A Cold Day In January.

 A busy morning set for this Saturday.

Of all the Saturdays to have to go to Höll! Honestly, it was minus 8 degrees this morning and even stepping outside with Maxi was an effort. He thought so too because as soon as his business was accomplished, the brakes came on and reverse gear engaged.

The coffee tasted that much better because of this cold but the thought of getting ready early was slightly daunting. But we did get going by eight o'clock. All the old wires that Bob took out of the vineyard had to be thrown away. Everything has to be orderly done and that meant a trip to Höll. Luckily it was their first Saturday of the month and we could throw out these wheels of old wires free of charge.

My fingers were frozen and burning at the same time. Awful feeling but thankfully it didn't last long. Driving to Höll brought back many memories. Gosh when we first came here, we drove their once a month for two years straight. Always disposing all the building rubble, general rubbish and odd things one can't throw out with the ordinary. The previous owner's old stuff was most of it. But that is how it goes when one moves into a house. Nothing wrong with that. Par for the course.

On the way back from Höll we drove to the Lagerhaus in order to purchase a second pallet of pellets. We had the trailer and needed pellets. Our second pallet for the winter season and hopefully our last. All in all it took us two hours to get everything done this morning. Once we were done, the temperature climbed a little bit towards a warm minus 2 and we could revert to our weekend routine.

Saturdays and Sundays have created their own routine with us. We love watching the sport of the season, be it skiing in winter or Formula 1 in summer. Life needs routine and structure to give us the safety harness needed for unwelcome and turbulent times. Routine lets us find that first step, you know the step that is synonymous with mastering any situation, good or bad. And it is great to have something to look forward too every day.

Biggi

The Humble Yet Yummy Potato.

Versatile and inexpensive.

Who doesn't also have potatoes in their larder and not an idea how to use them? Often it is too tempting to buy the 5 kg bag of tats as it is much cheaper than the 2 kg one yet, is it really a good deal? Most of the time there are at least a handful of potatoes in my vegetable basket whiling their fate away. Be it the heat of a pot or the shrivelling of the skin.

So, today was the perfect day to make amends. It was bitterly cold this morning and while I did a round of deliveries, Bob decided to work in the vineyard. Yikes, it was cold but he loves working among vines and who am I to say no to a guaranteed supply of vino?

After my deliveries I headed to the vineyard to pick him up and all the while I thought of lunches to make in order to warm him up. A soup had to be it but I didn't have the usual soup suspects in the larder. But, suddenly it hit me, there were oodles of odd potatoes lounging about and they would be perfect for a soup.

And indeed they were. I chopped up an onion, a glove of garlic, four of the potatoes, a lone carrot and a cup full of recently cooked chickpeas along with half of their cooking water. Mum told me that this chickpea stock has a lot of protein in it. Well, I tried it and the whole ensemble was delicious. Bob loved it. To season I added salt, pepper and chilly and to stretch it a glass of soy milk. The soup was absolutely divine. Smooth and morish.

There are so many ways of cooking on the cheap. So many ways of saving the food from being thrown away unused and so many ways to eat vegan. A potato soup doesn't sound like much but actually it is. There is just something special about potatoes and their creamy taste and texture and the way it makes us forget our woes for a few moments. Why else is half the world addicted to chips and french fries?

Biggi