Love Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Hi de hi, howzit going. Tis a warm and sunny day up here in my little corner of North Lincolnshire. Yesterday was a dry day so I took a trip to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, not far from Wakefield. It's easy to find, just off the M1 motorway at junction 38. I was last there a while ago but thought it worth another visit. Although it is free to enter the grounds and buildings, there is a car park charge. I was intending to pay this but when I saw how much it was, I changed my mind, and instead drove half a mile to a village, parked there and walked back. To park costs �2.50 for one hour, �5 for two hours, and �8 for all day. Why the big jump I thought, it's a very big park, too big to walk around and see everything in two hours. Three or four hours would be about right, and as I calculated I would be there for three hours I decided that the �8 was too much. 

Some of the outdoor sculptures have been there for a long time, so I was looking for those I hadn't seen before. Here is a spectacular piece by the artist Ursula Von Rydingsvard, called Bronze Bowl with Lace. As the winter daylight ends, the sculpture is illuminated from within giving it an ember like glow. 

There are several sculptures dotted around, some outside and some in the underground gallery. 

This owl is by Thomas Houseago. Click to see some of his other works.

This sculpture stands in the corner of a garden, and it's by Marc Quinn. Click on his name for more of his art work.

This six metre high iron tree is amazing. It stands in the Chapel courtyard, and is by artist Ai Weiwei. If you scroll down and enlarge the photo, you should be able to read about the tree and it's maker. Here is a little bit more about Ai Weiwei, taken from the Sculpture Park web site. 

I finished off with a walk around the lake. It was a smashing day out, and in the end it cost nothing apart from the petrol to get there and back.

Enjoy your weekend. Toodle pip.

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The best green soup ever

Hello. I wanted something quick and easy to make tonight. I've been out for most of the day at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, and didn't want to be slaving over a hot stove when I came in. As usual I popped into the big Tesco on my way in, to fill up with fuel and to see if there was any yellow stickers. I found a huge bag of spinach down from �1.60 to 78p. Fantastic, all those greens will be good for me, and it is quick to cook.  

For tonight's soup, the last one of the week, I used chick peas and spinach. The chick peas I get from Home Bargains at 29p a tin. Into the pan went half a tin, with a veg stock cube and a shake of mixed spices. Then I stuffed a load of leaves on top, and mixed it together, It takes about 30 seconds of heat for the spinach to shrivel. 

Then I stuffed some more leaves on top. When it was ready for zapping with the blender, I added the magic ingredient, a teaspoon of pesto houmous, with a 15p yellow sticker of course.

And here we have green soup, with a blob of plain yogurt. Bingo, I've hit the jackpot here, the best soup of the week. It was fandabidozi delishus. I will be definitely making this again.

I will post the pictures of the Sculpture Park tomorrow, it's too late to do it now. If you want to see them pop back sometime over the weekend if you have got a minute. The fireworks are going off around me as I type, and I expect many more in the next few days. Be careful if you are having a  party, and don't forget to search the bonfire for sleeping hedgehogs before you light it. Have a nice weekend.
Toodle pip

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All you need is soup

Well here we go again, more soup, I bet you are getting sick of it. Never mind, only one more to go. Tonight I have chucked in a few vegetables. One medium size onion. A few sprouts. One and a half parsnips. The last few florets of the fancy cauliflower. And a few spinach leaves, not shown on the photo because I put them in at the end. Then I added a shake of black pepper, a shake of garlic powder, a shake of mixed spices, some Rustic Ratatouille mix, and a squirt of tomato ketchup. 

Again I zapped it with the blender and added some plain yogurt. I could have eaten it as a stew as it looked rather nice. I didn't take a photo, the finished soup was the same colour as last nights. Taste wise it was quite nice, perhaps a bit too much tomato sauce, but you know me, nothing gets thrown away here, everything is eaten.

Another little experiment with the blender. I've had these pineapple pieces in the cupboard for a while, bought them when they didn't have any peaches. Since then I have bought peaches and the pineapple has sort of been ignored, until today, so, I've whipped them up to make a fruit juice drink. Diluted with water to double the volume, and at 35p it's cheaper than buying a carton of juice.

Here is a little teaser, a snapshot of a small section of the new picture. I'm just in the process of sewing the leaves on. I want to get it ready for two weeks time.

Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip

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Spice up your soup

Hello, how are you getting on with your home made soup, I see some of you have been squishing your ingredients to a pulp. More power to your elbow, keep on squishing.

Barbara asks where do I buy my spices, thank you for the question. My spice cupboard is very sparse, I chucked a lot out a couple of years ago. They had been shoved to the back and were never used, so I thought, why am I keeping them. Everything I have is here. I very rarely buy spices now, don't want to go back to the situation I was in before with far too many. The ones I use most are the curry powder, turmeric, and garlic powder. I buy big bags so they last ages, and I know I am going to use it up. The last time I bought garlic powder they only had smaller packets, now I need to go back and get some more. I get them from the Asian shop in town. I don't decant them into containers, I fold the top down and secure with a clothes peg. No need to buy those fancy plastic clips. 

