Yay for wet weather!!

I love rainy weather, there's just something about it that makes me smile. I think Autumn is my favourite season. The trees look absolutely gorgeous with their myriad of colours, you get the occasional foggy morning, rain is something I rather like (although not so much when I have to go out in it all the time). Its the perfect excuse to stay in and knit, and have a big ol' pot of soup simmering away on the stove. Oh, how I love soup!!

Today was especially wet, with thunder and lightning thrown in for good measure. So I decided to have my favourite soup - one I grew up with. Many New Zealanders will be familiar with it, and here's my hashed-together recipe (eg: what I made today).

Throw a bunch of bacon bones into a pot with a cup of soup mix (you know the stuff - lentils, split peas, barley, alphabet noodles etc) and a whole heap of water and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 2 hours. Grate a stack of vegetables (today I used a carrot, a potato, a kumara, a small swede, a small chunk of crown pumpkin and a parsnip) and stir into the soup, adding more water if required). Simmer for another hour or so. If you're not a fan of picking bones out as you eat, fish out the bacon bones now and strip off the meat, returning it to the soup and discarding the bones. Taste, and if required season with a teaspoon of salt.

Really easy to make and oh so good!!! And there's always plenty of leftovers to either freeze for another day, or have for lunch/dinner tomorrow :-)

While the soup was simmering away, I finished Cecil(ia) for my niece:


Love it!! So cute :-)

Pressie will be sent on time! Hurrah! Now I can get back to work on my optional socks for SM5. Looks like there will be plenty of time before the Round 6 pattern is released - the illusion socks are creating havoc for a lot of the competitors. Not that I'm complaining...