Soup Fail

I tried making the chocolate soup as described on the site. You add in 200ml double cream, 200ml milk, 200g milk chocolate, 300g of dark chocolate, 600ml water and the juice of 2 oranges. It broke the maker. There was a smell of burning and now it refuses to turn on again.

We finished it off in the microwave, and, to be honest, I left bear and DH to it. I think the chocolate sunk to the bottom and caked onto the element. Darn.

DH has requested, though, that if this one is completely burned out and unsalvageable then we get a replacement. The soups have definitely been a success. I will have a think, because I'm not holding out much hope of resurrecting this particular maker. It is definitely a lot easier than a pan and a blender, but the maker does cost a lot, especially if I have to pay full price for one.

Bear is also keen on keeping the soup maker, but was distracted today as he went into town without me but with one of his pals. This friend is a little older, so I wasn't so stressed, and they were fine - of course. I think it's a little while before I'm comfortable with bear going by himself, but he's getting older and it doesn't help him if he doesn't get chances to be independent.

I shall go away and rethink what I shall be cooking tomorrow. I may have another go at the meatloaf, as that went well.

Writing stuff - my response to this week's writing challenge is here.

Hugs to all.

Weather

We have been so lucky here, but the weather is still getting me down. I drove out to take bear's blazer to the cleaners and the car rocked with the wind. As it was, the buttons on the blazer were loose so I brought it back and will take it in tomorrow after resewing the buttons.

The soup maker is going well. We've had three meals out of it so far. We had the butternut squash, chilli and coconut, that was a little spicy for me, followed by the chickpea and chorizo which bear didn't like and tonight we had blackbean and sweet potato, which I thought fell a little flat. Next time I think I will soften things before I set it off. DH thoroughly enjoyed it, though, and would like it again soon, please. We got the outdated model, which explains the inexpensive price, so we may have to soften or saute food before setting it off. It's still a help. Tomorrow we are having chocolate and orange soup for dessert. I'll share how that goes!

Writing stuff - this week's challenge here.

Hugs to all.

Finally the End of the Week

This week seems to have been very long, and I'm not exactly sure why. As I type this, I am nodding off, even though it is only tea time. I'm just tired.

The soup maker arrived today. I got this model (though at a slightly lower price). I am looking forward to having a play. I am relying on it for lunches next week for half term. The attraction for me is that I can bung things in, come back, pour it out and then press the self clean button. It will hopefully provide decent nutrition for the men, and, if I make a decent quantity, I can start stashing spare portions in the freezer again. I can have reduced salt stock cubes, fresh veggies, and generally some decent nutrition, while taking the option to use up leftovers. The instructions are simple. Cut up ingredients into small pieces. Precook meat and defrost frozen veg (which can be done in a microwave). Add stock. Push button. Come back later and serve. I can rummage around on the internet for recipes or use my own. The soup cooker maker, Drew & Cole, have a lot of recipes on their website here and I plan to take advantage for inspiration. I shall share any triumphs.

(I also admit that one of the biggest attractions is that I won't be cleaning splatter marks off the walls after blending my usual soups. It's all contained.)

I would like to apologise to anyone who saw me trying to park at Lidl this afternoon. It really wasn't suitable for anyone of a sensitive disposition. I went three times around before I got an angle, and the car park wasn't that busy. I wasn't much better at Morrisons for bear's pick up. On the other hand, I navigated past IKEA and the incredibly complicated roundabout without issue. As I become more confident and more aware, I'm noticing someone stuck in the wrong lane roughly every other journey. I sympathise with them deeply. If you use what3words.com (I'm still getting the hang of it), the address is ///trails.flute.beside or you can look up the postcode WF17 9DT and you can get an overview of what the roads are like on Google Maps. If you get into the wrong lane you could be zipping along to Wakefield or Bradford, or on the motorway to Hull or Manchester instead of navigating between Huddersfield and Leeds. If you have a clear idea of the road you need to be on and pay attention to the road markings, you have a fighting chance, but it's desperately easy to end up in the wrong lane and having to zip around again. To be honest, last time I got it wrong I ended up accepting my fate and heading towards Bradford until I could turn off.

I am off to study soup recipes now, with a view to making lots and lots and lots of soup over the next few days.

Hugs to all.

