Emmental and Beer Soup

Emmental and Beer Soup

The weather has been really good for over a week - good for warmth seekers but not for soup-makers. I was ready to make soup yesterday, it being Sunday and my habit being to make the soup at the weekends, but it was not to be. Too hot and I wasn't feeling up to the task. Not to worry - I made it this evening instead. Emmental and beer soup, a German-style cheese soup, calls for onions, garlic, chicken stock, German wheat beer (I substituted a Belgian beer), Emmental and Gruyere cheeses, and thyme (garnish). Obviously it's quite a rich soup. The thyme on top is the perfect tangy garnish, complementing the luscious cheese. The spouse and I enjoyed it, the younger offspring wasn't too keen and I've yet to hear the older offspring's verdict (yes, he's back). I would make this soup again when the weather is less hospitable and I look forward to trying out the other cheese soup recipes in The Soup Book: pear and stilton, cheddar and chive, and camembert and celeriac with cranberry swirl.

Review

Well, it's six months since I started writing this blog and so I'm going to review my progress. I started off with spinach and rosemary and planned to work with vegetables in season. I haven't stuck to the plan. I've made twenty soups so far. Some of the favourites are cabbage, tomato and meatball (January), Moroccan sweet potato (February), garlic broth (March), Mexican sweetcorn and Tuscan bean (April), creamy smoked mackerel (May), avocado and rocket and the Hungarian goulash. I also know a lot more about bees than I did six months ago, but have left "the science bit" to "the science-bittists". Well, I am an arts graduate.

Golden Days

By this I'm referring to fiftieth anniversaries. The Graphic Studio, Dublin is celebrating its fiftieth/golden birthday with members' contributions based on the theme of gold. I called in on Saturday to have a look. One of the exhibits is an etching entitled "Busy Bees" by Adrienne Symes. It looks better in real life than on the website. While in the studio I spotted another bee-themed etching, "Working Bees" by Meadhbh Arthurs. On ferreting about on the website I discovered Arthurs' "Beehive Homes" and Katherine van Uytrecht's "Bees Returning to the Memory Hive." While I liked those etchings and want to be loyal to bees, I have to admit my favourites from the Gold collection were Kelvin Mann's "Ewe" and James McCreary's "Floating Forest, El Dorado I" (no link, I'm afraid).

Other fiftieth anniversary and birthday celebrations taking place this year include bubble wrap, the film "Psycho", Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird" and Dr Marten's!

News Beat

And last but not least, there have been lots of bee stories in the news in the last week or so. I was so busy trying to share them on the bee-related sites on my social networking site, that I got a warning that I was being too active and might be blocked. Was I being warned to buzz off? Here they are:

Bee Part of It bees arrive at Mottisfont Abbey hive

Why are bees in decline? New research to provide the answers

There has never been such a bee-less summer as this one

Stay safe from insect stings this summer

Thanks very much to DM and MH who contributed. That's it. No soup for the next two weeks.

Tuscan Bean Soup

Tuscan Bean Soup This recipe calls for canned beans (borlotti, flageolet or cannellini) and as I have been tidying and cleaning out our cupboards I've used cannellini beans. I have to mention that the younger offspring has done an impressive job on the cupboards. That's enough about him. Back to me and my soup! Other ingredients include onion, carrots, leek, garlic, tomatoes, tomato puree (I substituted sun-dried tomato paste as there was an open jar of it in the fridge), chicken stock (I had to use a cube as my home-made reserves have been used up) and spinach.When ready it's served with ciabatta bread, grated Parmesan and a drizzle of olive oil. So it's quite a rich soup. We've just had the Tuscan bean soup for lunch. All enjoyed it. The adult males were particularly forthcoming in their praise. The spouse liked the "tomato-ey sharpness" and mused that ham stock should be considered as an alternative to chicken stock. Bees' Cheese and other recipes H...

Lovage Soup

Lovage Soup Today I made lovage soup, the second recipe by Sophie Grigson in The Soup Book that I have used in the last four days. She introduces the recipe with these remarks: "If you don't grow this old-fashioned herb yourself, ask around among your gardening friends or head down to the nearest garden centre to see if they sell it. " As I mentioned in my last blog entry (18th May), lovage now features among the herbs in my front garden. As the spouse left the camera at home, I took some photographs. Parsley, sorrel and lovage in Minnie's garden. Rosemary, parsley and lovage in Minnie's garden. I had hoped to add chervil to my collection of herbs - there's a recipe for vegetable and chervil soup in The Soup Book - but "Young Stephen" wasn't able to source any for me. At least he tried. Just while I'm mentioning Stephen, I have to reveal that the spouse and the older offspring claim that he has been mention...

A Sting in the Tale

Nettle Soup I have hesitated to make nettle soup from The Soup Book but last weekend I decided to overcome my doubts. The spouse and I were having a leisurely, offspring-free day in town and I spotted bagged nettles on a vegetable stall in Meeting House Square . I checked with the stall-holders that they would have nettles again this weekend and determined to go back. The next day I was at a friend's and her husband was about to make nettle soup. My fate was sealed. I had to bring the younger offspring into town this morning and once I had completed various other errands I made my way to Meeting House Square. I bought the nettles and some chard and spinach for my next soup-making stint. Yesterday the younger offspring and I could have picked all the free nettles I could ever have wanted down by the local river, but I wondered if they'd been sprayed with anything or by any beast. On arriving home from town this afternoon I put on my rubber gloves and washed the nett...

Minnie's Soup Kitchen

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