On the Joys of Soup

Dear Visitor(s),

On a dreary winter like the few days past in the Land of Roos where the weather is sunny one hour and then wild and stormy and cold the next, one must be grateful for the thing called good health. I was unfortunate enough to be struck down with influenza and had to stay in bed and stick to a diet of bread, water, medicine, cough lollies and also the comfort food called soup. I made up a basic recipe involving a few vegetables from the fridge.

Ingredients

1 stock cube of choice (for this one, I used chicken)
1 stick of carrot, grated
Cayenne Pepper, to taste
2 shakes of Chili Flakes
1 Celery stick, washed and chopped
1/2 an onion, diced small
1 small garlic clove, crushed
A Tomato, quartered
A small potato, quartered
A handful of spaghetti, broken in equal parts by hand
Mushrooms, with stalks sliced and the rest diced
A Handful of chicken meat (from the backside of the bird), shredded by hand
1/2 a teaspoon of Tamarind paste

First, boil a cup of water, then add the stock cube and add everything gradually except for the spaghetti, which is added next to last so it becomes al dente, lastly, add the cayenne pepper and then it's all done. Enjoy it with the comfort of a hearth and your pet or sibling beside you.

Good health and good luck,
Dandy Girl

Winter Music in the Café

Dear Visitor(s),

With the onset of winter, it is good to do following: to rug up, lower gas bills whilst we are all at it, going back to more heartier food such as soups, stews and roasts, drinks such as the all-important tea and the addition of hot chocolate and of course: music. Music has been listed as the most important addition to one's life, whether it is provided by CD, radio, gramophone or the technologically advanced MP3 player which appears in many forms in this day and age. The music in question is The Dresden Dolls and their new album, No, Virginia... Which characterizes the winter over here perfectly: slow, slightly undecided, merry, saddening, rainy or lightly summery due to the bi-polar behavior of Mother Nature with bouts of randomness in between. This my first exposure with The Dresden Dolls in terms of how my collection goes, but in terms of instruments, loudness and chaos is good in small amounts.

Many happy café gatherings,
Dandy Girl