Pear, Celeriac and Blue Cheese Soup

As I type this, I am lying on my bed, trackies on, thick, woolen jumper on and covered in my bed spread. All that is exposed are my arms and head (which are needed to type this post).

I feel that the time has come to make soup. I hope you are all on board with me on this.

I have had this particular soup bookmarked for some time and have been a little excited about getting the chance to make it. You see, this is the first soup that I have made this year and it is also the first time I have cooked with celeriac.

I think that celeriac would have to be one of the most (...how do I put it delicately?) aesthetically displeasing vegetables going around town. When I had them before me on the chopping board, the natural urge was to throw them out the window and use potatoes instead. They look like beasts!

Mussels in Leeks and Beer

Mussels, what can I say? To me they fall millimetres behind oysters as my favourite mollusc. Unlike oysters, mussels are far easier to open and if you are one of those people who believe that they cannot cook then trust me - you can cook these. 

One of the best things (and if you love mussels I am sure you will agree) is that there are just so many flavours you can add to them; feeling a little South-East Asian? Try coconut milk, chili, lemongrass and a little tamarind. Or is Provençal more your speed? White wine, garlic, tomatoes are all welcome as far as the shiny mussel is concerned.

The world is your Mussel when it comes to adding flavour.

Sweet Adventures Blog Hop - Lemons

If you were to ask me what my favourite ingredient was, you might have to stare at my blank face while I racked my brain. You see, I have many favourite ingredients - it would be a lie to say that I had just one. 

But if you were to ask me what my top five favourite ingredients were...I still wouldn't be able to give you a definitive list, but I would be confident enough to tell you that lemons would be in the mix. 

After we had had that vague, somewhat confusing conversation about my favourite ingredients (so you know one of them is lemons, right?) you might want to next ask me: "Anna, why lemons?" I would then let out a hearty chuckle and reply: "Why not lemons?!"

They smell wonderful, you can pickle them, can them, roast them, zest them, eat them savoury, eat them sweet - you can even clean your fancy copper pots with them! If you were lucky enough to grow up with (or know someone with) a back-yard, you will probably have a vivid memory of a tree, in the middle of winter, heaving with sunny fruit. They also make brilliant cricket balls - or so I have been told. 

So when I saw that this month's theme for the Sweet Adventures Blog Hop was lemons - I had to change my schedule (I had planned for something savoury here this week), drop everything and get some lemons. I am attempting to grow Meyer Lemons at the moment, and if all goes well in a couple of months I will have my first fruit. In the meantime I am more than happy to pile my fruit bowl high with lemons from the shops (another use: they brighten up a room) while I worked out how to make lemon jubes.

I have attempted jubes before, back in the early days of this blog. These lollies are known by a number of names: pâtes de fruits, gum drops, fruit pastilles - last time I called them jellies (because that is what the recipe that I had adapted them from called them). This time they are going to be called jubes for the same reason (I also prefer the name "jube"; it is familiar to me and I like the sound of it).

A guest post at One Bite More

As I mentioned at the end of my last post, I will be taking a short journey across the interwebs, all the way over to Shez's amazing blog - One Bite More. This week you will find that I baked some deeply dark and mysterious cookies. OK, yes, they are chocolate and yes, you are probably well over all things chocolate, but these are different; trust me - I'm a food blogger.

After you have read about the cookies and if you have never been to Shez's neck of the woods, I urge you to check out some of her wonderful creations. Android Ice-cream Sandwiches, Dragon's Eggs... you can easily spend a lot of time on this blog. Enjoy your stay there, be sure to say G'Day, and I'll see you back here next time!

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Soft Pretzels With Sweet Mustard Dipping Sauce

We (The Bearded Gamer and I) recently bought our plane tickets for our trip to the States in September. We are going over to go to the wedding of some very good friends of ours in South Carolina. After that, we are going to explore the east coast for a bit and finish off in New York City. 

I am so excited.

I cannot even begin to explain my excitement and I have started making a list of all the places I want to visit when I am there. I am not sure how I am going to be able to wait until September.