Rainy Days and Sundays.
Good afternoon from a wet and windy County Kerry. Before you say it, I know the title of the song was Rainy days and Mondays, but i’m using artistic licence here!
So, as I was saying it is wet and windy.Yesterday I took the dogs to the Copper Mines at Ross Castle, this is a favourite walk of ours. If you are visiting Killarney it really is worth a visit, very pretty indeed!
Look at that for a moody sky.
We got home before the rain started, but once it did there was no let up. I happen to really enjoy days like this, you might as well try and make the best of them because we get a lot of them!
I spent some time knitting more of the jumper and decided to make soup. Since there was a butternut squash waiting to be used the choice was obvious. I first had this soup when Tim’s brother made it, I can’t remember where he got the recipe but if you like spicy give this a try.
Butternut and Chilli Soup
You need:
A butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and chopped.
Garlic, chilli, ginger and onion – all chopped.
100g red split lentils.
800ml of vegetable stock.
1 can of coconut milk.
Method:
Pre-heat your oven to 200°.
Put the chopped squash into a roasting tin with a little olive oil and a handful of crushed chili flakes. Put them in the oven for about 20 minutes until soft. The time will obviously vary depending on how small you chopped them.
Saute the onion, garlic, ginger and chili in a little olive oil in a large pot. Its really up to you how much chili you use, I used one large red chili and left the seeds in.
When the onions are soft (but not browned) add the vegetable stock and lentils.
Bring it to the boil and then simmer gently for 10 minutes.
When the squash is roasted add it to the soup with the coconut milk. Simmer gently for a further 15 minutes, whizz it up and there you have it!
Delicious, heart warming soup that make rainy, windy days worthwhile.
So, now its Sunday. I spent the morning at a yoga class. That sounds very virtuous doesn’t it? Well, since it was the first yoga class I’ve been to I can hardly claim I do it all the time! It was actually really enjoyable but surprisingly hard. They all made it look so easy and graceful, and i’m like, how do you stand like that without falling over?’
I’ve always shied away from yoga because I like energetic activities like kick boxing and rock climbing. Well, let me tell you ,it may look gentle but my abs hurt and I feel amazingly stretched. I will be going back for sure.
I apologise for all those times I thought yoga wasn’t really exercise ! The class was run by Elaine from Nave Yoga and held at Heathers in the Gap of Dunloe. We had a great class and then brunch in the restaurant, all in all another excellent way to spend a rainy day!
Felicia xx
