Maybe, if I dream hard enough…

…it might just happen. If I want something this much, then surely I can beat all of the impossibilities through willpower alone. Simply by flinging my heart head-first at a far-off, near-on never going to happen prospect, perhaps I can somehow get my whole being to follow, and eventually I’ll make it.

This glorious dream is not about the delicious braised chicken shown below from Giorgio Locatelli’s Made in Sicily, although I will come back to it later. And it is absolutely amazing.

No, what I’m talking about are my aspirations for The Future.

The Big F-Word.

This past week I’ve been doing a bit of soul searching and trickle by trickle, my hopes and dreams have been collecting in a big pool that I like to call Alice’s Master Plan. It involves New York, screen writing and a guy called Jake (well the latter might possibly be the product of delusion.)

Now, in reality all of these components seem completely impossible to achieve. I’m not gonna lie, unless I marry an American who conveniently has very good connections in the writing business, and by chance is also called Jake (with his last name preferably being Hurwitz. In fact, just check out this link to see what I’m talking about), its going to take a bit of work to actually turn the fantasy into a reality.

However, I have hope.

Youthful, delusional hope.

And you know what? It’s a wonderful feeling to have carved out an imaginary Game of Life for oneself. So I guess I’ll keep on pushing through and trying my hardest to get where I want to be, whilst also hoping that Lady Luck’s got my back.

Well, what better way to celebrate the wonder of dreams than by imagining ourselves away from January-bitten Britain, to the sunny island of Sicily.

So that’s why I happily chose my beautiful Christmas present, Made in Sicily, for this month’s Random Recipe Challenge hosted by Dom at Belleau Kitchen. I was hoping for something fresh and lively to contrast with the sluggishness of the season, but alas, I randomly landed on a wintery braised chicken dish instead. Although really I shouldn’t be complaining, as it was absolutely gorgeous. Tender, flavourful chicken literally falling off the bone, served with my very own Italian Rosemary Potatoes and braised red cabbage, (because quite frankly, you can never have enough braising going on in your life).

It was simply delicious and the perfect meal to send me on my jolly way back to uni…and back to dreaming of skyscrapers, writing and of course, eating.

After all, I’ve heard that the food in New York is really quite excellent.

However much I would love to share the recipe for Locatelli’s braised chicken, I feel that as it’s such a new book and so beautiful at that, it would be slightly unfair. So I encourage you to go out and buy it, borrow it from a library or steal it from a friend because it is almost a decent alternative to being in Sicily yourself. Although not quite. Obviously.