With Christmas when my mom was here I had asked her to make some carrotsoup like she used to make  as long as I remember. I just love that soup and we had bought our selfs a new refridgerator with a freezer with 3 drawers so I wanted to  put some in the freezer too.  And ofcourse my mom made a load of soup and it was delicious as always. We froze in a few liter soup that she had made extra. But all that soup.. well… its all gone.. we ate it all in January and February allrdy and  a few weeks ago it started itching again.. I wanted to have carrotsoup.. Now our normal grocerystore where we always go was doing a redecorating that would last till half april so I was going to wait till then… And this week it was reopened.

So I bought  all the Ingredients I needed and today I made that famous carrotsoup myself.. for the first time.. And it was delicious, just like my mom makes it. Good job eh? Thank goodness I made a lot of extra so next time when I want  some carrotsoup again, all I need to do is open my fridge n get myself a pack of frozen carrotsoup out. Since that soup turned out so well when I tried to make it by myself, I wanted to share the recipe here. So you guys can try it for yourself :). I am using European/Dutch measurements so you might want to google up to converse to your own country.

Carrotsoup  (+/- 8 portions)

• 500 gram Wintercarrots (those are like the biggest carrots u can find XD) fresh ofcourse.
• 1 onion
• 2 toes of garlic (I used garlic paste thats rdy to use)
• 4 beef bouillon blocks (make sure its for 2 liter bouillon)
• 40 grams margarine (butter)
• 40 grams flour (all purpose)
• 2 liter water
• 3/4 teaspoon curry powder
• 150 gram grounded beef)
• 1 thin leek
• parsley hacked in small pieces for finishing touch.
• salt and pepper

Clean the carrots and cut them in  big slices. Peel the onion and cut it in tiny pieces. peel the garlic and  use a garlic press to make 2  toes into paste.

Use a BIG soup pan thats large enough for  all ingredients to fit when the soup is finished.  Put in the pan: 2 liter water, the carrot slices, the cut onion, the pressed garlic and the bouillon blocks. Bring it to boiling and let it boil for 15 minutes.

Take a large bowl (or 2) and a sieve and pour the soup  thru the sieve into the bowl(s) so u have a clear bouillon left over. The carrot and onion and garlic that u catched in the sieve you going to have to mash completely (I used my kitchen machine with blades for this) U can put all the bouillon back together in the big pan and keep the mashed carrotmix seperated for now.

In another pan you melt the butter and stir the flour through it when its melted. Then little by little you add some bouillon as you keep stirring till you have a lightly bound soup.  Add this lightly bound soup back with the rest of the bouillon int the large pan and add the mashed carrotmix aswell. Now its time to test the taste of your soup first time. add a lil bit of the currypowder and try again.. then add  a little more if neccesary and some salt and pepper just the way you like it.

From the ground beef you gonna have to make tiny lil balls. Bring your soup back to boiling and add the lil meatballs. let that boil for about 10 minutes. In  that time  you can cut the leek into  small/thin slices (rings) and let those boil aswell for 5 minutes in the soup. (If you want to freeze in the soup then seperate what you going to use right away and add the leek to that so the part you going to freeze dont have the leek. You will have to add that when you going to use the soup.) Last but not least, when serving the soup sprinkle a little bit of the  hacked parsley after pouring the soup into bowls/plates.

Make sure the soup has cooled down before you freeze it. enjoy 🙂

Allarmclocks…

NO not becuase they wake me.. because they dont wake me… Everything that has a clock or a timer or whatever that needs to be set… gives me trouble… but i eventualy manage to  fix it…

I had a great allarm clock.. I had bought it about 6 or 7 years ago… ( i dont like waking up with radio.. i just want it simple.. a snooze.. an extra snooze, a light and a volume button, if i can choose from  diff sounds that be nice but that be pure luxury) Anyhow.. about a year ago.. it died on me….  i guess i been hitting it too hard once too many…

OH well.. no biggie.. I will find a new one…  I found a few…  Too expensive.. ( hell not gonna pay 50 euro for a lil clock that buzzes in the morning) Not accurate! ( waking up an hour too late cus my allarm clock is having hickups is not a goof thing) Not loud enough ( yes i do need to be able to hear it when i sleep to wake up from it no? )

well guess what… after over a year looking for a new one whenever i saw allarmclocks…  still no new allarmclock…

my latest attempt on buying one was another failure … i bought a pretty cheap thingy.. i really didnt wanted to spend a lot on something i wasnt sure even  would wake me.. and guess what.. that sound that that allarmclock makes is even less than all the noise the mice in my appartement make…. sighs…  thats the so maniest allarm clock i bought since my old one broke….

I remember before that one i used to have one of those old fashioned allrmclocks .. you know.. two lil bells on top a lil hammering thingy in the middle.. and falling asleep listening to the peacefull sound of a tick tock…

I got rid of it… why? cause my ex couldnt sleep with a tick tock next to his bed…. hehad this radioallarmclock.. hell i wasnt able to set it too many buttons.. but he would… untill we broke up.. and thats when i bought my so beloved lil allarmclock that doesnt work anymore…. 🙁

I tried an allarmclock on my computer for a while.. that works well.. but i will have to leave my computer running every night.. and i find that a waste of electricity…  So then how do i wake up in time??