I have three little jars, and I've just noticed I have two black peppers. Someone gave me the Saxa pot. 

I buy a few packet sauce mixes from the Cash and Carry, they also have a market stall. They are 20p each. I ignore the fact that some of them are supposed to be used for meat dishes, I buy them because they are cheap. I never use a whole packet for one meal, I just add a teaspoonful, or shake a bit out of whichever one I fancy at the time.  

I also get these from the Cash and Carry. The Bisto is out of date by one year, and the stock cubes were out of date in February last year. Both were 50p each.

And there you have it.I know very little about spices, I use them sparingly, a lot of my food has no spices at all. I like to taste the vegetables. 

So, what is the soup for today then. I ate a portion of yesterdays soup for my lunch, and this afternoon I made some sprout and parsnip soup. I used a small pan because I only wanted to make one portion, and I boiled the veg instead of steaming it. Chop the sprouts in half and slice the parsnips. I added a little bit of the chicken tikka masala mix, a shake of pepper, and a shake of the Mexican taco spice mix. That was all that was needed. Boiled it for about eight minutes. 

It was a sort of light beige colour, not as dark as this picture, it doesn't look very appetizing here. I stirred in two spoons of plain yogurt, and it was amazingly yummy. It tasted of parsnips with a spicy flavour, not too hot, just right. One to make again, I think.

I'll have a look and see what I've got for tomorrows soup. Another home made experiment. Could be interesting. Thanks for visiting, and welcome to the new readers. Toodle pip

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Soup what's good for you

Hello my little bloggerettes, have you had a souper day? Thank you for your recipes, lots of ideas coming into the comments section. Here is my second contribution to the soup recipe list. I have had this packet of soup and broth mix hanging around in my cupboard for a long time. I didn't buy it, someone gave it to me, because they thought they would never get round to using it. It's been in my cupboard for over a year, and it was out of date when it was given to me. It's about time I used it, after all it's only two years out of date, ha ha. Yep, November 2012. To buy it now it would cost �1.15

I followed the instructions on the packet, soak overnight, drain and rinse. Add it to a pan of boiling water, I used half the packet, and boil for 10 minutes, then simmer for 35 minutes. While all this was going on I prepared two large potatoes and one onion, and added them to the pan. Also one teaspoon of curry powder and a teaspoon of turmeric, and a shake of black pepper. The smell of curry filled the kitchen.

Here it is nicely stewed, I could have eaten it like this. I then turned the gas off and let it cool down. I went out for the afternoon, and when I came back I transferred it to not a none stick pan, and zapped it with the stick blender. There was a lot of it, I had to use a big pan.

I decanted some into a bowl and microwaved it for my dinner. I wasn't too impressed with the bland taste, it was missing something, so I added some grated cheese and garlic powder. Stirred it in and microwaved again. That was much better. Very tasty. After I had eaten it I then added some garlic powder to what was left in the pan, also two teaspoons of veg gravy granules. I gave it a stir and refilled the bowl for tomorrows lunch, and filled three margarine tubs for the freezer. So, five large portions of soup for less than �1.
 

This afternoon I went to help Helen at the rental house. She had described the state of it to me, and I saw the photo's, but the full extent of the horror of it became apparent when she took the carpets up. It looked like the tenants had been walking around the house in filthy dirty work boots, but worse was the smell of cat pee. They had had four cats in there and let them pee wherever they liked, don't think they have heard of litter boxes. The smell was horrendous, there was rat and mice droppings, it looks like they had kept birds as well, bird seed and droppings in the garage and shed. How can people live like that. Oh the joys of being a landlord. The tenants were evicted because it stated clearly in the agreement that no pets were allowed. The gardens are not too bad, I did the front one this afternoon. Will go back next week and tidy the back one. 

On the way home I called in at the smaller Asda in town. We have a big one out of town but I never go there, it's too far out. I'm glad I stopped to have a look. Two 500grm bags of brussel sprouts 33p each. A bag of parsnips 22p. Tub of potato salad 18p. And I bought a small carton of milk, mainly for the cats but I might use a drop myself. �1.55 spent.  

I think I have an idea for tomorrows soup, erm....Sprout and parsnip, ha ha.
That's me done for tonight. I have got a lovely clean bedroom with clean bedding to get into, heaven. I love my bed. Sleep tight.
Toodle pip.

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Soup of the day

Hello. I've never really liked tinned soup. Occasionally I've had tomato or mushroom, as a quick snack, but not been overly keen on it. There are so many different kinds now, but somehow I can't bring myself to try any. There are too many ingredients listed on the label, it puts me off buying it. I imagine huge vats of gunge bubbling away in the factory, yuk, I don't fancy that at all. 

