Minnie's Soup Kitchen

Peanut butter brownies Party Pieces While sorting out recipes cut from magazines recently, I came across one for marbled peanut butter brownies. Having been off chocolate in January, I decided that I would reward my abstemiousness with a chocolate treat. My self-imposed rule when I haven't given up chocolate in January is not to eat chocolate except on Fridays and Saturdays ... and perhaps a sneaky bit on Sundays. Back to the brownies recipe. When would I get to try it out? The occasion arose. Two colleagues were moving on and in the time-honoured tradition of showing affection for people who are always on diets or lamenting their weight, a group of us marked their departure by going out for lunch and then having a tea party about an hour and a half later! I baked, of course. First I made good  old-fashioned cup cakes using the batter and glace icing recipes from Mary Norwak's Breads, Cakes and Biscuits , which was published in 1978. Then I made the marbled peanut but

Clafoutis: cherries ready Every now and then during the last couple of months my conscience has pricked me. I haven't made soup during that time nor have I formally said goodbye to any remaining loyal blog readers. Goodbyes are difficult. Decisions cause me stress ... or anxiety ... I can't make up my mind which word to use. I have been otherwise occupied. Soup-making was a diversion from my academic pursuits, but I abruptly called a halt to those pursuits earlier this year. While waiting for certain matters to resolve themselves so that I could finally decide about returning to university or not, I undertook a comedy improv course. I had previously done occasional workshops but this was the first time I was able to give some sort of commitment to a continuing course. The course was different to my previous improv experiences in that there were more men, I was now among the oldest students and a group dynamic was nurtured. Then in late spring this year I leaped into a le

This weekend I don't have time to make soup as I'm heading away this evening and won't be home until Monday night (St Valentine's Day). I thought I would just put in a few references to bees I have come across recently. Last week I mentioned "The Whole Day Through" by Patrick Gale . I had also read "The Cat Sanctuary" which was first published in 1990. Here's the quote from "The Cat Sanctuary": "Er ... What is it?" she asked, not wanting to appear rude. "Chamomile's the main ingredient. It tastes a bit like pond water but it works straight off. You might like a little of this in it." He slid her a honeypot shaped like a beehive. [From Chapter 15] One of the positive outcomes of jetlag has been the opportunity to catch up on my reading. I had a pile of books by the bed, one of which was Johan Theorin 's "Echoes from the Dead" (first published in Swedish in 2007, I think). I discovered his novels l