Romance in the ordinary

You're a pink toothbrush, I'm a blue toothbrush, romance in the ordinary.



I've got a friend who likes to do things properly. The napkin on the left side of your plate, that sort of thing. In Italian it's called Galateo, in English etiquette.
She tells me that there are even rules as to how you put in toilet paper, and this made me remember how it felt to be six again. For then I would look at toilet paper and try and decide if I preferred it to look like a princess or a bride, I'm not joking, I gave it a lot of thought, not because of what should be proper but because of what looked nicer. In Britain the princess is the official correct way to hang toilet paper if you're interested.

Seeing romance in ordinary objects must be quite common though because there was a song about two toothbrushes falling in love when I was a little girl and so I wasn't alone with my princess toilet roll.

My toothbrush fancies your toothbrush

Princess or Bride?

Life is a Minestrone

Anyone who grew up in the seventies might recognize the title of my post. It was a song by a group called 10CC.

Regular readers of my blog will have often seen recipes for soups and know that  Minestrone is a big soup and that I like making soups.
It is a bit like life isn't it?  It's good to have the basic ingredients, and someone to share them with.

 

 Mid Winter Minestrone. Serves 2

2 carrots,
1 leek
1 red onion
half a pumpkin

Wash and peel and chop all the vegetables.
Place them in a large saucepan with some olive oil.
Cover the saucepan and cook over a low heat for about 20 minutes stirring every so often until soft. This makes sure the flavours develop.

At this stage add whatever seasonings you feel like, saffron, curry powder, paprika, salt and pepper. Some days you might like some ummph and on others just happy with a sprinkling of .salt and pepper. Maybe you could add a dash of the brandy that you bought to flame the Christmas pudding or some tabasco.

By trial and error you will make a minestrone that suits your taste and brings joy to those around you.

When you are happy with the flavour add some hot water and continue cooking over a low heat for another twenty minutes. If liked you can add a tin of beans or chick peas at this stage and a handful of pasta shapes.

Serve your minestrone with crusty bread and grated cheese and a swirl of olive oil.

Buon anno nuovo and Buon appetite.

Eating Lentils for Good Luck

How often do we eat things mainly because they are good for us?

 Many of us must have chomped our way through childhood trying to swallow green things because they clear the blood and scoffed porridge because it lines the stomach to keep out the cold, had an apple a day to keep the doctor away and limited our intake of chocolate and sweets

 There is so much information about what is good for us we just don't know what to believe. It is used to be easy, a little bit of everything, every meal should contain some protein, some carbohydrate a little fat, 2 portions of vegetables and some fruit.

After a conversation about how mushrooms are full of toxins, or flour is made with ash people usually shrug and say we should just eat a little of everything, not too much of anything and variety is the spice of life.

On the first day of the year in Italy the traditional menu makes you glad it only comes round once a year.
 It was a great surprise to me in the land of lasagne and spaghetti, but you see it is all about what is good for you and what will bring you luck.

You shouldn't eat chicken because they scratch in such a way that they disperse everything, instead pigs are favoured because they keep things close to them, and lentils, lots and lots of lentils.

Lentils in Italy on the first of January are eaten to bring good luck.

I was asked to take lentils to a New Year's day party.

So I bought a packet of lentils and soaked them overnight.

Next day finely chop a carrot and an onion and cook gently in a small amount of olive oil

Add the drained lentils and stir. Continue cooking over a low heat and then add a small glass of white wine, salt and pepper. Stir again and the add hot water and simmer gently for about 2 hours until they are nice and soft, adding more water if necessary.

My lentils were happily received at the party and used to accompany the cotechino which is a sort of pork sausage, and brings luck. It does not seem to be eaten at any other time of year.

I had made so many lentils that my hostess suggested that I pureed the rest to make a nice creamy soup, which I did, but it looked rather unappealing and so I added olive oil, black pepper and croutons.

Lentils are nutritious and full of iron and potassium and soluble fibre, but tomorrow I think I might make lasagne.

Start the new year with lentils

Lentils are traditionally in Italy to accompany cotechino, along with sauerkraut

Simmer gently for two hours

Remember to soak the lentils if necessary