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Ginger,onion soup stock

This is a soup you can count on to warm you on a cold day/night. It is easy, and worth the time you spend pulling it together. I’ll list the base items first.. the final items you can change up and fix to suit your taste buds.

1 package of beef neck bones, I look for a package with good chunks of meat still on the bone.

1 good size fresh ginger that you peel, crush and dice. I like ginger so I use a good size (big thumb) to begin with.

4, 5 pieces of garlic, how much you use will depend on how fresh your garlic is and how much of a bite you want.

1 onion, again I use a medium size onion because I’ve been known to add a packet of dried onion mix if I want to enhance the stock with a more “Canadian” onion flavour.

the liquids added, Soba Tsuyu (a dipping sauce for soba noodles) Anchovy sauce (one that isn’t too watered down)
Soy sauce ( one with less sodium)
a pinch of sale
a good shake of black pepper

I dump all of the above into a pot full of cold water, and let it come to a boil, once it starts to bubble, I turn it down to medium heat and let it cook along for about 15 minutes, then I add

Carrots, sliced/shredded banana leaf, and any other veggies that I’d like to have in the soup.

Then after about 5 min. I turn it down to a simmer and let it enjoy itself for awhile.

20 minutes down the line I add either rice, potato, or a pasta. Today I’ve added elbow pasta.

Before serving, I will ad 2 scrambled eggs, 1 teaspoon of butter, and fresh baby spinach. I allow that to sit for about 10 minutes before dishing it up.

Written

on November 18, 2013

Having a good day and loving it

OK, what does that mean, It means just what I said, I had a great day and I loved every minute of it. I got some work in, some play, I spent time with a friend, tried a new recipe, Potato and chick pea balls, seasoned with garlic (forgot the ginger) diced onion, cheese,celery, I used eggs and bread crumbs to hold them together. Baked for about 45 minutes till they were golden brown.. Delicious.

Now the fun part, as you know I’ve been going back into SL, Q (Qyhat Harbour) has a shop in SL, actually 2 shops, She has been working at getting the shops ready for the Holidays. I saw a teddy bear that really took my fancy, and thought I’d like to have it in my condo (a touch of home) on a space over the Tiny Outpost that I share with Q. This got me thinking that other people like bears, so I decided to build a bear for the Emporium. Productive

Got a new hairdo – isn’t it fabulous.. changed my eye colour to a blue to go with my new dress. I also got leg warmers, Shopping, A new friend gave me a gift =^_^= I made the time to go through a large chunk of my landmarks, getting rid of all the outdated ones, Organized I actually worked on the small holiday gift cards that I will need in the next week or so, International mail has to be ready to mail out by end of the month, first week in December if you want your greeting to get to friends in time. I even found time to go dancing at a club where another new friend works.. She was however not working this evening. Still it was a good time

The dancing in the club gave me the incentive to go to the Animation shop and purchase my own dance moves. –More shopping =^_^=

You know one of the PL lessons is to keep in mind that people grow by being praised and applauded by others, this is true, however, I think it is very important that we recognize our own merit as well. That we recognize our accomplishments and celebrate them.

God knows no strangers. God Loves us all… The poor, the rich, the great, the small… God is a Friend who is always there….To share our troubles and lessen our care…. No one is a stranger in God’s sight….For God is love and in God’s light,, may we, too, try in our small way, to make new friends from day to day Helen Steiner Rice Foundation.

Now it is off to bed I go, to dream of great memories I made today. Tomorrow will be a brand new day…

Blessings everyone.. I hold you all in my prayers! Now and always.

photos – by Q link to SL (Second Life) www.secondlife.com

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Carrots and life

If ever anything would always be the same, one would think it would be carrots. Huh uh, not so, now when you go to purchase carrots, you are faced with a selection. I find little finger size ones, for snacking on and vegetable trays. I read an article about how they are processed, and now skip the little carrots and go for the family size carrot. =^_^= That said, at this time of year, you can get some P R E T T Y big sized carrots. The other day i found a carrot that was so big,I think with patience I could have stuffed it.
In the warmer months, I love to simply walk around snacking on a raw carrot. the natural sweetness is refreshing on a hot day, and the crunch is second only to the crunch of a fresh radish.
Interestingly enough, I found that the carrot taught me a lesson in life this past summer, actually it was just a couple of weeks past. One should never take our carrots for granted.
I found myself downtown in between meals, I was walking around the market when I was struck with a craving for a crunch. conveniently I was in the market, so walked up to a stall and picked a box of coloured carrots. the packaging was just like I got today, you can see how inviting they are,
For those of you still not educated (yet) in the lure of the carrot, there is a different taste albeit subtle to the “designer” carrot, vs. the good old farm variety. To my taste buds they are sweeter, with a lighter lingering taste of carrot that is teasing on the palette.

