beans and drain after a few minutes (they should still have crunch). Meanwhile begin to fry the salmon in a bit of olive oil; you’ll need to do it in batches but you’re not cooking it – just making it hot and brown in places. Pile the beans and potatoes in the centre of your plate then top with the hot salmon, the dressing and some parsley if you have some knocking about.

            Infinitely better than take-out.