Full of zest

Really, I do not know what befell me. After nearly a week of being heavy and tired, not to say sleepy and pained, today I woke up ready to conquer the world, preferably the multy-tasking way.

So what's on the agenda? Cooking and baking!
I have already put in the oven a large batch of Fairy's granola, with cranberries instead of raisins, and right after that I shall make a few personal-sized rhubarb and raspberry torts. Recipe to that will arrive after they're made, when I decide exactly how to do them.

Also, all the wonderful soup recipes from the "stirring the cauldron" venture made me feel like souping, and so I am making some underground soup - potatos, sweet potatos, onions and leeks, carrots and mushrooms, will all combine into a thick, wintery soup for tonight. Also in store: sirloin strips in fresh mushrooms and guiness gravy (I reserved some in the freezer from a previous cooking craze).


Now, I know what I promised you. Some pictures of the latest craftiness that had attacked me last week. Here it is, then:

for mom and dad's kitchen

For little niece's room

and for little Ponchik's nursery

All presents have been delivered, and were well received. The only one left to still experience all the pressies is little Ponchik, of course. He's due in about two and a half weeks, and I know he's as impatient as I am for us to meet face-to-face already.

Well, back to the kitchen. Lots to do!

Today is the day! Soup Day!

Remember this? It's joint soup day on Tufinim et al.! And what a day for winter soups! it's cold outside, grey and raining. I do believe this initiative has invoked the winter Gods from their slumber....

Today I'm going to share with you one of my ultimate winter soups - My mother's pea soup. It's hot. it's chunky. it's full of peas. And it has real-life clouds in it, just like a real winter! what else do you need in life?

Cloud Pea Soup

ingredients:

3 medium sized onions

1 pack of frozen peas (800 g)

2 eggs

some white flour

salt, pepper

preparation:

1. Chop onions thinly and fry in a pan until golden.

2. Fill a pot with water - about 2 litres. Boil, and add the fried onions with a bit of salt.

3. In a bowl, lightly whisk eggs with some salt and pepper. Add flour, a spoonful at a time, and mix well, until you get a thick consistency, like heavy cream. Then add some water - get it back down to the consistency of yogurt.

4. When the soup in the pot is boiling, lower heat and drop in 1/3 spoonfuls of the batter.

5. Cook for another 15 minutes, then add the peas. You don't have to thaw them in advance, but you can. Cook until peas are cooked, about 10 minutes more. Taste and fix the seasoning before serving.

That's it. I don't have one ready, so no mouth-watering pictures, I'm afraid. But I can see into the near future, and from here it looks soupy. And peay. And cloudy.

And don't forget, all you Hebrew readers, to go check out the other blog entries on this yummy venture, via Tufinim website....

A hi-IQ entry, to balance off the previous one...

I had just finished reading Neil Gaiman's novel "Anansi Boys" this morning. Boy, can the man tell a story! I have to say, his scary short stories fill me with dread. When I tried reading "Smoke and Mirrors" I quit in the middle, and couldn't stop crying. But his novels I love.
If you're into folklore and storytelling, this book is for you. Now I can listen to the radio version, only just released. So can you, on this link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/world_drama.shtml

May I say, thanks again, Neil! I love reading your novels, as well as your blog. You rock. Maybe one day I'll even get that much-craved autograph, for which I couldn't be bothered to stand in line for over an hour....

beurocratic newsflash!

Good morning, faithful readers!

We have finally managed to install a "subscribe to blog via email" widget. Scroll down and look to your right....

I am now officially the most brainless geek I know. Hopefully, some brain functions shall be returned to me after the baby comes.

Have a great Dane!

Busy day

Today I am crafting away. There is nothing like a clean and ready nursery to prompt one into making decorations. Last night the nursery was finally emptied and washed, the carpet was laid and now it is ready to receive some furniture and some decorations.

So since morning, I've been making little pictures to hang on the walls, as well as a big nursery clock - something to hide away the unsightly ventilation duct they put in the room when it was built.
My theme is Brian Paterson's Foxwood Tales. I got some extremely cute paper napkins with drawings from the book, and also a few canvasses. The idea is to glue the picture layer of the napkin on the canvas, thus getting a ready-made base picture. On it I shall probably add all sorts of embellishments, and finish off with a coat of water-based varnish.
For the clock, I'll poke a hole in the middle of the canvas and attach a clock mechanism.
Also, since I'm already in the mood, a couple of pictures are being made for my darling little niece - one themed "coffee cups", the other "butterflies".

Pictures are to follow once I'm done, I hope.

Weekend in Eilat

Last weekend we went down south for a bit of R&R. Relaxing, feet up, in the hotel's swimming pool, onlookers would have been able to see this:

Yes! it is the little guy and myself, tanning our white patches and training our brains on some link-a-pix.

The paper bracelet thingy you can see on my right wrist is the hotel's "all-included" tag. And boy, did I include! :-)

Expecting a new family member

There's only a month left, after which our family will be accepting its newest member. All the feelings are mixed and confusing. I can't wait to meet the little guy already, especially when now he becomes so heavy, and moves around constantly. I'm also afraid i'm going to mess him all up. What do I know about motherhood?

So I concentrate on the things I do know about. I'm preparing his room. I'm washing baby clothes. I eat good food and cook a lot for the freezer. and I make crafty decorations. A little cross stitched poem about angels is getting framed, the quilt is done, and i'm contemplating making some paper craft toys, too.

How can I wait another month?

Stirring the cauldron

Mona from Tufinim has published a venture for joint winter writing. The subject is winter soups. To all my overseas readers, we haven't actually reached winter here yet, and hopes are high that communal winter-soup writing shall bring the desired season closer to us.

So: look out for winter soups in all your favorite foodblogs, coming this november 20th!

The Beginning

Welcome to my new blog!

This blog will be about the good things in life: food and drink, beauty, and, quite possibly, but don't catch me on my word here, cats and babies.

I'd like to apologize to all my Hebrew readers: I know you know enough English to tackle this. Just think of all my English-only readers who'd miss out on my pearls of wisdom if I wrote in Hebrew.

I hope you enjoy reading, and do feel free to comment. Sit back. Have a coffee and some home-made cake. I'm about to start rambling!