Celery and Cashew Soup

Having a bit of an excess of celery in the fridge, I decided to make some soup. Celery and Cashew might sound a bit odd, but it is very tasty. Of course, if you don't like celery (like my husband), you won't like this, but you don't need to love the stuff to enjoy the soup. I now have three lovely portions in the freezer ready for future lunches. All in all, a nice creative couple of hours while VV was asleep.

Sorry there's no photo, but the soup wasn't very photogenic and I missed the ever decreasing window of daylight here in Finland.

I can't reproduce the recipe for the soup here, since it's from a book, but I can tell you the book - New Covent Garden Book of Soups: New, Old and Odd Recipes. I've made a few of the recipes in the past and they've all been very tasty (I highly recommend the Pistou).

EDIT: I read up on copyright law and I *think* I can publish the recipe, so here it is:

Celery and Cashew Nut Soup

Ingredients

• 75g (3oz) butter
• 2 heads of celery, roughly chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 150g (5oz) unsalted cashew nuts
• 1.5 litres (2.5 pints) vegetable stock
• To garnish: 50g (2oz) unsalted cashew nuts, chopped, and celery leaves

Directions

1. Melt the butter and cook the celery and garlic gently for 20 minutes in a covered saucepan, without colouring.
2. Grind the nuts finely in a food processor and add to the pan along with the stock.
3. Cover, bring to the boil and simmer for about 30 minutes until the vegetables are tender.
4. Cool a little, then puree in a liquidiser.
5. Pass the soup through a sieve into a clean saucepan.
6. For the garnish, put the cashew nuts into a frying pan over a high heat. Shake frequently until the nuts brown. Cool.
7. Reheat the soup gently and serve garnished with toasted chopped cashew nuts and chopped celery leaves.

Read More

My First Beanie

And it turns out that the title is more accurate that it first seems. How so? All will be revealed in good time!

I decided it was about time I tried my hand at a hat and thought I would make one for my brother, who has recently started up his own business doing flat roofs. Not quite sure what that involves, but I think hot black sticky stuff features somewhere along the line.

So, out came my trusty Stitch 'n Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker. Flicking to page 125, I started in earnest on the Boy Beanie by Laura Killoran (check out her own site here - I rather like the look of her Applejack Cap, as it happens).

Merrily I crocheted away, sitting on the sofa drinking tea, as is my custom. And I was pretty pleased with the result. That is until I tried it on. It's like wearing some kind of mediaeval torture device! Luckily there is one small-headed person in my family and it fits him just perfectly - six-month-old VV. And here it is - both mine and his first beanie:



I suspect it was my yarn choice - leftovers from the Rabbit Slippers from the same book, plus some random orange wool - that was the culprit, helped in part by my super-tight stitches. Oh well, it was about time I crocheted something for my son. The hat was a doddle though, so with the right yarn in hand, I'll try again sometime...

Read More

Book Review: Sew Everything Workshop

Although I am not a total novice when it comes to machine sewing, I am self-taught and have a tendancy to bodge things when I don't know how to do them properly. With this in mind, I decided it was about time I got myself a how-to book and S.E.W. Sew Everything Workshop by Diana Rupp, came to the rescue.



And it's great! It's fun to read - I read the whole thing in one sitting, it's so engaging - and very easy to understand. The book also comes with 25 projects to do (and these are ones you will want to make, from clothing, to accessories and gifts), along with 10 paper patterns in a folder at the front. The whole book is ring-bound, which should make it hard-wearing.

The only downside to this book is that it inspired me to upgrade to an electronic sewing machine, which was a bit of a shock to my purse moths. The machine is a Singer 9940, discontinued now so I got a good deal on it. And it does practically everything except make tea!

But back to the book - I have already recommended it to my non-sewing best friend, who rushed out and bought it and is now hoping for her first sewing machine at Christmas. I'm planning to make some projects from it too, which I'll post here.

I had hoped that the author, Diana Rupp, had a blog, but it has the dreaded "under construction" message at the moment...

EDIT: I did find the SEW Flickr group, so you can check out some of the projects people have made from the group:

www.flickr.com

Read More