Spinach and Parmesan Soup

Spinach and Parmesan Soup with Creme Fraiche

As I may have mentioned before, this September is a very busy month for me. Since coming home from my holiday last month, I have changed jobs more suddenly and with a greater degree of finality than I would have anticipated. The older offspring will be leaving home in a matter of days and I don't know whether to be upset at his departure or to relish the opportunity to tidy out his bedroom. The younger offspring is having extended birthday celebrations this weekend. I am finishing off one project before commencing a new course of study. The spouse and the younger offspring will be going to an international sporting event later this month, after which those of us still living in this house in Dublin will be hosting visitors from the far east. Roll on October, I say.

I digress. Back to the soup. This weekend I chose spinach and Parmesan soup on the basis that it's supposed to be quick to make. Skye Gyngell's recipe gives the preparation time as ten minutes and the cooking time as fifteen to twenty minutes. I'm afraid that, as usual, I took longer. The ingredients include young spinach leaves, banana shallots (I used non-banana ones), garlic, chicken stock (a pre-holiday clear-out of the freezer has meant I had to use cubes), creme fraiche and Parmesan cheese. Once you have wilted the spinach, you sweat the sliced shallots, add the garlic, return the spinach to the pan, and pour in the stock. Out comes the blender. The creme fraiche and cheese are stirred in and the soup may be served hot or cold with a sprinkling of grated lemon.We had it for dinner and everyone had something good to say about it. The younger offspring even had a second helping!

Bee is for Books

My new academic venture requires me to read about leadership. The first text is Selected: Why Some People Lead, Why Others Follow, and Why It Matters by Mark van Vugt and Anjana Ahuja. I'm not that far into the book but I've already come across two references to bees:

In Chapter 2, we'll swoop into the animal kingdom, to find out how leadership and followership evolved in ants, bees, fish and non-human primates. 

We all need a laugh from time to time and this quote made me smile during the week:

Behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes. (Jim Carrey)