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Split Pea and Bacon Soup

Split Pea and Bacon Soup

Last Sunday was another sunny day in Dublin so why did I make a hearty winter's day soup? Partly because I had the packet of split green peas from last weekend and partly because I love bacon-flavoured meals. The other ingredients included smoked streaky bacon, celeriac, carrot, leek, potato, dried marjoram and onion. The first task was to get the peas cooking in water. Then in went the piece of bacon. In the meantime I sliced and diced the vegetables and added them to the peas with some marjoram. When the bacon was cooked, I took it out of the pan, chopped it up and it back in the pan. I fried the onion in a second pan and then I was ready to dish up. I stirred the fried onions into the soup and sprinkled chopped chives over the top of each bowlful.

Verdict: Delicious. I'll definitely make this soup again one cold winter's day.

Bee is for Baking

I've been very busy lately and haven't had much time for doing some of the things I like to do. Fortunately, I got one big thing out of the way last Friday and so treated myself to some baking time. I haven't used Collins Beekeeper's Bible since I made delicious honey and walnut cookies last year. Last Saturday I made a honey banana cake. There's honey in the cake itself and in the cream cheese topping. I didn't expect the younger offspring to like the cake so was gratified by his positive response.

One last thing. I recently re-read The Kraken Wakes by John Wyndham. It's one of those books I can't bring myself to dispose of, pass on to charity, etc. First published in 1953, the melting icebergs and climate change strike a chord today. Here comes the bee reference. The narrator Michael Watson and his wife have charmed a young lieutenant to tell them about a secret expedition. He says:
Well, when [the sensor device] was all fixed, and the boffins had finished tearing round and testing everything in sight, we set off with the whole ship buzzing like a beehive and the [device] leading the way, and none of us feeling too good in our bellies ... 
So, that's all. Until next time.

Minnie







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