Tuesday, December 18, 2012

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Yesterday a friend and I met for lunch .. something we’d been planning to do for well over a year and the time had arrived!  We met at the Beach House (formerly McMorrans) and what a beautiful place this is!  So we enjoyed a delicious lunch, admired the magnificent view and 3 hours later .. time to go!  Amazing how time disappeared once we started catching up on what is happening and also discussed creative subjects like “soap”!   We went through several pots of tea …

I’m so excited about my rekindling interest in soap creations .. so many facets to rediscover.  So many paths to wander down .. feels great to be so energized in this creative world.

Anyway, we quite enjoyed the view which included watching seagulls play at riding the waves as they cascaded onto the beach.  Crows strutting around, looking for treasures.  Well loved dogs walking and running along the sandy surface …

Then .. time to continue on with the day.  The skies were overcast .. but the clouds did disperse for a time .. showing off the rich blue hue and fluffy white clouds .. so, since I had my camera along with me, I quickly took some photos!

Purchased a few supplies of organic vegetables and then headed for home .. time to make soup.

The time had arrived for me to finally use the lovely single squash harvested from the garden. Organic, of course .. so I saved the seeds from this vegetable .. visions of a rich crop this summer.

Once I’d peeled and chopped parsnips, carrots, zucchini, celery, a few small potatoes .. and amassed quite a supply of peelings for the compost .. I was ready to start the soup.  Oh .. and I just realized that I omitted the garlic .. how could I have forgotten this!

My supply of bay leaves were at zero .. so outside I went, with my flashlight, to pick some from the tree in the back yard.  Also picked some crunchy kale but decided to make a salad out of these leaves, instead of putting them into the soup pot.  I’ll prepare that salad today!

After about an hour of peeling and chopping, though, I felt like something was missing!  Hmmm … time to remedy that and I poured myself a little glass of red.  Ok, that’s much better.

And I continued onwards.  Added some olive oil to the pot, gradually added in the veggies .. they looked quite colourful.  The bright orange of the squash, the tidy cubes of parsnip, fresh green of the celery, rich orange of the slender carrots, now in neat circles.  This was going to be a good soup.

Topped up with a generous supply of organic chicken broth.  Cooked all in the pressure cooker for about 15 minutes and let cool down.

When all had cooled down .. time to test the soup … delicious .. even without the garlic.  Added some orzo … and yum.  No photos at this point .. but you can get the picture.

Now I was on a cooking spree.

It had been quite awhile since I’d baked an apple crisp so I looked for some ideas and found some recipes that used maple syrup  This I tried.  Peeled and chopped apples from the back yard (including some delicious apples given to me by my gardening neighbour!)   .. mixed in some maple syrup.  Added the topping of flour/oats/butter all blended together and into the oven.

Not finished yet .. I saw several bananas just nearing their sell-by date .. so searched for a recipe for banana bread.  Easy as pie .. peel and mash the bananas .. add flour, baking soda, eggs .. placed batter into a loaf pan and it went into the oven for baking.

I don’t often get into such a cooking and baking mood .. but when I do visit that world, it’s amazing what I can prepare.  Honestly, I amaze even myself!

So I think for today I will put aside my cooking and venture outside.  Time to visit my little friends at the observatory and (ahem) walk off some of the calories from my baking spree!

🙂