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Saffron Soup

Saffron Soup

 This week's recipe from The Soup Book is by Shaun Hill. According to the introduction, it's a variation on leek and potato soup and was a regular item on the menu at Robert Carrier's restaurant in London where Hill worked in the 1970s. The ingredients include onion, leeks, potato, saffron, cumin, chicken stock, dry white wine, cream and lemon juice. I fried the onion before adding the other vegetables, the spices (is saffron a spice?) and the stock. The next step was to transfer the mix into the blender, after which I poured in a splash of the wine. Finally I stirred in the cream and lemon juice. Only the younger offspring and I were at home: the spouse is away and the older offspring is nominally at home in Dublin for a long weekend. Anyway, the two of us ate our soup for lunch today and it was really quite tasty. The tang of the lemon juice and cumin worked really well.


Honey Show

Honey show at Christ Church, Rathgar, Dublin

At last I have been to the County Dublin Beekeepers Association Honey Show! The younger offspring and I strolled along to Christ Church in Rathgar, I paid the €2 entrance fee and in we went. To be frank, it wasn't the hive of activity I'd been expecting and there was very little honey on sale. I bought a jar of honey produced in Whitechurch, a bee-themed charm for my mobile phone and raffle tickets. I can't resist raffle tickets, ever since the first dinner-dance I ever attended when I won nearly every prize in sight! That was the epitome of my raffle success.


Bees wax and honey display
Honey testing at the County Dublin Beekeepers' Association annual show, 2011
In anticipation of the older offspring's visit I baked him a spiced honey loaf. I baked it once before. This time I used my new silicone loaf "tin". It's taking me while to get used to silicone bakeware - too floppy! Time to go before I go into the details of the contents of our kitchen cupboards.

Bee-themed mobile phone charm by "Lorraine."
Baked goods with honey, candles and mead


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