Sheepless pie and other stories

Valerie O’Connor is struggling to come to terms with one of her boys moving out of home. Luckily this moreish ‘sheepless shepherd’s pie’, with lentils instead of meat, offers some comfort

Mammies and Daddies across the country are staring into empty bedrooms in their homes as their younglings have moved out. All of a sudden, there is a big, wide open, empty space looking back at them.

As I found myself deep in a confused pit — feeling lost and directionless for most of the week — it occurred to me that, of course, my boy, my eldest puddin’ is no longer in his room.