75 - How did that happen?

Having reached such a venerable age(!) I thought a family party would be fun, so 40 or so family, including 10 children, plus 3 friends, gathered at the Field Restaurant at Udder Farm for a spread. 

The children could play outside as it was a beautiful day, and we had a section of the restaurant partitioned off so the rest of us could mingle and chat.

It was lovely to see cousins from both sides of the family, and I think a good time was had by all. No photos of the children here of course, though some were taken and will be sent to their parents.

Mr Bufo and I felt very pleased with the day!

Snow or Snowdrops?

The snowdrops are nearly out ... but we are threatened with the real thing tomorrow. Except we shall be on our way between here and the flat in Poole, via Yapp Brothers Wine Merchants in Mere, and the Udder Farm Shop, where we are booked for lunch. So we'll need to eat fairly quickly and get on our way, before the weather closes in at about 1.30!

The Scarf I started knitting before Christmas, with yarn bought last August, is nearly finished, and ready for handing over to its future owner in March when I see her.

A Snowdrop Day!

What might have been a drudge around to take some stuff to an auctioneer and pick up an order from the farm shop became a magical day yesterday. 
We set off soon after 9 and got through Salisbury & Wilton without any trouble - not always a given, so doubly welcome when it does happen! We noted on the A27 on the way to Salisbury that the snowdrops were out in the usual places along the roadside, but it wasn't until we turned off the A30 and were on our way to Teffont that we began to see more and more of them along the verges. Then we turned south at Teffont, and the narrow road there was lined on both sides with a marvellous array, all the way through the village to the church. Several more clumps as we went through to Fovant and rejoined the A30, and then all the way to Shaftesbury we came upon patches; some rather the worse for wear from the muddy spray coming up off the road, others gleaming white.
We had a very pleasant lunch and collected our meat and one or two other things - is it possible to go to the Udder Farm shop and not spend a substantial sum? - and set off towards home again. 
Most of the time it had been impossible to stop and take photos, but we did manage to get these, by the side of a lay-by on the A30 near Swallowcliff, on the way home. 

They are in a rather messy grassy area, and not as spectacular as some we had seen earlier, but it's the best we could do. 
I'm sure we saw several different types, as some seemed larger than others, and it wasn't just that some were more open than others. But I'm not an expert! I have a very small clump in the front garden that are also in full bloom, but they'd be embarrassed to be shown in this company! 

In the Soup - how not to follow a recipe...

It seemed a good idea to start with ... rather than search my cookery books for inspiration, I'd just do the soup Mrs Redboots had posted on her blog the previous day. 

It would make a change after two days of cold meat and undisguised* leftover veg followed on the third evening by a mild curry-ish sort of thing using some of the spicy mix that the Udder Farm Shop sells - displaying it in fragrant bowls, with sturdy brown-paper bags and little metal scoops to play at being old-fashioned grocers with, as you serve yourself Magic Majhala** or Regal Red Sea mixes.

Anyway, soup was called for, and at first glance I had everything on the list. So yesterday afternoon, for last night's meal, I extracted some chicken carcase stock from the freezer, and began to assemble the other ingredients.

I only had 2 carrots, but then I was only making soup for the 2 of us, so that didn't worry me. I had escallions [banana shallots] and used 3 of them rather than 2 onions; I added a couple of small turnips that were looking reproachfully from the veg shelf, and after much searching - we've not long had our kitchen completely redone, so some things are in logical but not easily found places - found the tag end of a packet of red lentils - probably about 100-150g worth.

I used a little bit of dripping to soften the chopped shallots, as we'd had rib of beef for our Christmas main meat, and it had produced a small basinful. Then I added the diced carrot and turnip to the pot for a few more minutes, and rinsed the lentils under the tap. Some old habits die hard, and I'm old enough to remember when one had to rinse, and pick over, lentils for grit; these days they are meant to be OK straight from the packet. Once everything was stirred together, I added the block of frozen stock, about half a pint, and filled the plastic box it had been frozen in with water from the tap, and poured that in - twice - making about a pint and a half of added liquid.

I kept stirring until the frozen stock had melted, and brought it all to the boil, then left it simmering for a couple of hours.

I ventured into the dank garden and returned with very small trophies - a couple of sprigs of thyme and a few marjoram leaves. Once these were washed, I bruised the thyme and added it to the pot. 

Mrs Redboots had said she used asafoetida as she didn't have any garlic to hand. Not having any asafoetida, nor ever having knowingly tasted it, I was confident I had plenty of garlic. Well once upon a time it was plenty ... but it was growing out, and the cloves themselves had got soft and rubbery. So I chopped the growing shoots together with some Greek basil that I have on the kitchen windowsill, ready to stir in at the last minute. 

A quick taste about half an hour before serving showed the need for a bit more seasoning. As 'Magic Majhala' has a few lentils amongst its many ingredients, I added about a teaspoonful of that and stirred it well in; mild curry flavours go well with lentils and carrots. 

Our G had been sitting on a slice of lime for a good hour by now, so we added ice-cubes, and the T, and relaxed for a while with this and a few of the beautiful olives [from Olives Direct] that we get from our local market. 

Just before serving, I used a potato masher to break down the cubes of vegetable without losing texture. I'd thought about using the stick blender, but decided I didn't really want this to be a 'cream soup' - a decision approved by TMH when I put the bowl in front of him - and stirred in the chopped herb/garlic shoots mixture.***  

So I'm afraid, Annabel, that it wasn't really your soup at all - but it was jolly nice!

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* Chopped up and fried in dripping, but still obviously sprouts, chestnuts,  roast potatoes, carrots and parsnips. 

** I'm not sure of the spelling of this, as the last lot we bought didn't have the proper printed label, just a hand-written 'Magic'.

*** For once something I had pre-chopped did not lurk on the chopping-board to confront me when I came back to the kitchen after the course for which it was intended ...
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