Biking & Baking in Las Alpujarras

Well here I am, back in Blighty for a few days, and several hundreds of gallons of rain have fallen from the skies in no time at all.  The overgrown grass is soaking, the easterly wind is cool and I miss that Spanish pace of life already.  To compound things, my return flight has just been cancelled thanks to a strike so I have an additional 3 days to fill in when I don't want them.   I may have to jump on a train to London and see the Tate Modern's Gauguin exhibition...that will fill one day for me.  And maybe a good haircut, though a pensioner's pocket is not very deep these days.

I am camping in the house and not eating very well, but there's no substitute for spaghetti with basil and garlic pesto, and with time to spare I may have to construct some soup.  For anyone who thinks soup is difficult, let me assure you that all you need is an onion, some other veg leftovers, a pint or so of stock (buy the cubes, it's easy) and maybe a bit of single cream.  Fry the  onions in a biggish pan to transparency/softness, add the finely-chopped veg (carrots, a potato, some leeks or a butternut squash), then slowly pour in the rest of the stock and let it all simmer away quietly for about an hour.  Blend the whole lot up, add seasoning for taste, maybe a swirl of the cream, then put it in your favourite bowl alongside a plate of buttered toast.  Settle down to a good film and there you are!  Just the ticket on a cool autumn evening.

Happy days to those of you  in Andalucia and I'll be back on Saturday :)