Our internet connection is being super-unfriendly this morning. It may take me until about next Thursday to actually load this post, the way things are going.
After a very dry spring, followed by weeks of unsettled weather, both rainy and windy at times, there are signs that summer has finally arrived. One sign was that I actually got into the pool yesterday after making myself hot doing a few housekeeping chores. I think it is possible that I stayed in there for all of 4 seconds – basically the time it took me to get back to the side and leap out before any polar bears lurking in the Arctic conditions got wind of my presence. Toast and Marmalade looked on from the safety of a sun-lounger – I am sure I caught sight of them shaking their furry heads in wonderment at this crazy behaviour. Continue reading “Crunchy rosemary multi-seed crackers”
It’s Tuesday so it must be diet day. Hey ho, that also means Don Draper Day, though we’ve just reached the end of Season 6, so not long to go now. I am not sure where we will spend our evenings when we are no longer gadding about in 1970s Madison Avenue, though it will soon be too warm for sitting inside after dinner, so perhaps the timing is excellent. 
When I have a weird collection of vegetables in the fridge that need using up, my thoughts immediately switch to one of three things: soup, curry, tart. I bought a big bunch of spinach at the weekend, not really knowing what I was going to do with it, and there it was, still glaring at me when I opened the fridge to get the milk this morning.
It’s Tuesday so it must be a 5:2 day. Oh joy. And it’s residency permit renewal week for us, so we’re spending the day gathering the several thousand pieces of paper required to show that, since this time last year, we haven’t been in prison, haven’t become bankrupt, haven’t radically changed our appearance, have health insurance, still live at the same address and haven’t been out of Turkey for more than 120 days. Every piece of paper has to have an official stamp, so we are trawling around from office to office, dragging our feet like a couple of slothful teenagers. 
We’re back in Turkey following two weeks in the UK, main-lining pork products, rhubarb crumble and hot cross buns, not to mention quite a lot of Old Speckled Hen in Robin’s case!
Tuesdays are usually diet days for us, which often means soup for dinner. One of our favourites is minestrone – loads of veggies and beans, with a bit of bacon sneaked in for added flavour. I think this is one soup for which good homemade stock makes a real difference between something that is okay and something that is really yummy. I also dispense with the pasta – there are always leftovers and the pasta swells into a horrid flaccid lump and soaks up all the liquid. Instead, I use pearl barley – an inspired idea from our friend Marcus, who made us this soup for lunch when we went to visit the Kennedy family in Melbourne a few years ago. I’ve been making it this way ever since. 
First of all, a confession – I got so carried away with the need to eat this that I completely forgot to photograph what I was doing as I went along. But it is all pretty simple – I am sure you can visualise chopped veggies – so I’m going to give you the recipe anyway, as it is pretty yummy, particularly served with hot garlic bread.
(Thank you Marcus Kennedy for the pearl barley idea)
aviewfrommykitchen.com 