A morning of cooking!

Day 36

The cold weather continues with snow forecast for today and tomorrow. This year we have certainly had what I would call a "proper" winter and as a result, all the geraniums I kept from the summer have perished. They did well, though, lasting last summer, last winter, and the summer before that. Last winter was wet and mild and I don't think we had any snowfall at all.

I spent the morning marinating chicken breasts in a spicy Jerk paste. Keith suggested we have one of our favourite meals, and he would use up some frozen bits for his dinner. He refuses to eat Jerk chicken and says he hates the taste of it!

After marinating the chicken I chopped up two onions, celery, spring onions, leeks, and potatoes to make soup. When that was done I brought the radio into the kitchen and listened to Ken Bruce, while I made a loaf of seeded bread.

Once it was kneaded and resting in our airing cupboard, I made the soup by softening all the vegetables and adding stock. I let it simmer on the hob, checked on the bread which hadn't risen much, and relaxed for a while.

The bread did rise a bit, and we ate it for lunch with the blended soup. I added some sprigs of coriander just before serving and it was delicious. Making soup and bread is hard work though! I now know why people just bung a couple of cans into their trolley! However, it's great to know exactly what ingredients have gone into the soup and it's lovely when my family appreciate my cooking!

Keith and I went to get Mike from work and it started snowing again. As we waited I watched as the little snowflakes hit the windscreen and immediately thawed. It's wonderful when you think that a decent covering is made up of these tiny little flakes!

Dinner this evening was lovely, as always, but very spicy! Sophie said she thought the sauce needed an extra spoonful of the jerk paste, and it sent it over the top! Phew!