Soup Magic

January has not been great... everyone is sick and/or grumpy. But there was a moment of magic today! In my constant effort to not waste food, eat more veg and cook from scratch, etc I knocked up a soup for lunch. I had a slightly wrinkled and unappetising-looking celeriac languishing in the basket of roots, so I looked up a recipe for celeriac soup. I wasn't expecting much - the list of ingredients looked so innocuous, nothing exciting. You know, an onion, a stock cube, a bit of milk.

But it totally rocked!

And so I am reminded of the power of soup to be more than the sum of its ingredients. We had it in giant mugs with crunchy slices of bread toasted under the grill with a drizzle of oil and pinch of thyme. It was full of flavour and it cheered me up and made me feel better about the world and everything in it.

And the little'un dunked his crunchy toast in the soup and scooped it up and yummed it down with great enthusiasm (before falling off his chair while attempting to imitate the washing machine which just went into spin cycle - its OK, I caught him by the ankle - no harm done!)

So there we are .. whatever the problem is, I think the answer is probably soup.

Solar Power Campaign

Friends of the Earth would like you to help put pressure on David Cameron over the government's intentions with regard to solar power .. you can read the full details here.

Just thought I'd spread the word .. please pop along and sign the letter if you've got a minute!

Rosehips and Ice

Beautiful freezing (literally!) morning and a walk along Alresford Creek, about 3 miles from home. No-one about, really peaceful and the air was full of birdsong. Stopped to listen to a robin singing to us from his perch up in a bush just a few feet away, such a beautiful sight and song.

Little'un loved the new game of cracking the ice where the muddy puddles had frozen over (there is no better fun than muddy puddles when you are nearly 3, and this was a whole new take on them!)

Collected just a few rosehips and took photos so I can try to identify the type, having been inspired by Moongazing Hare's interesting wild rose post. Am determined to start learning these things! There were several rose bushes which all appeared to be the same and towered high over my head with the reddest plumpest fruits right at the top out of reach.

The hips are about 2cm long and the bushes had backward facing hook-shaped thorns. I am wondering whether this makes them rosa rubiginosa, as many of the hips appear egg-shaped and the bushes had red-tinted stems?

January Skies

Tuesday morning this week, I pulled back the bedroom curtains to a stunning sky ..

in the east the most colourful sunrise you could ever imagine full orange and peach, lilac and purples turning pink and lighting up the sea to the south on the skyline..

then directly opposite in the west a beautiful white disc full moon sitting snugly on top of the early morning houses in a picture postcard blue sky.

I grabbed these snaps on my mobile phone whilst leaning out the bedroom window, but they don't really come anything close to capturing the colours.

So wonderful to see both the sun and the moon both in their full glory in the sky at once. Happy New Year to you all and wishing everyone clear skies and plain sailing in 2012!