I've checked out the price of tinned soup, Baxters is �1.15 and �1.49. Campbells is �1. Heinz is 74p and 89p. Tesco is 49p and 89p. Tesco Value is 25p. 

So this week I'm having a home made soup extravaganza. A different one every day. There won't be any spending on ingredients, it will be all about using what I already have. I am sure you could make soup out of almost anything, all you need is a stick blender, and a bit of imagination.

Today's soup is potato and runner bean, home grown from the garden. Into the steamer goes two potatoes, and a portion of frozen beans. Steam for seven minutes, then transfer it to a smaller non stick pan, with the water. 

Next I added a shake of pepper, a shake of garlic powder, and a level teaspoon of whole grain mustard. Zap it all together, and return to the heat for a couple of minutes. Served with a slice of wholemeal bread. Very comforting on a blustery day, and tasty too, at very little cost. Please excuse poor photo's, flash needed now we don't have many daylight hours. The soup was a pale green colour, eaten straight out of the pan I may add, to save on washing up. More soup tomorrow.

Heidi has found a new favourite place, on top of the fridge freezer. She can view the whole kitchen from this vantage point, and can be ready to receive any tasty morsel that might be offered. I've brought the money plants inside now, I have three of these, still haven't found a place for the other two.

Mayze has decided she quite likes to sleep in my box of crafting bits and bobs, now I have stolen all the fabric that was lying around on the table. The cats were inside by 5.30pm tonight, I try and get them in as soon as it gets dark.

While I think of it, Beverley, please go back to your comment yesterday, someone has asked about your recipe for apple sauce. Feel free to explain what it is in another comment.

I'm a bit busy this week, things to do. Going to help Helen tidy the garden at one of her rental houses. Apparently the previous tenants have moved and left the house and garden in a terrible state. Lots of work to do. Also helping a friend with a couple of dog walks, and trying to get the picture finished. I like being busy.

Feel free to add your favourite soup recipes, let's make it a souper dooper soup week.
Toodle pip.

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Nice and easy Sunday

Hello. Now what shall I write about tonight. No, that isn't a question for you, it's a question for me. I do not expect you to come up with ideas for a blog post, though if you do decide to ask me a question, I can usually cobble together an answer. You want to know how my day has been? Well, a bit uneventful. A mug of coffee got me going at 7am, nice that it's a bit lighter in the mornings now. The third tree was on my mind, the yellow one. I did some pink stitching on it last night, but wasn't happy, the colour wasn't right. So I unpicked it, and chose orange. Much better, orange stitching on a yellow tree, that will be fine. I got it finished, cross stitch, then had a bowl of bran flakes.

I did think about doing a load of washing but couldn't be bothered, There wasn't a full load in the basket so I decided to put it off until a bit more was added to it. The mess on the table was getting on my nerves, all the materials I had gathered together for the weaving were now a big tangled mess due to two cats using it as a bed. So I sorted it out to make some space to work on. Some of the fabric got binned, it frayed easy and was just too messy.

My elevenses was a banana sandwich, and my lunch was some of the tortelloni with spinach. This afternoon I did a bit in the garden. All the bean canes are now sorted, grouped together in size, tied up in bundles, and stored in the garage. I had a big hole in the middle of the raised beds, where an apple tree used to stand. It finally keeled over a few months ago, with a bit of pushing and shoving, and the hole needed filling in and the ground flattening. There was no apple tree root because it had rotted away, but there was a rose bush root which was next to it. A bit of sweating and cursing as I attacked it with a fork, and finally it came out. I put the contents of the compost heap in the hole and covered it up with soil. All riveting stuff, eh!

A bit more on the picture this afternoon, I can see the end in sight, but not yet. Just as I think it is not far off ready, I come up with another idea. You can't rush these things. You know I said I have been given another chrome towel rail exactly the same, well it isn't exactly the same, it is bigger. So, I have the choice of making another picture with it, or another idea is that I can place the smaller one, the picture, on top of the new one, and fasten the two together to make a frame. I wasn't going to give it a frame because I didn't think it needs one, but looking at them together, I think it looks pretty cool. I will give it some more consideration. You never know, I might come up with a better idea.

Dinner was steamed potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, and sweetcorn. I made a drop of gravy in a mug in the microwave to go with it. Very nice.

Well blow me down, the bulb has just gone in my desk lamp, I think I've got a spare somewhere. Nope the spares don't work either, think it needs further investigation, maybe it's the switch or the fuse in the plug. I'll check it out later, meanwhile I'll finish this with the ceiling light switched on. I have another desk lamp upstairs if I can't get this one to work.

Oh gawd, here's Heidi back again, she will insist on lying on the table in front of me. I might as well give up.

I will sign off now as I've got the bath water running. It's a bit slow at filling up but I think it's almost ready. A nice long soak awaits me, bliss.
Toodle pip

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