Friendship breakups are brutal, believe me I would know. Things are going well here at Cambridge, but at home I’ve breezed through friendship groups with a fairly quick turnaround. I would put the tally at around five social circles, which came and went from the ages of 13-18. That’s around one a year. (Yes, this is a recurring issue, so yes, I am probably the problem, but that’s a whole different article.)

“My olive branch got brutally snapped in half”

The point is, my teen years gave me lots of exposure therapy to friendship breakups. I thought this experience had hardened me to the cruel fact that sometimes friendships just don’t work out. People come and go, and whilst that can be hurtful, you eventually let it go and move on.

But regardless of my ‘experience’, it doesn’t decrease the difficulty of the situation or the upset you may feel as you inevitably outgrow somebody else.

My friend and I fell out last summer, a classic scenario of group holiday gone wrong. After spending time apart in our retrospective first terms of university, I thought I would reach out over the Christmas break, extend an olive branch if you will. Well, my olive branch got brutally snapped in half.

This stinging rejection caused my ‘let it go’ attitude to be challenged. I found myself compulsively dwelling on the situation, because I simply didn’t know how I wanted to respond. I was stuck in an emotional ping pong match, bouncing back and forth between thinking “just walk away” and “tell them every single way they’re wrong, and every single way you’re right.”

It’s hard to decide when to tell someone how you feel, and when to keep your mouth shut. On one hand, if you let it all out, you might regret it, feeling like you’ve been cruel and unkind. On the other hand, if you take the high road and say nothing, you also might regret it, feeling like there are words left unsaid.

“Something that can help ease the pain is a little bit of comfort food”

However a friendship breakup is handled, whether you’ve let it all out, or kept it bottled up, you’re still left mournful, and down a friend. It’s easy to wallow in your loneliness, but there is something that can help ease the pain, and that something is just a little bit of comfort food. So, to make things a little easier, I give you the tastiest, easiest, and surprisingly cheapest comfort meal: crispy fried oyster mushroom spring pancakes.

INGREDIENTS

Oyster mushrooms*

Spring Pancakes*

Cornflour

Chinese five spice

Salt

Pepper

Sesame Oil

Soy Sauce

Honey

* You can get these from the Jiamart near Downing for a total of £3.49

STEPS

Start by shredding your mushrooms by hand. The thinner you shred them, the crispier they’ll be.

Add the shredded mushrooms to a pot with a generous amount of cornflour, salt, pepper, and Chinese five spice. Toss until the mushrooms are well coated.

Heat up some sesame oil in a pan. It should shallowly cover the whole of the pan, but doesn’t need to be too deep.

Once the oil is hot, add your mushrooms and fry until desired crispiness. You don’t want to overload the pan, otherwise the mushrooms won’t fry well, so take your time and do a couple of batches, topping up the frying oil if needed.

After cooking, add the mushrooms to a plate lined with kitchen paper to drain.

I like to combine soy sauce, sesame oil, and honey as a dipping sauce, but you can really use anything you fancy.

I also like to serve mine with some cooked spinach and cabbage, but this is totally optional.

Assemble your pancakes and enjoy!

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