Minnie's Soup Kitchen

Recent Readings It's the last weekend of July and I haven't made any soup since the 8th. The spouse, younger offspring and I have been on holiday. We went to a Balearic island for a week and thoroughly enjoyed the uninterrupted sunshine. Although we've been at home for the last week, I'm afraid I just haven't felt like making soup. Please be patient with me. Recently I have been reading and re-reading books, always on the look out for any mentions of bees and honey. A few years ago a friend gave me a copy of Miss Garnet's Angel by Salley Vickers . It didn't absorb me when I first read it, but it did the second time around. There are two stories: Julia Garnet's visit to Venice and Tobias' journey to Media accompanied by the angel Raphael. The lines below are from a scene where the Julia Garnet is sitting quietly in St Mark's Basilica. She is admiring then mildly coveting a woman's hat: Julia Garnet found she wanted just such a hat too...

Cucumber and Walnut Soup  Looking east from the northside quays  on the first glorious  day of  2012 Yesterday was that one glorious Irish summer day and it was by chance that my decision to make a chilled soup fell on that day. The recipe for cucumber and walnut soup is by Celia Brooks Brown . Aside from the obvious ingredients, it calls for Greek or thick and creamy yogurt, a clove of garlic, walnuts, mint leaves and lemon juice. It was perfect for the day as I had marched the younger offspring from O'Connell St, down Sean McDermott St to North Strand Rd, then along Ossory Road, around the East Wall area and along the quays in the hot sunshine. So when we arrived home, I was glad there was no cooking involved. All I had to do was peel, dice, stir, pound and chop. Then everything was left in the fridge to chill. Cucumber chopped and ready to be souped up We had the soup for dinner. It doesn't sound like a substantial meal but the younger offspring and ...