Broccoli Soup

I decided to get a pot of soup on the go.  It's dead easy, tasty and fast.

2 leeks - white bits mainly, washed and chopped
1 brocolli head - all florets and some chopped stalk too if you like.
1 onion - white, peeled and chopped
2 litres stock - I use a single Knorr Chicken stockpot thing
1 generous palmful of rolled oats (porridge flakes)*
1/2 (half) a tub of soft cream cheese - full fat, half fat, with herbs, without herbs - you choose.
Knob of butter (not a life-sized knob, in fact, not that sort of knob at all, ok?)

In which I tell you all about Kevin....

Yes, it’s time we talked about Kevin….

Kevin has been living with us for nearly two years now.  He is exceptionally quiet, doesn’t demand endless goes on the Wii or new games for his DS. He doesn’t eye my mealtime offerings with suspicion and request the presence of a poison-taster.  He sounds like the perfect child, but he is, in fact, a pain au chocolate and he lives in my bread bin.

Here’s the photographic proof.

Bute Cheddar | The End

You may imagine that life in rural Scotland is one big beautiful VisitScotland advert: Good-looking couples escaping the humdrum of their city life and taking romantic strolls along huge arcs of windswept beach followed by a warming glass of whisky as they sit wrapped in their Celtic Sheepskin snugs by a crackling wood-fire.

Well, it can be beautiful, there’s no doubt about it.

But picturesque Scotland needs its unglamorous behind-the-scenes industry to keep functioning.  And one of the island’s main employers is set to close in 30 days


http://news.stv.tv/scotland/164475-bute-creamery-set-to-close/

In which I realise that not everyone appreciates a Hestia in their neighbourhood.

I’m a great believer in taking personal responsibility for changing stuff that annoys you.  I would like to think that it is a sign of being fully civilised, but I suspect that it might have something to do with the swiftly approaching menopause.

The little wooded area next to my home is permanently full of rubbish, so once a quarter I get my wellies on and stuff my pockets with bin bags and I clean it up myself.

Something that has been annoying me recently are my neighbours' bins.

There are 10 of them from the Housing Association flats over the road and they are supposed to be put back behind the building after the binmen have emptied them, but only two people do this.  The rest leave their bins out by the pavement.

This has become a problem.

In a moderate wind, the bins are blown over and have even blown on to the road.  Other times, kids (or passing drunken teenagers) cannot resist the lure of human-sized green skittles and send them bowling over onto the grass.

As a result, the contents blow up and down the road.

This gets, frankly, right on my nerves.

In which I ponder 'why am I here?'

I wasn’t very convinced about blogging, to be honest: I figured that if we were all talking, it meant that no-one was reading.

But recently I’ve stumbled upon some really excellent blogs that are a joy to read and that make me laugh out loud.  I had an epiphany.  You don’t need to be deadly serious to blog!

Believe me, I have no pretensions of being a brilliantly capable Hestia, nor could I be as entertaining as my favourite bloggers, but if I can make you snort coffee out your nose onto your keyboard just once, I will be a happy woman.

So, what’s the point of this blog?

Come closer, I need to tell you a secret.  No, closer than that even......*whispers* Even though I’m not terribly good at it, I have decided to come out of the closet and admit that I really enjoy cooking and baking.

In case you think I’m secretly Sophie Dahl trying to get into everyone’s good books again after the hired kitchen fracas – think again.