Sweet Potato Soup Recipe

I bought a stick blender recently and it is quite simply brilliant. If you have kids that moan about 'lumpy bits' or homemade soup that 'isn't like the shop one' it's a must have.

As it's September I decided to make a soup for Saturday lunch and it's a nice quick one, sweet potato is such a soft root vegetable which makes it great for soup.

So I grabbed

• two onions
• 3 sweet potatoes
• 2 garlic cloves
• tablespoon oil
• vegetable stock cube

and I set to work, peeled and chopped the vegetables to about 2 cm cubes. Lightly fried the onion and garlic in the oil while I dissolved the stock cube in just over a pint of boiling water, and set the potato to simmer in a lidded saucepan.

After the onion was softened I added it to the saucepan and waited. 30 minutes was about long enough to ensure the sweet potato was soft enough to squash with a spoon, so I removed the pan from the heat and used the stick blender to blend down the vegetables into a super thick and tasty soup.

There was enough to serve 2 (or 3 not so hungry people) and served with thickly buttered crusty bread it was delicious. I love a simple soup.

First soup image with title Copyright: somegirl / 123RF Stock Photo all other photos my own

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A Day out on Brighton Pier

The last few days of my annual leave and we decided to visit Brighton Pier. It's only a half an hours drive away and we always sort of forget it's there!

We parked up near Kemptown where the all day charge is £5 (unlike on the seafront where it's £15) and walked down to the sea via flea markets and charity shops, browsing as we went. Lots of taxidermy but none created such a desire to own them as the moose head I'd seen in Lewes the day before (I now have a serious moose head obsession - I think the hallway needs a moose head)

 After a nice lunch in a Kemptown cafe/restaurant (lovely plaice and chips for me, disappointing burger for DD, cheese sandwich for DH ...maybe wine...yes yes there was wine!) we wandered down to the pier.

Don't Blink

 Brighton pier is free to walk on, and there are free deckchairs too. So on a warm or sunny  day (it wasn't cold but neither was it sunny on the day we visited) it's a great cheap way to 'people watch'. There are all the usual seaside fun things to do, buy food (whelks, cockles, prawns etc or donuts, waffles, frozen yoghurt with fruit, rock) or buy souvenirs (sunglasses, jewellery, temporary tattoos, cuddly toys) There are stalls to win things (tiny crap cuddly toys unless you win 1000 times!) by flinging balls at cans or shooting arrows from a bow, or even as easy as hooking a duck.

 There are amusements, all the usual fun of the fair, fortune telling machines, coin shove games, air hockey (including a new one that throws load of pucks onto the table at once! It looked awesome!), slot machines, shooting and driving games.

 There are places to have your picture taken peeping through comedy pictures, and then, finally, at the far end, the fun fair rides.

I can't praise Brighton Pier highly enough. The rides are great fun and a wrist band for UNLIMITED rides is only £15 - after 4 rides the rest are 'free' - The rides are priced by 'token' - a token is £1 and the number of tokens varies but to ride all of the adult thrill rides would cost £42 in tokens.

DD and I got wristbands and were suitably terrified on the Crazy Mouse (each corner looks like you will be flung into the sea), looped the loop on the Turbo Coaster, DD nearly wet herself in terror on the Horror Hotel, but no one would have noticed as we had wet backsides from the Wild River log flume! We rode the dodgems (ace driving by me obviously) and had several rides on the amazingly fun Galactica, we even had a ride on the golden horses of the Carousel.

We were really impressed with the rides and the price, lots more choice and cheaper than Butlins (our next closest 'theme park' style location. We are already planning a full day there to make use of the unlimited rides.

DD finished off the trip with a waffle.... on a stick.

The great British seaside day out wins!

Free ebooks, to your email? ooh!

Entering a competition to win a mini iPad I have discovered a rather fabulous website idea. If you use an e-reader you may find it useful. E-Book Soda lets you choose some book genre selections, and pick your ereader type and then finds the free and bargain ebooks that match your selection! Perfect for lazy bargain hunters everywhere.

The competition is here 

and the cunning website is here.

