I hate sitting at home not doing very much. This weekend I felt exhausted following travel from Goa so Harry and I did loads of sleeping and watched two films:

• The Tourist and
  
• Inglorious Basterds

Both great films. We also rewatched Chris Rock's Never Scared Tour; very funny.

Anyhow, this morning I woke up wanting more relaxation so we woke up to some mindless TV (Frasier) then I suggested a country drive to East Grinstead.

We discovered the area by accident last summer and found a lovely cafe there called Sparrow's Nest where we read and ate for 3 hours Today.

The Kiwi loaf cake and ginger loaf are both to die for. The butternut squash and apple soup seemed a bit thin at first bit it was bursting with flavor so I got used to the thinness.

We'll be back.

India was great fun! I thought this would mostly be a text-based blog post but I discovered the YouTube Capture app on day 1 of the holiday which made it easy for me to create and upload vids from my phone...so I made videos.

Click for the YouTube playslist of the journey through Goa or just watch each video below.

My gifts plus what I said the first time Harry said those three words.

We randomly found a driver called Babu. He took us to some old churches, Spice Farm and a temple. The highlight was seeing Modern Tarzan climb up a tree then shoot down really fast. It was amazing but out of 15 people only Harry and I thought he deserved a tip!

All I had in the fridge were some limp carrots and wilting parsely. I also had onion and garlic so I made what turned out to be a husband-stealing carrot and parsley soup. Fortunately for you girls, I am happily married :), lol.

Ingredients

• Carrots - 4 large
  
• Onion - 1 large
  
• Garlic - 4 cloves
  
• Parsley - a bunch (or any other fresh green herbs like coriander)
  
• Vegetable stock - 1 cube
  
• Hot water - 500-650ml
  
• Optional - meat pieces. I prefer mixed seafood pieces but the soup in the picture was a meat free soup.

Method

1. If your herbs are wilted like mine were immersed the bunch in very cold water. 
   
2. Place chopped carrots, onions and garlic in a large pot with a teaspoon if oil. Fry on a gentle heat with a teaspoon of mixed dried spices and a pinch of salt. Stir periodically. 
   
3. When the onions are fully sweated, add the stock cube and enough hot water to fully immerse the carrots. 
   
4. Boil on a gentle heat until the carrots are fully soft. 
   
5. Remove from heat and throw everything from the pot into the blender. Throw all the herbs in two. Herbs don't need cooking to preserve flavour. 
   
6. Blend completely. 
   
7. You can serve or re-simmer for two minutes if you want your herbs a bit cooked. 
   
8. If you are having meat chunks fry them with minimal butter until they are fully cooked then throw the blended soup on top of the meat and simmer for two minutes. 

Serve!

Below, is my little sister doing big things for the world! Well done her. I could not be more proud!