Soup

When we were away last week, I had a number of disappointments regarding soup. When on holiday, we eat our main meal at home in the evening, but we may have a snack when out during the day and I often choose the soup as something light for a change from sandwiches etc. All three soups I tried last week were too thick, too peppery and overwhelmed by one ingredient
The trouble is, I like my own cooking too much. It's a wonderful treat to go to a restaurant for a meal, don't misunderstand me, but I try to choose something from the menu that I don't cook myself so I have nothing to compare it with. I'm not a cordon bleu cook by any standard, just adequate, but wholesome, and nearly always cook 'from scratch' with real ingredients.

We often have soup for lunch - today I made broccoli and Stilton (well, Danish Blue, anyway!) with the calabrese from the Organic veg box that arrived yesterday (I have supposedly given up cheese for Lent - and my health - but I don't count that!). It's the first time I've tried it, and was relatively pleased:

soften one chopped onion in a little oil
add a shredded leek and a peeled, diced potato, cover and cook slowly to soften
add some stock and broccoli (don't use the stalks), bring to the boil and simmer for 15-20 mins
take off the heat and blend
stir in some crumbled Stilton and a little cream to taste

(if reheating, do not allow to boil)

We also have an excess of mushrooms (careless shopping, forgot what I already had) so I might make some cream of mushroom later in the week:

soften two or three finely chopped onions in some oil
add finely chopped mushrooms and stock
bring to the boil and simmer for 15 - 20 mins

in the meanwhile, make 1/2 pint white sauce (I cheat and use cornflour, but you could do it properly and make a roux with flour and butter), when the mushrooms etc are cooked, blend in the pan and add the white sauce. Season to taste.

Easy!

Stained Glass

The first sowings ...

Early February, and it's warm enough and dry enough to start digging the veg patches ... I've put out the two new raised beds- we'll slowly fill them with old compost from pots used last year mixed in with worm compost, manure and any of our own compost pile that's ready. We'll not need to plant them for a month or two, they're for root veg (carrots and beetroot) and salads. In the raised bed where I grew carrots and beetroot last year, I'll try some celeriac. The first year we moved here I had a great crop, but it's been disappointing since then. The other raised bed is set aside for herbs, although there's a bit of room for salad crops, too.

Once the raised beds were in place, I was able to dig over the bit of ground nearby, and I've just planted out some old broad bean seed ... some of them will sprout, depending on how many I'll then know if it was worth it, or whether to start again with some new seed. There's plenty of time.

While I was busy, I heard a cockerel crowing ... in the back lane! It hopped up onto our back wall, but opted not to come on in ... the cat was rather perplexed but obviously discretion overcame impulse and he made no move to investigate

A long winter

I've not been using my camera much these past few months, and in fact, today's picture isn't mine at all ...

We are in the process of redeveloping the church site, demolishing the old church and rebuilding with flats and a new, smaller church. So this week, we were invited to bring our cameras to the service and take pictures of the church as it is ... to remind us of it's glories and also why we need to move on from it (it was badly damaged during the war, and the repairs were of a very poor standard ... there's not a lot of option but to start again!). This is a picture of part of the stained glass (see next post for more of the same window) ... we'll try and reuse a small part of it, for continuity ...