Magpie Monday

I'm writing this on a Friday due to being a tad busy of late - but I shall link it with MissieLizzie's Blog for Magpie Monday where it shall be admired!

On Monday I popped into town for something or other in my lunch hour. While there I wandered into a new Charity shop I have not seen or visited before and I wasn't hunting for anything (although my current charity shop hand bag had just come all unravelled and broken that very day)

So when fate tapped me on the shoulder and pointed out a fine brown handbag I stopped for a look.

I'm not a designer handbag kind of person. I don't think I have even spent more than £25 on a bag and that was probably a one off. If a bag is over £15 I deem it 'pricey'. But (as the art fans say) ' I know what I like' and I liked this, it was big but not too big, smart but not too smart, casual but not... well you get the picture.

It had lots of sections inside, zip up pockets and compartments, phone pockets. It was, in short, lovely.

It was also £7.50. in  Charity shop! I paused but still bought it, even the woman at the counter paused and said "£7.50 is that OK?" as though I may not have noticed, or, more likely, as if I looked like the sort of person that couldn't afford a £7.50 bag.

I have loved the bag since then. Today I read in the BBC News about a lady that stole designer handbags to sell on Ebay and for some reason I peeked at the label in my new bag and googled it.

My bag is a David Jones, RRP of about £50

I feel unexpectedly smug.

Where do you buy clothes?

I'm a frugal woman. (like the Peter Sellers' wife in the Pink Panther! though without the mink coat - a ref for film buffs there)

I shop in charity shops, on ebay, where ever I think I can get a  bargain really. And unless you are rolling in money you probably do too. I sometimes pop into M&S or Next but not often, Primark is more my style.

One of my loves is the website EVERYTHING FIVE POUNDS and the clue is in the name there! They do charge postage so it's not strictly £5, and unless you buy a few items that does bump up the cost but they have some great stuff. Just this last week I bought 3 new tunic tops to wear with leggings (for work) and they are the same as a top I previously bought in Top Shop for £19.99 and one I bought at Glastonbury (name drop) for £20. They arrived quickly and are great.

Something Borrowed and Something blue

Weddings (and Civil partnerships). They are imbued with superstition and tradition in a way few other celebrations are, and the biggest tradition of all seems to be that each new generation will pay more for their elaborate day than the next. I was prompted to write this following a news paper article (I use the term 'News Paper' loosely - it's the Daily Fail) in which a couple we poorly treated (by mistake) by a potential venue choice. 

The slight affront to the couple was upsetting, but as I joked on twitter – maybe the venue was right, after all – who sells their story to the Daily Mail! 

But it wasn’t the actual story that sparked my interest but the casual (bragging?) way the cost of everything was flung about. £1000 to let off their own firework display (a firework display!?) £240 per person (for what? Some food and a nice table? Maybe some music?) Over £10 000 spent on the reception. Never mind the cost of the rings, the dress, the bridesmaids’ dresses, the pageboys, the photographer, the bouquets and so on and so on 

I’ve heard people say they wouldn’t marry ‘because of the expense’ but getting married is cheap! And quick, and fairly fuss free, it’s the reception that costs the money, the cars, the suits, the hire of venues. I was married 20 years ago, we had a rather fabulous party afterwards in PizzaExpress. The staff were delightful, decorating the restaurant, sending us a card, and waiting on us hand and foot, everyone ordered from the usual menu, we ate, we drank champagne we had a great time. My grandmother made the cake and organised the flowers. When we settled the bill, it was less than £200, and even at today’s prices I bet it would be less that £30 a head including drinks.

Surely wedding receptions are just parties, you invite family and friends to have a nice time, to share your joy. I don’t know about your friends, but mine are not hanging round for the money and the free drink (just as well – they’d wait a long time) they are my friends, tea and cake in the back garden, drinks at a pub, a picnic in the woods, all would be fun with my friends. 

