Minnie's Soup Kitchen

In my first post I should have mentioned that my chosen recipe book, The Soup Book , was co-published by the Soil Association ( http://www.soilassociation.org/ ). This association "promotes planet-friendly food and farming through education, campaigns and community programmes." Just glancing through the activities and items on the website, the Save the Honeybee campaign caught my eye. Must find out more and see what's happening about planet-friendly food and farming and bee-saving in Ireland. Back to selecting my soup for January 2010. Vegetables in season in January are beetroot, brussels sprouts (ugh! The spouse likes them), carrots, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, chicory, Jerusalem artichokes, kale, leeks, lettuce, onions, parsnips (ugh! The spouse likes these too), potatoes, rocket, savoy cabbage, spinach, swede (or turnip, as we say in Ireland), sweet potatoes, turnips and watercress. Possibilities for beetroot are beetroot and apple soup, beetroot and gin soup, bee...

Well, this is it - my first blog. I'm paying homage to the film Julie and Julia , but going for a lower level of achievement than Julie. My chosen recipe book is The Soup Book published by Dorling Kindersley in 2009 and I hope to try out at least one soup recipe a month in 2010. I bought the book from a book seller who occasionally drops sample books into my office, leaves an order form and comes back a fortnight later to fill the orders. At each sample drop-off, my colleagues and I paw the books. The childless ones complain about the number of children's books and everyone swears they're never buying another cookery book, but we always renege. The Soup Book contains over 200 recipes so I'll have plenty of choice. There is a handy table showing when "British-grown" vegetables are in season (I live in Ireland but am happy enough to go along with this term). My husband and I are old enough to remember when vegetables were available only in season but are wel...