Today ended up being very grey. The clouds are thick and low and is the heavy sort of overcast day that feels perpetually like the sun is about to rise or set, but never does. I went to dance class this morning. Fun, very small amont of material done in depth.
The apartment is becoming my den of tea, soup and naps. I have had a lingering sickness since Budapest and it has turned into a nasty sinus infection on one side. So, I have been doing as any good sister of an herbalist/daughter of a loving hippie mom does and making tea and soup for myself.
I have acquired an impressive assortment fo teas over the past two weeks. I have the usual anti-bacterial/anti-viral/ anti-sick things such as lavendar, thyme, nettles, dandelion, etc. and have added some fenugreek seeds to my current tea mix because I thought a bitter sounded good and it is VERY bitter. I picked up some fabulous Earl Green tea in Berlin which i drink endlessly these days. In Rohrau Germany (which is actually where Tom and Antje live, very near Stuttgart) I got some amazing Rooibos (red) teas. One has bourbon-vanilla, one has pineapple, jasmine and some kind of pollen (blutenpollen), one has rosehips and an array of other lovlies. They are beautifully flavored, not offensively like lots of teas that contain whimisical ingridients like bourbon-vanilla, ananas, and the like. So my cups of tea parade before me throughout the day.
Today I had a nice two-hour nap after reading and writing a bunch. I woke up feeling disoriented and a bit out of my body, which tends to happen to me when I nap…which is why I usually don’t nap. But I think it was good. I am still attempting to recover my wits. maybe it’s godd to be witless sometimes though.
In addition to the soup I made last night, I shall be making endless pots of soup while I am in Amsterdam. There is no oven, only a gas stove and what better thing to do at the end of winter, with a head cold and lots of time, than to make lots of soup? I think that this is going to become a website of soup recipies soon because I love to write about the food I make and eat. Right now i am deciding what kind to make tonight…Healing Garlic Soup, Kabocha Squash and Chestnut soup with Chipotle Creme Fraiche, Sweet potato Soup with Buttered Pecans, Butternut Soup with Cumin, or Roasted Yellow Pepper Soup with Serrano Cream. Tough choices. I also found a recipie that I want to make but will wait until there’s cheap watermelon, which might not be until the states. It is called Thai-spiced Watermelon Soup with Crabmeat. It sounds so good i may just have to procure some watermelon soon anyway that I can.