Now skip forward to later in the week when hubby and I found ourselves on a back road in the countryside far from the maddening crowd but with working farms. My crunch craving hit… what to do.. “oh look” I cried out, Hubby well used to my outbursts, slowed the car and took the lane way that advertised Fresh veggies and Pumpkins. In earlier posts you saw pictures of the pumpkin and squash displays.
With no radishes in sight, I headed for the carrots. Yes there was one basket left. Greedily my hand reached out and in the blink of an eye I was at the cash. Recognize the symptoms, we do this in life, we want something, we get something, we don’t really inspect, or take in the whole picture, we just act.
Now what could be wrong, or go wrong with freshly picked carrots from a working veggie farm. thank you for wondering/asking. A lot. Ms city here, used to buying carrots in the grocery stores, fresh produce markets had not anticipated or thought about the real home-grown carrot, that comes to you straight from the ground. It was encrusted in dirt, good old farm soil, I was traveling in the car .. I didn’t have running water to clean it with… nor did we have the dogs with us, so their fresh drinking water was not with us.
How badly did I need to feel and hear that crunch.
I dipped a clean tissue in my drinking water.. and rubbed. That dirt was caked on, but with purpose and dedication, I managed to get most of it off. I crunched into that carrot like it was a jewel from the ground (which it was). I lived to tell the tale, even discovered that I did recall in the long last memory cells, that carrots don’t come all sparkling clean from the farm with out someone washing and packaging them
A reminder on how much we take the food we eat for granted. At first my citified mind wanted to cry out loud, how can that farmer not know to clean the vegetable before putting up for sale. thank goodness the other part of my brain, spoke up, it was me, it was my spoiled city self that was not being grateful for the opportunity to taste a carrot “really’ fresh from the farm, and the lesson that, life and the food we get should not be taken for granted either.
I now have a greater appreciation for what I find in the stores, the journey they had to take to get there, and I don’t begrudge the money spent for the quality of goods I get. We need to take time in life to appreciate the bounty that we have available to us. God provides.

I used carrots today to give variety to the potato oven fries, presented along with the potatoes, were carrot and orange beet slices. Yummy, I toss them in a virgin cold pressed olive oil with seasoning before putting them in the oven to roast.

With the veggie baked fries, we are having sliced pork (Pork is my cold weather meat) stir fried and simmered in a buttered (light) curry sauce.

Eat your carrots they are good for your eyesight.

photo -Q

Written

on October 30, 2013

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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

Written

on October 29, 2013

Fresh from the farm

We are lucky where we live, during the summer, there are always fresh produce stalls in the outdoor markets. However, even better is when we drive a little out of the city and get the produce directly from the farmer. That is what we did yesterday. I was a tad restless, my son’s heart surgery was postponed till today. I wanted a distraction and it was a lovely day for a drive to the St Lawrence. (a major waterway that borders Canada and the United States) We packed the two dogs into the car and off we went, the best part of the drive for the dogs is that there is a wonderful dog park in Morrisburg, well maintained and gated. On our way back we stopped at one of my favourite farms for fresh corn, this farm always has the sweet golden nuggets, they do have the peaches and cream too, but I like the succulent gold. The plums called out to me and of course I munched on fresh plums on the way home. At just the right time of the year, the flesh of the plum is delicate and sweet, even the skin is nice.

Diet is such an important factor in our well being, yet we forget at times that there is a difference between fresh from the farm, and store bought. I confess that even for me, it is hard to always get fresh and consume it while it is still in that very fresh stage. I bought yellow wax beans and green beans, when I prepared them for supper, they were so fresh, they snapped clean when being prepared. The smell or fragrance if you will of the vegetables was alive ..unlike a packaged vegetable that lacks any smell when you take it from the sanitized packaging. The corn was “out of this world” I do mine in the microwave, it is steamed in its own sleeves. this way, when it is peeled, it is ready to eat, no salt, no butter, just the yellow meat of the kernel. Delicious.

Having tasted one of the best veggie dinners I’ve had in a long time, I then found myself thinking of preparing a stew for my meat and potatoes hubby. Using the fresh ingredients, I would start from scratch. So today I went to the butchers to find stewing beef. There was none on hand, so had to settle for a piece of steak that needed to be tenderized. The anticipation of cutting up the meat, and preparing the vegetables was wonderful. I bought turnip, parsnip, yellow flesh potatoes, and I knew I had red onion, and fresh garlic at home. Usually we are so busy, that dinners can be something quick and easy. It was nice to chop and prepare, then get things going on the stove. The aroma that filled the kitchen was familiar and relaxing. Since I was in a cooking mood, I put a pot of water on and started a pork stock with garlic and ginger (used for making different Chinese soups).. yes I had purchased pork bones to do this while I was out. It is like a ripple in the water, the fresh produce from the farm started a need for my creativity to explore and satisfy my taste buds. My son loves to cook and has done several cooking videos on a number of dishes he likes.

I want to thank the many of you who are praying for him today, it means a lot to us. A love for cooking and good food is something that we share. Brigitte his wonderful partner in life told me he went into surgery at 7:30 this morning feeling and looking very relaxed. Food nourishes the body, love and prayer nourish the soul. My son and I are marinating right now in God’s embrace.

Blessings everyone.