Peyrou this morning, plus some exercises in the apartment. Then we went to the Arceaux market for a number of items. Before we left for Italy, I found a recipe for Butternut Apple Harvest Soup, one for tomato soup, and one for potato leek soup. Using the recipes, I made an extensive list of items to purchase, including squash, a Granny Smith apple, potatoes, onions, leeks, nutmeg and a few other things. On our way back we stopped at the bakery and got a whole grain baguette.
When Roger left for chess, I started making the butternut squash soup. The recipe suggested that the prep time should be about 30 minutes, but I have food processor or other chopper, so I had to peel and hand-chop all the veggies, including half a butternut squash, a potato, four carrots, two leeks, an onion and an apple. This task alone took me more than half an hour, and with the rest of the preparation it took an hour to make the soup. While the soup simmered, I read. When it was through, I left to walk for about 30 minutes, looking for 20,000 steps. I didn’t find them, but I got close - I ended the day with almost 18,000 steps. The soup was EXCELLENT - a full-bodied soup with a wonderful golden color and a delightful texture. I will definitely make this again, using the other half of the squash.
When we moved into this apartment, there was a plant on the front balcony (such as it is) which I identified as an ivy. It looked pretty sick - no one had been watering it and it was on the verge of literally drying up and blowing away. I watered it the first day and moved it from the front to the back of the apartment so that it is now outside our bedroom window. I didn’t think a plant which looked that shabby deserved front room treatment. I saw to watering it and caring for it and it came back to life. Indeed, it has been looking quite healthy. The other day I noticed that it had three small pink buds on it, and they have since opened. I showed Roger, and remarked that I didn’t know ivy bloomed! I did some research which indicates that mature, woody ivy will bear both flowers and berries, but this is definitely not mature growth. After pondering it for a couple of days, we have decided that it is not an ivy but an ivy-leaf geranium. This makes much more sense, although I can’t say that the flowers look particularly geranium-like. I think they are only three bloom of what should be a full geranium flower head. They are pretty nevertheless.
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