Despite all good intentions to get myself organised over the weekend it's always a bit of a rush come Monday morning and I find myself without a fully prepared post for this morning. Here's one of a selection I have to share this week. I love how the light silhouettes and emboldens the hazel leaves.
Take care,
Sophie

Thank goodness it's Friday,
These pictures from a few weeks back feel like a lifetime ago. Haven't things changed quickly? Most of the leaves have fallen now and the landscape looks quite different.














I hope your weekend has a festive feel.
Take care,
Sophie

Haven't we had some cold mornings lately?! The garden looks an absolute picture in the frost so one morning I nipped out once light enough to snap a few shots. The winder landscape looked more impressive but I neglected to take my camera so it will have to stay locked away in my mind's eye.













Take care and stay warm,
Sophie

The opportunities have arisen recently to get posts completed and scheduled which has filled me with such pleasure. It's rare to get things finished ahead of time, but I love to see lots of good work all packaged up and neat, ready to go. Those dark evenings do have a few benefits.
It's a misfire of a shot, which for no good reason looks misty but I happen to think it adds a certain atmosphere.
Those coppery ferns look so soft and comfortable. Perfect for a nap maybe?
This skirt has an odd mix of red and blue. I found it does look predominantly red unless the blue is emphasised so this jumper did a decent job of evening up the appearance.
Even for an avoider of all social activities, December is a busy month for me. It's all a whirl of festive food, festivities, cards and present wrapping. There has to be as much joy milked out of Christmas as possible (this year especially). No carol left unsung and no occasion not hammed up to the max with a Christmas jumper.
Take care,
Sophie

Making soup is a regular ritual for me. Whenever we have a chicken I ensure that it gets popped in the big pan and boiled up to make stock which is then portioned up and frozen, ready to be used for my next mega batch of soup. It's always preferable to use whatever is in season and needs using up before it spoils.
Over the summer it's usually courgette which needs using up but this year we easily kept pace and didn't have a glut at all that I can remember.
I ditched the pumpkins of yesteryears which are difficult to cut, peel and use all in one go and instead I grew two types of butternut squash and uchiki kuri (red kuri). These are brilliant for using in soup from the day they ripen on the plant all the way through winter as they will happily store for months. The flavour of these squashes is far superior to pumpkin and they are much easier to handle although I would mention that holding the peeled flesh dries out my skin and I look particularly crusty of hand the following day.

• One large or several small chopped onions - sweat in generous blob of butter until soft
• Add a teaspoon each of curry powder and (smoked) paprika , stir and let the aroma develop for a minute or so
• Dice into approx 1cm cubes 3 or 4 small aubergine and about half a small butternut squash and pop these into the pan, stir
• Add in a can of chopped tomatoes and top it up with stock of choice, I use my homemade chicken for extra flavour. Season with salt and pepper, stir, bring to the boil then simmer for around 25 minutes
• Ensure it's all soft, take off the heat and blend when a little cooler. 

The celeriac we grew are very small this year. They are such a slow growing vegetable that if the conditions aren't right, or they have a late start you will never end up with a good crop. The little veg scrub up alright so I teamed them with some ugly parsnips to make a creamy white soup. Again, start with onions. This time add a few cloves of garlic once the onions are soft. Add sliced or cubed veg and top up with stock but if in doubt add too much liquid as the celeriac and parsnip thicken things alarmingly. Blend!
I did want a good broccoli soup recipe and the one I found from a well known chef was essentially just broccoli, stock and a drop of cream which I thought was a woeful effort. I at least added onions but mine was uninspiring.

Take care,
Sophie

And we're into December quicker than you can say 'mince pies'. We have our real Christmas tree up and have agreed it could be our finest yet.
The golden leaves will all soon be just a memory to look back on but for the time being I'll revel in their colour.




Secret paths lead off through the thick forest growth. In fact our chosen path seemed to half in width at every fork and became a cycling dirt route just before emerging on to another main track. I fervently hoped a speeding mountain bike wasn't about to hurtle along as I would have to flatten myself against unforgiving saplings or risk being mown down. Thankfully no such encounter presented itself and we stuck to the wide walkways from then on.

Giant leaves still holding on. These were  beautiful.




Uprooted!
Gold leaf, painted here and there.

Take care,
Sophie