Soup and sweets

[vaneramos]

With Sylvie and Sarah expected for dinner, I started scrubbing the bathroom this morning and quickly shifted into housecleaning overdrive. The living room, which mostly serves as dropping-off place when I'm here alone, still carried a full summer's detritus. This afternoon it all got sorted and put away or thrown out. I moved the couch, armchair and coffee table and vacuumed underneath, a job that only gets done twice a year (and that's a good year). After lunch, the kitchen received similar treatment. I hadn't planned to clean so thoroughly, but when the motivation comes you flow with it. I need to have the girls over more often.

I made Madeira leek and mushroom soup. Sylvie brought goodies from the bakery where she works, With the Grain. We had rosemary millet bread with the soup. For dessert we had three different squares, which we cut into pieces and shared. Sarah's favourite is the bee sting: honey and almonds cooked with cream, over a shortbread crust. Sylvie's favourite (and mine) is the hazelnut crumble: a brownie crust, with a layer of homemade raspberry jam and a crumble topping made with roasted hazelnuts. I'll be shopping at With the Grain more often.