Sunday, August 12, 2012

Summer Fun

Yes, I like knitting and traveling
Yes, I do other crafts and projects like crocheting, sewing
Yes, I make it a special mission every year to read at least one book in English and one book in German
and Yes, sometimes another 'new' passion sneaks into my world.

I have discovered cooking soup.
First it was just a few soups to have something different than the same old meat. It was actually my husband's constant searching for 'other' meat that brought my idea to the fore front. Soup can be with or without meat and does not take long at all to prepare, usually about 30 minutes.

I have settled on a few favorites now.
  • Fennel soup, with Fennel, Chickpeas, Tomatoes, Garlic, Chicken broth, and a big Potato
  • Sicilian Wedding soup, with Spinach, baked Meatballs, Noodles, Garlic, Onion, Carrot, and Celery. The broth for this soup can be Chicken broth or Beef broth, both work well.
  • Potato soup, with Potatoes, Leaks, Carrots, Celery, Garlic and Steak strips, Chicken broth, and Onion
  • Chicken Noodle, with Celery, Carrots, Garlic, Chicken pieces, Noodles, and Onion
There was something else that contributed to this soup idea and that was my little raised garden bed out front. I started growing Basil, Tomatoes, Hungarian Peppers, Green Beans, and Chives last year.
All the best ingredients to spice up a home made soup.


on the left, below my porch, my husband built the raised garden bed for my plants

Today, I spent some time at a Nursery to buy this years second growing season plants. I researched on-line that San Diego has the right climate to plant some winter vegetables. This afternoon I was busy planting 2 Tomato varieties, one regular and one purple. The purple came very much recommended from our friend the gardener. I also bought two Pole Beans, and seeds for Cool Weather Pees, and Kohlrabi.

 I have also reviewed some Garden Magazines last month. Hard to believe that there was still time for that between the knitting, the Olympics watching and the finishing my 900+ pages Dragon story book.
In the magazine I found the chairs I wanted for my porch that my husband built for me 2 tears ago.

Finally the right chair, I thought. Luckily there was a store in San Diego that had the chairs. I wanted the yellow ones. The woman at the store recommended to take the chair outside to be sure the color was what I wanted. I am so glad she did that because the yellow was more orange glowing than I wanted. Seeing them up close and in the sunshine made me change my mind. The ones I bought are red and beautiful.

Now I sit out there in the morning shade and cool air to celebrate the beginning of
another day with the first cup of coffee

As you can see the chairs are also used for modelling some of my knitted wares, like the Poncho I made years ago

Don't you agree the icicle shawl from 2007 does look better on the chair than on me


2 comments:

  1. Reading, cooking and knitting, my favorite pastime. Your porch looks very inviting. And adding to that, gardening in a raised bed. Life is good.

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    Replies
    1. Consider yourself INVITED. If you are ever near Adams Ave. und could use a break, just call me. The porch likes being used for breaks.

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