Sotong Sisters 4/365

Since All That Jazz left London and now couples dominated our group, I find myself gravitating a little to Ms G, who is the first singaporean person i've seen this year. She has a boyfriend as well, with whom Mr Mo gets on fabulously along. I suppose that was one of the threads that drew us closer, plus two other factors, namely her getting incessnatly zapped by Queen J, and the fact that her SF left London in Q3 last year. In many ways, we are so similar (but also different) that she's named us the sotong sisters, no thanks to Goz who superimposed both our faces on to a plate of sotong.

I've always thought that age hardens a person, but not for her. The kindness in her heart, is like a cup flows ad infinitum. :) I guess today, I just wanted to say that I am very thankful for her friendship in the last year. Life wouldn't quite be the same without her.

Reflections 3/365

So today's my first day back in London and I returned to an empty apartment last night as my housemates are still living it up in Brazil and Argentina. Life as always, as with every new year, a routine. Back to London, sleep, laundry, clear bags, pack apartment, get ready for work. It's wash, rinse, repeat. Ok only this year the eurostar was ONLY delayed by half an hour.

Ah, tuesday blues....at least, we've only got 4 days this week.

Nougat 2/365

Here's the friendliest face in Melle. :)

Happy new year from massif central 1/365

Soup challenge -- chunky celery soup

 

Now before you go all bananas on how disgusting celery is (as an ardent celery hating child myself), I have been pleasantly surprised at how well it complements (and is vital because of it's slightly peppery flavour) certain dishes. Having made bolognaise ragu earlier in the week which required all of 2 celery stalks, the rest of the stems and leaves sat wilting sadly in my fridge. As temperatures dipped below 10 this week, I was really longing for a thick hearty soup, none of this broth business that us Asians are used to. It made me think of the chunky soup series by Heinz, of which one of my favourites was the bacon and potato soup. yums. 

Anyway, I digress. This can be winged out very quickly, with or without bacon, and deals with the underabsorption of ingredients from previous meals (sorry i am actually studying for an exam now!)

The base is somewhat similar to that of the carrot and coriander soup I made last week (I realise that alot of the ingredients used in potages here are pretty much a standard set, of course, knowing as well which veges complement which herbs.)

So again, 1 white onion and 1 clove of garlic finely diced, drizzle of olive oil and butter (about 1 tsp) in a pan over low heat until onions are translucent, scrape outer layer of celery if you don't like the fibrous bits and chop up finely. Reserve leaves on the side for garnish. Sweat everything together for 8 minutes with a bay leaf and one finely diced large potato. add a glass of dry white wine (or enough to just cover the veges). Reduce for 10 minutes to allow the alchohol to evaporate. Add 3 cups of home made chicken stock. sprinkle over 1 tsp of nutmeg and bring to minimum heat cook. Go do something for 30 minutes.

Stir in 1/2 cup whole milk (DO NOT BOIL SOUP VIGOUROUSLY) and either (1) puree with hand blender (again only when soup has cooled to room temperature or risk an exploding mess in the kitchen) or (2) mash up with manual potato masher. This gives it a chunkiness which I like. Add salt and pepper to taste.

This was served with a heap of home made croutons which was simply yesterday's pasty white baguette roll cut up into 0.5 cm cubes , dressed with olive oil and pepper, and tanned in a preheated oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown at 180C.

As a treat, you can also fry up bits of bacon until brown and crisp and drain on kitchen paper.

To assemble, spoon up soup, drop croutons and crumble bacon into soup. Garnish with reserved celery leaves (and parsley for a nice deep green colour). I omitted bacon this time but dressed it up with mom's fried shallots and freshly milled black pepper. I know it might not look like the fanciest soup  in the photo above being a rather sad pale green colour, but it made me a very happy camper last night. :)

xx

When you are old





Pere Lachaise Cemetery, Paris, 16 Oct 2010

When You are Old

WHEN you are old and gray and full of sleep

And nodding by the fire, take down this book,

And slowly read, and dream of the soft look

Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace, 

And loved your beauty with love false or true;

But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,

And loved the sorrows of your changing face.

And bending down beside the glowing bars,

Murmur, a little sadly, how love fled

And paced upon the mountains overhead,

And hid his face amid a crowd of stars

W.B. Yeats 1865

Autumn delights - carrot and coriander soup

 

So Autumn's rolled round and I was really tempted to cheat and get a tin of carrot and coriander soup this afternoon from the store. After a short debate, I decided to wing it and throw some bits together from the fridge and pantry. Pretty good result, an autumn ace all round :)

Portion size: 4 starters

Sweat 1 white onion and 2 cloves of garlic (both finely chopped) in some olive oil and butter in a heavy bottomed saucepan for 5-7 minutes until onions become translucent. Throw in 1 tsp of coriander powder. In the meantime, prep vegges. Add 6 medium sized organic carrots roughly chopped, 1 large potato (peeled and chopped to the same size carrots (generally quite finely for easy blending later on). Throw in one sprig rosemary and one bay leaf. fry a little more for 3-4 minutes, a squeeze of tomato puree (about 1 heaped teaspoon) then add enough stock (chicken or veg, about 4.5 bowls or 1/2 cm above veges) to cover veges. If you're using instant stock, one cube will do but watch your salt seasoning after :)

Bring to boil for 10 minutes then simmer for another 30 minutes. 

After it has been bubbling away on the stove for 30 minutes, pepper in 1/2 tsp paprika (or more if you are feeling spic-ey) and 1/2 tsp nutmeg and simmer for another 10 minutes.

Time to get it all together. Switch off heat. I use a potato masher (or use a liquidiser if you prefer, Please make sure you have cooled the soup down to room temperature before using a blender to liquidise as hot liquids will cause cover to fly off!! ) as I quite like some chunky bits in my soup and mash everything in the pot well. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in 3/4 cup of whole milk / half cup of cream  into soup and bring soup back to just a low simmer. DO NOT BOIL SOUP!  Let flavours come together for 2 minutes and spoon out into bowls, top with fresh coriander and serve with bread. 

:) :)

I personally love the texture of cream but in the name of 'healthy eating', i'm using whole milk just to give it a creamy texture. The potatoes in the soup will naturally thicken the soup already.

Perhentian islands

14 days ago, we embarked on quite an adventure. Of fish and various sea creatures, a cute little boxfish, sharks, the three legged turtle, and oodles of parrot fish. A place of solace, of silence and of peace - La Mer.

21 Sep 2010