My cellphone…  it has an allarmclock.. when i go to bed.. i set it.. I lock it so i dont accidentally call someone who will hear me snorring… and put it under my pillow… always wakes me up….  then why do i want an allarmclock? becaus ei dont wanna sleep with my cellphone under my pillow.. its just too stupid that i cant find a decent allarmclock now adays! They all got too many buttons and options.. what about the simple person who doesnt want to be able to have 3 cd’s in it?! but just wants to wake up at 7 o clock  and start the day?!

sighs…

I will let you know when i find my clock… untill then..  dont call me at night LOL (except if you are my fiance :P)

Hugs ela…

What started out as a not so bad day turned into a disaster.

The whole day everything went fine, I had a hard time getting off my butt to start doing some chores, but I even managed to do that 😛 My darling daughter had after school activities. Streetdancing, Its at her own school and theres other girls from her class in it too so she really enjoys going there.  On such days i take some extra rime for myself to relax and sit back since i have more quiet hours and can spread my work. It was getting to the time to pick her up and I couldnt even finish the ebay auction i was preparing. half of the  information about the object was  allready written, but i didnt wanted her to stand there waiting  for me and being the last person thats picked up. So I put on my boots n coat, grabbed my cellphone, purse and keys and left everything as it was, Thinking I would be back home in a few minutes to continu my work. Right?

Wrong, thats where the trouble begun. I was in time for my girl and even had to wait for a minut. After she came out and we hugged and said bye to her teacher, we went to the store for just a few lil groceries. I had run out of bread and her lemonade was reaching the bottom too. I also bought some cookies. When i paid at the cashregister I suddenly missed my keys. Ok, calm down.. check your purse and pockets… No keys… I remembered that when trying to get a bottle of lemonade I had to put my keys down most likely to be able to get one bottle out of a big sealed package. I dont excactly remembered if I really DID that but that thought came in my mind for a reason right? So I walked there to that lane and chacked the shelfs… I checked all other lanes too.. Its a real tiny supermarket. But, you might have guessed it allready, No keys.

No keys. Where are my keys?! keept on playing thru my mind. Checked my purse again and my pockets, my daughters pockets and her school bag. No keys. Ok now I Started to freak out. What where the things I did ??? Nothing?  left home after locking the door, I remember thinking for a second if i should lock it, I was gonna be only  gone for a couple minuts and the first entry door wouldbe locked still from the halls of the appartement building… I decided to lock it and  left for school. At school I hugged and we walked to the store. On the way to the store I had to tie up My daughters shoe laces and it is not likely but possible that i had put them down there too on the sidewalk. We rushed back to that spot, there where some kids playing that we had seen when we walked  to the store the first time.. They where kids from her school where she played with sometimes. I asked them if they had found my keys, well no they did not. Ok maybe I am loosing my mind and left the keys in the door. I rang the bell for the eighbours to open the door to the public hallway. Upstairs, no keys…oh boy… it really was getting to me.. What was I gonna do??? I left My girl waiting in  the hall at home and went back to the store. thats actualy only 3 minutes walking, or in this case when in a hurry not even a minut. I walked the excact same route as I did the first time when I walked to school first. Still no luck. Since I had my adress label on the keys too I had hoped that if someone foudn them that they would have put them in the mailbox at home.. Like I would have done. Again I walked thru the store lookign for my keys, several other people helped looking. But nothing. I really did it this time… they where gone…

Nothing i could do anymore… I went back home to the neighbours and asked for a phonebook… I needed to call my landlor n see if there where any spare keys, No spare keys, but they would calla  locksmith for me and the door would be opened for me and the lock replaced.
As I was waiting I called several other lock smiths just to find out how much this little joke was gonna cost me. Well the prices I heard where not to laugh about…. My panic started to fade.. I would be getting into my house again soon the lock replaced and the only real harm it would have done was the money it would cost me… They will send me a Money transfer order that i will have to fill in to pay the bill thru my landlord (thats cheaper then the other locksmiths) There was no way I would get into my house in time to be able to make diner. So  me and my daughter went to a nearby fastfood and filled our tummies… Then we went back to our neighbours house where the waiting continued.  The phone rang, it was the locksmith he was just turning his car into the street where I lived and would be here any minut. I was releaved, in not too long I would have access to my house again! The guy started working on the door and not a minut later I was inside! yahoo!!! He replaced the lock and 5 minutes later all the horror was history!

While I was waiting and talking with the neighbours, the oldest son said well you know what it is with keys.. they should go into your pocket as soon as you close the door, and stay there untill you need to open it again. He was so right, I couldnt argue with that! Let that be my advice for you guys today.

Keys belong in your pocket untill the moment that you need them.

Hugs!