dymoonblog

Faded Glory

Mother Nature is bursting out all over with her various shades of fall colours. I started out wanting to show you the meat for making ox tail soup. I got sidetracked by the hydrangea along the fence, The closer we get to the really cold weather, the more this flower will show off its many talents. It presents a different “face” for every season.
Personally, I feel that this is something we all do, some of us are more dramatic in our changes than others. The fall winter season sees my wardrobe going to darker colours.
Where does the colour go? It is still present in my life, I just don’t wear it. Maybe in a scarf, hmmm no.. I just checked, the colours are all subdued. One of my winter warm jackets is a royal purple, in some lights it looks like a dark grey, in sunlight, you can see the purple hues …. Whatever, the object of the coat is warmth.
OK back to the oxtail soup. Have you ever experienced oxtail soup? To be begin with, do you know what the packaged meat looks like?

This is one delicious succulent cut of meat.  You only need a few pieces in your cook pot to get rich savory results. (recipe is for two – four full nourishing bowls)

Choose the package of meat that appeals to you.  The meat is not inexpensive, there are other cuts that are cheaper, but only the oxtails give you “the” taste.  This meat is also great for doing beef and barley,  My version depends on what my taste buds are wanting at the time I am preparing the soup.  For this exercise I will be moderate in my selections.  I myself do not use recipes, I cook like I do other artistic expressions.. =^_^=

I like a good 5, 6 good size pieces of meat, 1 onion (palm of my hand) cut into slices.  4-5 cloves of garlic, (Russian if you can find it has a nice sharp tang to it)   1 stalk of celery cut into pieces, along with a dash of hot mustard (powdered)    also good is adding several slices of fresh ginger (to taste)  NO SALT.  Bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer and let it cook for several hours.  After about an hour, you can add diced carrots, squash, green/red peppers, if I have corn I cut it off the cob and add it to the mixture.  Two hours into the making, add the barley or rice..  If you are going to add noodles, wait till about a  half hour before the soup is done.  Noodles that are too soggy are not pleasant to eat.  Only at t his stage, do I consider adding salt (if you use salt) and pepper to taste.

Variations of this dish, is to add curry, turmeric or black bean and garlic paste.  that is the delight of this soup, it has so many taste possibilities.  The meat gives you a true beef broth that will take you in almost any direction your little cook’s spirit wants to go.

Remember this morning I was wanting Japanese breakfast, I was at an Asian grocery store that has baked, and cooked goods, this is what I had for lunch.  I treat myself to these dumplings when I’m shopping there for my groceries.

Today- I enjoyed the visual poetry that the weather and sunshine day brought my way, and I let my taste buds enjoy themselves with the variety of goodies I “stuffed” myself with.  All in all, a pretty good day… Looking forward to tomorrow.

How about you, was your day a success?  Have a busy day planned for tomorrow?  Whatever comes your way, listen with your heart and mind…

Many blessings, today, tomorrow and always…

photos -Q