MORE WAFFLE

Today I finally found the time to try out my new waffle iron. Having spent ages tracking down the right one and spending hours conditioning the blessed thing it has been gathering dust for several weeks as I have been too busy to try it out. Today I struck while the iron was hot...that was a rotten joke but I could not resist
I followed the instructions to the letter (mistake number one.) I followed the batter recipe to the letter (mistake number two.). The batter looked rather thick but not withstanding I loaded the iron, waited the required three minutes and turned the iron over to cook the other side. The resulting mess took over half an hour to remove from the pan.
Undaunted I diluted the remaining batter slightly, brushed the iron with clarified butter, lowered the gas and started again. After yet another nervous wait the result this time was a perfect, round , golden. delectable waffle which I quickly smothered in strawberry jam and shared with my son. Waffles are now officially on the breakfast menu from now on, just in time for the holiday too, what could be better.

I last ate a waffle forty years ago , at Blackpool on a day trip. To be exact I ate five waffles that day,they were a rare delicacy in those days and have been even rarer until today, I must remember to buy some maple syrup.

My son was up rather too early this morning as he is working tonight, too make matters worse he has to go to hospital tomorrow morning before he can go to bed. He is to be fitted with a monitor that measures stress ,and I predict that there will be plenty of it if they keep him waiting. He then has to have it taken off on Wednesday morning, which means of course another day with less sleep. than he needs. It is difficult to see the benefit of this sort of treatment, to me it seems crazy.
Tonight we had soup with new bread for dinner, I made a special recipe that had been a family favourite through several generations.

ALL IN THE POT SOUP
2 onions
8 rashers of streaky bacon
half a small pumpkin or squash
2 carrots
1 parsnip 2 sticks of celery
half a red pepper
a hand full of red lentils
3 cloves of garlic
salt and pepper
I pint of chicken or vegetable stock
half a pint of milk
Chop the bacon and all the vegetables roughly. Fry the bacon slowly in a large heavy pot, when it has given off its fat add the onions and cook unti they soften then turn up heat and add all the other vegetables and caramelise slightly them add the stock and simmer covered for 30 minutes. Blitz in a blender with the milk and season as you like.
If you are not on a diet you can add cream, but we find that it is fine with milk.
Serve with crusty bread of buttered toast.

I hear that the snow is returning later in the week, this could prevent our turkey and a few other seasonal treats from arriving from Devon. Luckily I have two huge joints of beef reposing in the freezer so we shall just have to make do with those. Let it snow, let it snow , let it snow.