Now it’s true a wedding is a big event, and yes ideally it should only happen once in your life (stop laughing cynically at the back! If you assume it will happen multiple times it makes all this fuss far far worse!) But getting married should be about a lifetime, not a day. You will remain married for years and years. Waking on the first day of your married life to a heap of expensive presents might be nice, but a debt? Or the debt of your parents? Or the knowledge that you could have paid off a chunk of mortgage but can now barely afford a holiday next year, or at all…. 

Who are you getting married for? Why are you getting married? I suggest that if you are having a big party for ‘family’ or ‘your mum’ then it’s a mistake. If you are getting married because ‘you want to wear a wedding dress’ or ‘you want a big party’ then it’s a mistake. A marriage is a public declaration of love and commitment, and a legal document to confer some rights, people should marry because they want to marry. I read somewhere once that ‘the length of the marriage is inversely proportional to the amount of money spent on the wedding” I have no idea if that’s true, I doubt it is really but it sounds like the sort of superstition or tradition we should consider adopting.

Magpie Monday - the overload edition

My parents are staying for the Bank Holiday weekend and as my mum taught me all I know about charity shop shopping and bargain hunting it was inevitable that we would spend a morning trawling local charity shops.

Despite only a two hour reconnaissance we have an impressive haul! I told her that her bargains should be included on the blog too. so first up are my mum's goodies.

 She bought two pairs of shoes (she's loving wedge heels now they are back 'in' - I'm jealous I can't wear heels due to my CMT)

 She bought a cat print fun fur jacket as she's envious of mine ;-)

 She also bought this lovely embroidered and beaded bag, originally from Accesorize, which I spotted and she nabbed while I was deciding if I needed another handbag!

 A skirt and top, the skirt is linen and the top is a Jaeger one

Two very pretty bowls, the china one to be a soap dish (it is just the right size) , it's very delicate and cute, the glass one she has no idea what to use for but in true Magpie style, she bought it because she liked it!

And then the goodies I bought (which actually are not as awesome)

 

First I was attracted the suave good looks and roguish moustache of Ian Stewart , unable to resist his 50's charms I bought him to play on my retro portable record player.

 I bought a teacup and saucer for Mr Tattooed Mummy with the witty slogan, "I don't go to the Gym - I garden" which is very appropriate.

I bought a small bag for myself featuring My Little Pony - it's quirky and odd and is a source of embarrassment to DD so my work as a parent is going well.

 

 I found the perfect match for a previously found and adored pyrex bowl (see here) so was very happy with that.

I bought two annuals for DD at 50p each (cheaper than a comic!) and she was thrilled.

And I scored a copy of the SIMs (deluxe edition) for PC which I haven't tried but have always wanted to - for £1

So all in all a fine haul. How did you fare? was there a drought? or a flood of great bargains in your life this week?

Posted as part of Magpie Monday over at

Magpie Monday and the further adventures of Mr Tattooed Mummy

So, last week I blogged this, as a link up to Magpie Monday. (If you didn't see it - pop over to have a read - the rest of this is only amazing if you know the back story)

And some bright spark told Mr TM 'he needed one for coffee'. Now we don't drink instant coffee, we have the real deal and it lives in the fridge in an airtight container, so I thought no more about this silly idea.....but Mr TM did not forget.

On Thursday we went to Chicester to row on the canal

(which is lovely and well worth a visit) and after an hour of lovely rowing (in a boat, with oars - not arguing!) , watching ducks, herons and water rodents we had a picnic and then strolled into the town. Unable to resist the lureof a charity shop (Chichester has many) we wandered into a few and Mr TM had (unknown to DD and I) his eyes peeled.......

So! after a trip to the Scope shop, and for the grand total of £4 we are now the proud owners of..............drum roll.............. three matching lidded jars!

but that ladies and gentlemen is only the beginning, for this jar was part of a set......

Including an actual sugar bowl

a small shallow unlidded bowl of no clear purpose (currently holding our dishcloth)

and last but not least two matching mugs!

So that's it! he wins again! I may as well give up! and he's forbidden to buy any more of these jars EVEN if he does see another one! Where are they from? who made them? are they local? we don't know! There is no makers mark! any ideas welcomed.

Posted for