The Chill of February...

...and the warmth of friendship

February is the bleakest time of the year. Today the sun is shining but it wasn't like that yesterday. Yesterday tree branches stretched across a mud-grey sky like witches talons. It was so desolate that I didn't notice the clumps of snowdrops with their promise of better weather to come. I photographed them today but, even though the sun had lifted my mood, the wind made me shiver, reminding me that we’ve more harsh weather to endure. This is a time for gathering friends around us. So I got to thinking about what a friend really means to me:

A friend is someone who you can chat with, even when there’s nothing special to talk about; someone who knows exactly what to say when you’re feeling down; someone who’s always there when you need a hug. That goes for virtual hugs too.

So thank you to all my friends, including my blogging friends, for being around through the bleak mid-winter. Here is that photograph which I took in the garden this lunchtime. Spring is on its way and Summer will be just around the corner. Keep warm.

It's Soup Weather

As I write this the sky is leaden, the rain is hammering on the window, our gas fire is battling against those inevitable 'old-house' drafts and I have the light on in the middle of the day. This is when my thoughts turn to soup.

If there's one thing more comforting than eating soup, it's making it. I like to have a freezer full of the stuff. My usual variety is a root vegetable free-for-all. When the kids lived at home they called it Mum's Orange Soup. If you're reading this now, Dear Offspring, these days my Orange Soup is a little more sophisticated.

A few weeks ago I bought a large bunch of coriander leaves from the greengrocers. I really should make a proper shopping list before going out because I then had to decide what to do with the stuff. Obviously I made carrot soup, loads of it, but I know from experience that if you freeze carrot soup with chopped coriander leaf in it, the coriander goes black, tasteless and disgusting so I had a plan. I called for kitchen assistance:

Enter far left: Mr A.

We chopped up all the coriander leaves, divided it into ice cube trays, topped them up with cold water and froze them. I trialled it this week. I defrosted one of my many pots of carrot soup and popped in a coriander leaf ice cube. Perfect! Still green. Lovely perfumed flavour. Result!

If anyone isn't sure how to make carrot soup then you're very welcome to have my recipe, such that it is. It's all very similar to every other soup I make in that nothing is weighed or measured and it begins by frying a couple of onions and several cloves of garlic in with a splash of olive oil. I then add loads of carrots and one potato for the consistency. I season with smallish amounts of ground coriander, ground cumin and ground chilli. I add vegetable stock so that it just covers the vegetables and I simmer it for half an hour. I swoosh it with one of those stick blenders and that gives me a very thick carrot soup. I freeze the thick soup and add milk to it when it's defrosted. I also now, of course, add one or two coriander leaf ice cubes. You can squeeze the juice of an orange into the soup but I prefer it without.

What's your favourite soup recipe? 

Do please share and if it's not orange I'll make it next time one of the kids come to visit. That'll surprise them!