Shooting in New Orleans, Strands of Pattern, Oranges, Snow.

Now we have a shooting at a Mother's Day Parade in New Orleans, when will the NRA and others wise up for goodness sake. Something needs to be done about the ease of obtaining guns, OK, it won't happen overnight, but once something begins, it will happen.

One of my newest blogging friends, Jeffrey Hargett sent me a copy of his book, Strands of Pattern, sadly this has not yet been published because I would love for the rest of you fantasy readers to be able to enjoy it too. I am no good with reviews, but I was delighted with the story and with the new form of magic which Jeff introduced, the subject is compelling and, last but not least, there are dragons. The story revolves around a particular religion where their Steward (virtually a god) has been imprisoned and the believers are trying to free him. This religion is full of unbelievable cruelty in the name of this Steward and if they do manage to free him, the world will suffer. All very exciting. Only problem is, as far as I know, Jeff hasn’t written the sequel
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Matt came up with something this weekend, he started thinking about orange juice, how much he drinks and then how much other people drink, etc. etc. and he cannot fathom where it is all coming from, must be gallons made into juice. OK there are orange groves in Florida, South Africa and Spain, but…. still a lot of juice consumed every year. Its kind of something we take for granted isn’t it? According to Wikipedia, 80% of the juice in the States comes from Florida which is second only to Brazil in world wide orange juice production. So what about California and other States which grow oranges? And where does Brazil’s juice go? I know that both Spain and Africa produce wonderful oranges, better than Florida oranges (sorry Florida) at least to eat, surely they too must produce juice? In the UK we used to get oranges from both those sources and when my parents live in Spain they had orange trees which produced the most wonderful fruit. Obviously more investigation is called for.

I hope all Mothers had a great Mother’s Day. It can’t have been much for the local mums weatherwise, it was cold and actually snowing for goodness sake. Not hard or for long, but it snowed two or three times and was blowing a gale as well. Certainly not a day for outside activities. Periodically the sun would come out again and brighten everything up then, boom, dark and snowy once again. Weird weather for May. Tim Barrie at the asparagus farm says Mother Nature is now off his Christmas list!

For those who particularly requested it, here is the recipe for Asparagus Soup which I got from Tim Barrie at the asparagus farm. It’s his mom’s recipe and I have been making it for years.


Barrie's Asparagus Soup
My Mom's Famous!!!

Makes 3 1/2 to 4 cups soup

1 lb asparagus chopped
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 cups chicken broth
2 Tbs butter or margarine
2 Tbs flour
1/2 tsp salt
dash pepper
1 cup milk
1/2 cup sour cream or yogurt
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
fresh chives for garnish

1. In a covered saucepan, boil the asparagus, onion and 1 cup of chicken broth. When the asparagus is tender and still bright green, blend to a purée (this purée can be frozen and used for future batches of soup.
2. In a large saucepan heat the butter and flour on medium to make a paste. Cook until golden. Stir occasionally as you add the 2nd cup chicken broth, making sure lumps don't form.
3. Stir in the salt, pepper, purée, milk. Bring to a boil.
4. Take soup off heat. Measure the yogurt or sour cream into a bowl and stir in spoonfuls of hot soup, little by little. Now, carefully stir this warmed yogurt or sour cream mixture back into the pan of soup.
5. Add a teaspoon of lemon juice, or to taste.
6. Serve in individual bowls, sprinkled with chopped chives.

Servings: 4

Author: Mrs. Barrie

Have a great day