Minnie's Soup Kitchen

What a month it's been! The spouse celebrated a milestone birthday and had surgery five days later. I've continued to bake at a frenetic pace in preparation for an event I'm hosting to mark International Women's Day . I wrote a poem about reading an anthology of diary extracts ( The Assassin's Cloak , edited by Irene and Alan Taylor ). I re-joined the gym (but haven't been exercising there). I completed two panels of a throw I'm knitting. Oh, what a busy woman I am. Just as well there was an extra day in the month.  On the savoury front, I made: ￫ a sausage, bacon and onion casserole using venison sausages from our local butcher (recipe from Fiona Beckett's Sausage and Mash ). Delicious.  ￫ toad in the hole using sausages with black pudding from the nearby German store (recipe from Bridget Jones' Complete Comfort Food ). I love toad in the hole and the batter recipe was glorious!  ￫ vegetable moussaka (also from Complete Comfort Food ). Not ...

Raspberry mousse gateau in progress Last month (March 2017) I forayed into a couple of my older cook books for recipes. My aunt and uncle came for lunch at the beginning of the month, so I used Bridget Jones' recipes for boeuf bourguignon and raspberry mousse gateau. The latter was accompanied by mango kulfi (recipe from the Kaul sisters' The Three Sisters Indian Cookbook .  Brunswick bun My favourite bake of last month was Bronte Aurell's Brunswick bun ( Hygge and Fykke ). It was my first attempt at baking with yeast and took nearly all day. The flavour and aroma of warm cardamom - oh, pure delight! I was inspired to write a poem about cardamom and it was well received by a small audience.  Blueberry stud muffins Other recipes of Bronte's that I tried were the blueberry stud muffins (okay) and the saffron bundt with pears. The latter was not a success (too much batter for the size of my ring-tin) and I realised I don't like the ...