Not a Bad Day

I bought the yarn! I bought 1200g of aran yarn (which turned out to be 25% wool) for £15. I plan to use the aran yarn for hats to knit over Lent. I'm planning on using this pattern here - it is amazing! It is a basic knitted hat, which gives the pattern for premies, babys, children, women and men in seven different yarn weights!

I also bought the teapot that Wherethejourneytakesme got, for the lovely tea that I was gifted. It is perfect for me, and it was nice to have an excuse to drive a little out of the way to Sainsburys in Dewsbury. Next time I may go to Sainsburys in Halifax, as I believe that it is massive!

I need to learn to take better pics.

It's been a day of internet pages. For dinner we had gluten free turkey meatloaf, from here, which I originally found on Reddit. It's incredibly healthy, with low fat turkey mince, ground almonds and lots of garlic, but I think next time I may add a few extra flavours. DH and bear loved it, though, and would like it again soon, please, if I don't mind. I had to convert it from US to English measures, though, and I think it could have done with some more ground almonds. I used this site here, which is normally epic and includes stuff like calculating your weight on other planets, but I think the 1/3 of a cup of ground almonds equalling 30g may have been a little light.

I accidentally bought double the amount of turkey mince needed. I can remember somewhere seeing a recipe which had a crumble topping which included readymade stuffing mix and I can't seem to remember where I saw it. It may just end up cooked with onions and gravy and served with mash.

Now I am going to settle down and get on with more writing stuff.

Hugs to all.

Nothing Much

I thought things would be easier after January, but I feel very much that I am trudging through February, and making a bad job of it as well.

It hasn't been so bad during the school run. There have been some showers of sleet and hail, but nothing that stuck, although visibility was sometimes an issue. I know I am so lucky compared to others, some just a few hundred yards away. I took some rubbish to the tip this afternoon, and the road was clean. The flood had washed so much away.

I am at a low ebb, and I let my guard down. I've ordered an inexpensive soupmaker. I saw on Wherethejourneytakesme blog that there were a surprising amount of soup resources around. I shall have to experiment.

I think I will crack on with sorting out my files tonight. I have an ever growing file named GOK - Goodness Only Knows - and I found some knitting patterns I had forgotten.

Writing stuff - response to this week's writing challenge is here.

Hugs to all

I Have Some Work to Do

My lovely, awesome brother has recovered the data from my old laptop and sent it over. Today I downloaded all 1.21gb and now I am going to settle down, review what's there, what I need to keep and better ways to save it. I had it all on the desktop. Awesome brother does things with computers, so is mildly baffled that I have made such a mess of saving stuff, but says he finds much worse when he works on helpdesks. At least I know where the start button is.

I didn't have to drive this morning. Bear's pal's dad took them in (thank you thank you thank you!!!) and the streets were dry in the afternoon, but they looked scoured and I passed a house near us that had sandbags in place. I know there were still flood warnings not far from here. In fact, I took a photo a while back of Kirkstall Abbey and that is in the zone of 'flooding is expected - immediate action required' on the government website

Kirkstall Abbey is by the River Aire and all the rainwater will still be coming down off the headwaters in the hills. Personally, we got off incredibly lightly and I am grateful.

Tomorrow is looking potentially slightly snowy. Bear's pal's dad takes them in on a Tuesday so I only need to worry about the run in the afternoon. I'm sure it will be fine. 

Now I need to get off and sort through all the junk from the old laptop, delete what I need to, reorganise stuff so that I have a chance of finding it again, and generally remind myself of what's available.

Writing stuff - this week's writing challenge is here.

Hugs to all. 

Scary Weather

Wherethejourneytakesme - I have a bad track record of finishing things, but I am unlikely to make a sweater from it, as bear has claimed it for a blanket. To be honest, I was worrying about washing it anyway, so I'm not too stressed.

I haven't left the house to take pics, but I have seen enough on Facebook. The ring road, my nemesis, is now flooded and closed to traffic. I have to get across there tomorrow for the school run. Also, snow is threatened. I am unenthusiastic.

And I am also grateful that I'm not in the position of the poor people flooded out. It takes months for homes to dry out. And we are nowhere nearly as affected as places like Hebden Bridge and Mytholmroyd. I have driven in some of the places shown in this link to the BBC. It must be heartbreaking. When I visited Hebden bridge a week ago, lots of the little shops had gone, partly because of the effects of the last flood. 

Hugs and good vibes to all, especially to those affected by the storm.