Keep Calm and Make Soup

February 1st is St Brigid's Day and, in Ireland, it is traditionally regarded as the first day of Spring.
This year Ireland was battered by Atlantic storm Brigid, causing major flooding in coastal communities.
We checked the weather forecasts,  tapped the barometer, listened to the wind, and hoped we'd be safe.
Luckily the wind dropped just in time and the high tide on St Brigid's Day passed without incident.
There's been another storm, Petra, since then which brought more flooding and hardship. After a night of fitful sleep we arose to find that we had once again escaped safely.
It's calm now and I'm desperately searching for signs  that perhaps Spring isn't too far away, welcoming the snowdrops in the garden, buds on the plants,  and birdsong in the air. Anything is better than the wind and rain.
This is the weather for homemade soup, warming and comforting. My favourite winter soup is leek and potato, rich and creamy, full of natural goodness.

It's a quick and easy soup to make, and with leeks in season and often on special offer this time of year , it makes a cheap and nourishing winter lunch, accompanied by some homemade brown bread.

This is a recipe I've adapted from a couple of cookery books, experimenting until I came up with a version that I like best.
Ingredients
3 leeks, chopped and washed
1 onion, chopped
2 or 3 potatoes, chopped into small cubes
1 litre chicken stock
rinds of parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
olive oil
Method
Gently fry the onions in the olive oil until soft, add the leeks and potatoes and fry for a further 5 minutes. Add the stock and old parmesan rinds (a tip from Nigel Slater's Kitchen Diaries), and season with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil and then simmer for approximately 20 minutes until the potatoes are tender. Scrape the melted cheese from the rind, discard the rind itself, and blend the soup.
Delicious served with some crispy fried bacon to garnish.

Dreaming of Spring

These days, I'm longing for Spring. Tantalising signs of this much longed for season are appearing everywhere. The hyacinth bulbs I bought fill the sitting room with their wonderful sweet scene, there's a profusion of snowdrops growing beside the old farmhouse down the lane, and the spring bulbs I planted in the autumn are popping up.

But our weather remains very unsettled. Sunshine, showers, wind, rain, fog, frost; we've had the lot this past week. More winter storms are forecast over the coming days, so it's still time for keeping warm, cooking wholesome food and dreaming of warmer days.

I made my favourite soup, leek and potato, for lunch today (will post the recipe later in the week) and
was delighted when I discovered the pansy flowering in the garden.
And I'm busy reading for The Year in Books. I've already finished 'Gone Girl' and am now reading and really enjoying Zadie Smith's 'NW' as well Richard Yeats short stories 'Eleven Kind of Loneliness' which are perfect for dipping into and savouring one at a time.

Days Like These

These are perfect days.   Early Spring, full of hope and promise. Crisp frosty mornings remind me that it's good to have emerged from a long dreary winter.  The cold invigorating my sleepy self.  Dawn's warm fingers creep across the landscape, over the mountains and across the fields.

There's new growth and new life. Slowly the buds are awakening, ready to unfurl after the winter months. The first lambs keep close to their mothers in the fields.

All around us nature is looking forward, preparing for a new season, for birth and growth.

There's birdsong in the hedgerows. Starlings, sparrows, finches getting ready to mate, to nest, to start afresh.

Blue skies make me happy. I am glad to be alive, to be out and about, walking, plotting, planning, dreaming.  I forget the heartbreak and hard times that is life for many today.