yonmei

08:33 am: Under the weather
I go back to work on the 6th. (I have a meeting first thing in the morning, and also rebooked a Dell engineer's visit for that day, which of course does not mean Dell will actually show.)

Five days holiday left.

By the end of the David Tennant finale episode, I was ( mild spoiler )

It's minus three outside, and the roads and pavements are still icy from the snowfall last week. I have all but eaten the fruit bowl empty (this so seldom happens it seems worth recording).

I should probably make pumpkin soup today. Though there's still sprouts in the cold cupboard. I could make sprout-and-chestnut soup, which I remember being pretty good last year.

(In this weather, leaving the organic veg box outside in the cupboard under the stairs, is like leaving it in cold storage: the vegetables stay fresh.)





Tags: doctor who, soup, weather, work

04:14 pm: Words
These are words whatho associates with me. (None of them are omelettes.) If you want words, say "Words!" in comments.

( China, soup, Edinburgh, activism, Mulcahy )

Tags: childhood nostalgia, edinburgh, m*a*s*h, meme, slow cooker, soup, travel

03:58 pm: Broccoli and pea soup, with strife
Soak about a cupful of dried split peas in boiling water.

Chop and fry three onions: when they're soft, add a chopped head of broccoli.

Add salt, dried basil and marjoram.

Listen to brother snarling at parents in background. Stir onions and broccoli over a strong heat till they're just beginning to brown.

Drain and add the soaked peas, then about 2 litres of water and a couple of veggie stock cubes, and a dash of Worcester sauce. Reflect that it isn't veggie and decide not to mention that, because of the lack of other spices available.

Simmer for about 10-20 minutes while brother attempts to pick fights with everyone at table.

Swirl the stick blender about in the soup till smooth, and serve with good bread and cheese. Calm ensues.



Tags: broccoli, family stuff, onions, recipe, soup

07:10 am: I woke up at 5am
This was not a good plan.

Admittedly I have now made soup (well, chopped veg and such) which is in the slow cooker, and I shall have that for my tea when I come home.

I was supposed to be meeting my brother and his girlfriend for supper tonight, but they didn't ring yesterday, and goodness knows if they will today. I'm feeling a bit stressed out about it all actually.

Hm. This could be why I woke up at 5am. I suppose I might now go into work early. And leave early.



Tags: family stuff, insomnia, soup

11:41 am: Tamarind and Tomato Soup
I decided I would feel better if I had an early lunch.

Since I started getting a box of organic veg delivered fortnightly, and am in possession of a slow cooker and a stick blender, I tend to think of "vegetable soup" as, well, the thing you do with vegetables you can't think what else to do with. I have on occasion made a really bad soup (not nearly as often as I have made a very dull soup) but mostly the soups I make are fine: tasty, nourishing, good for lunch or dinner, worth sharing but not particularly exciting.

Once in a while, though... This is the soup I made last night:

( recipe )




Tags: house md, lunch, my recipes, soup, tamarind, tomato

09:44 pm: OMG. This is almost too horrible to contemplate.
I found my half-litre flask.

(Of course, I found it after I bought a replacement.)

Unfortunately, I now have in my possession a half-litre metal flask which had soup in it and which has been left, closed, on the floor of the meeting-room (it fell behind a chair: no one noticed) for well over a month.

What should I do?

( Poll! )





Tags: ;l, dragon eggs need clicky, polls, soup

08:39 am: I made soup!
In the box that came last Thursday there was a bunch of what I thought was coriander, and I tucked it into the fridge and have been planning happily the soup I would make with lots of fresh coriander. And this morning, I chopped a lot of onions, and one potato, and some green ginger, and a cute little chilli pepper, and a cupful of red lentils, and and then I took the bag with the coriander in it out of the fridge and opened it up (it stays fresh if and only if you leave it in the bag) and realised it was curly-leaf parsley.

Bugger.

What I would happily have made with fresh parsley is parsley scones, which are exceedingly delicious.

Oh well. At this point it was too late to go back, I was on the slippery slope down to the soup with no turning and no changing my mind, so the parsley went into the soup and, well, that's that. I'm sure it will be nice, it just won't be the same.

There was some leftover stock from when I cooked the beets, which I'd put in the freezer, so that's in the soup too. All in all, not that disappointing. I just need to be better at spotting my herbs by sight instead of sniff.

---
Update, 9:42pm, having just had the first bowlful. Eh. Would have been better with coriander. Needs Thai Yellow Curry Paste. Fortunately, that's what I have.

Tags: chilli, eating some delicious food, my recipes, scones, soup

03:03 pm: Potage Bonne Lesbian
( Potage Bonne Lesbian )

Tags: my recipes, onions, slow cooker, soup

12:36 pm: Recipe: spinach soup
2 small bunches of spinach leaves
3 leeks
2 potatoes
1/2 cup green lentils
1 veg stock cube
a spoonful of sage

Following the request for more "healthy" recipes for the slow cooker, the thing I find slow cookers fantastic for is posting perfectly fatless soups which are nonetheless extremely tasty. (Also, I just started getting a box of organic veg delivered, one every two weeks, so I'm making a lot more vegetable soups.)

De-stem the spinach leaves, chop the leeks, chop one of the potatoes. Layer the vegetables in the slow cooker, adding a sprinkling of green lentils (and the sage) every so often, crumbling the stock cube about the middle of the pot. (I had about a half litre of potato water in the freezer, so I put that - frozen - at the bottom of the pot before I added the veg.)

When the pot is full, slice the other potato and spread the slices over the top. (This holds the vegetables down if you don't have time to stir the pot every so often.) Pour water over the vegetables (or stock, if you have it, but I rarely if ever do...) until they're just covered.

Then do the slow cooker thing according to your usual method. This soup should be done in eight hours or so, I think (though I've been using my slow cooker so often lately that I think it's near burn-out).

Tags: my recipes, slow cooker, soup, spinach