My herb seeds seem to be starting to sprout. It's the basil and the dill that are showing signs, the peppermint is unchanged. (But peppermint is very difficult to start from seed) Nothing dramatic yet, but I can see tiny bits of green just barely pusing at the soil. By monday I bet they are really visible.

Today's recipe: Red Pepper, Onion, and Potato soup

It's still unseasonably cold here. I had decided the house needed a thorough cleaning today. A full hoovering, not just the floor but the furniture and woodwork. Then dust all the furniture and polish the wood with orange oil. Scrub the bathroom and kitchen including getting all the fingermarks and smudges off all the kitchen cabinets. I also did all the laundry and dishes. So a busy and tiring day. I needed something warm and comforting to eat for supper.

I thought potato soup would be a nice idea, but then I wanted a bit more flavour. So I dreamed up a new recipe.

I sauteed 4 chopped medium onions in a mix of butter and extra virgin olive oil. While the onions were gently cooking away in a soup pot, I diced up half a large ripe red pepper and tossed that in. Then I peeled a pile of new potatoes. They weren't the really tiny ones, sort of medium size new potatoes. I would guess I used about a pound or so. All amounts are very approximate here. Then I added salt and freshly ground black pepper and a load of dill, a good amount of basil, and a few shakes of cayenne pepper. I added water to cover all the vegetables- and enough to reach and inch or two over that. Then I covered the pot (the cover has a steam vent) and when it came to a boil, I lowered the heat and let it slowly simmer for a couple of hours.

After about two hours- I'm guessing here - I was still cleaning and let it simmer till I was done- I turned off the cooker and got out the blender. I blended the soup in 4 small batches; using the lowest speed I let it blend till it was smooth. The puree was dumped from the blender into a new smaller pot. (That's so you don't have to dump the puree back into the pot with the unprocessed soup)

Then I brought the puree up to a boil. It was perfectly (strongly) seasoned so I didn't have to add anything except a good swirl of full cream (that's heavy cream for you in the states). A reasonable amount of cream just smoothes the flavour and texture and makes the soup perfectly creamy. Voila. Soup.

Oh yes, it was delicious. I had a bowl of it with ruchbrot and butter. This soup can be frozen. I set aside the portion to freeze before I add the cream so it keeps longer. When I want to use the frozen soup, I reheat it and then swirl in fresh cream before serving.

I know this is more information than most people want, but I figure if Adam or Andrew wants to make this, I might as well give them the details now.

One major difference between the Swiss and the Germans is, while they both have the most incredible collection of rules for society that must always be obeyed precisely, the Swiss manage to make you feel that they are soooo sorry, that they would make an exception for you if they could, that they understand your frustration and pain and anger, and if only they could. The Swiss will also try to help you by thinking of alternatives to make the situation less miserable for you. That's what makes the insane mountain of rules here bearable, gracious caring. People really care, there's no sense of that pervasive German shadenfreude. And that makes all the difference.

Kill Bill

Have you seen Kill Bill? It's a Quentin Tarantino film. I just saw it yesterday and I was impressed. I don't usually watch kung fu films or very bloody films, this isn't the style film I would watch at all. But I did- bored to death and it was the only thing on cable in English.

So I fixed a nice drink and sat back on the sofa with drinkie and cigarette in hand, feet up all comfy on the hassock and watched.

Wow! Uma Therman is hot and the action is fast and tense. Ok yes, it's also rediculous and over the top. But QuentinTarintino does it so well.

Definitely worth watching.

I suppose sometimes it sounds like all I do is cook, watch films, and visit museums. I'm actually also working very hard on Fed2's game and business development. Sometimes it feels like an uphill battle. Hell, ot always feels like an uphill battle. But better to live in interesting times than boring ones, I suppose.

Film: HOLES (2003)

I highly recommend a strange and gently charming film I just watched. It's called Holes. Well worth putting on your Netflix list.

duxelles tarts

douxelles tarts, originally uploaded by Curved Space Lab.

Puff pastry with a filling of duxelles, chopped tomato, whole fresh cream, topped with shredded ementhaller. Baked 20 min @220C

It was cold and overcast today and then it rained. Something warm and tasty was called for!

History Museum of Basel - Chapel

History Museum of Basel - Chapel
Originally uploaded by Curved Space Lab.

The rear chapel of the History Museum.

History Museum of Basel

History Museum of Basel
Originally uploaded by Curved Space Lab.

This is the entry hall of the History Museum, a former medieval cathedral. The view is looking back towards the entry doors.

View from Museum in Basel

View from Museum in Basel
Originally uploaded by Curved Space Lab.

Last week I went to the History Museum in Basel. This is the view from the terrace in front of the museum.

I planted herbs today. Asti had some brightly coloured glazed ceramic pots sitting on a shelf on the terrace - doing nothing but holding some dead flowering plants. So today it was out with the old and in with the new. I tried to buy proper potting soil at the plant area of the supermarket/mall but when I opened the bag at home it was so sort of compost mix. Better than reusing soil from potted plants anyway. So I planted 2 pots each of peppermint, dill, and basil. Green thumbs crossed everyine - lets hope something grows. It's still so cold here I have to keep the pots indoors.

Tomorrow I have to go down to the post office and send out Adam's birthday present and an end of term present for Andrew. I hope they like them, the presents are small but I think they are rather nifty.

I'm tired of the cold. Where's the warm weather? We had about 3 days of heat a couple weeks ago and now it's gone back to winter.

Happy Birthday Adam!

Yesterday was my son Adam's birthday. I "talked" to him via IMs late the night before to wish him a happy birthday. Tried to phone but couldn't connect to his cell phone in the states and he said his father had "cleaned up" and misplaced the reciever. I won't comment on that. Anyway it was frustrating not being able to phone him.

Regardless, I hope you had a great birthday. Love you lots.