Nigella's Happiness Soup for Random Recipes

I love Random Recipes but for the past few months (probably more, I just don't want to count) for various reasons I haven't been able to take part. This month however I had no excuses because to celebrate 30 months of Random Recipes the lovely Dom decided we had to pick book number 30 from our collections and turn to page 30 to find out our fate for this month. By sheer coincidence book number 30 from my list of books in my Cookbook Room was none other than Forever Summer by Nigella Lawson, which I just happen to be reviewing this month anyway! Total bonus. Unfortunately though page 30 turned out to be the title page for the chapter on Pasta so since we all at times like to turn back the clock a bit I went to pages 28 & 29 which was her recipe for “Happiness Soup”.

I know what you are probably thinking, what on earth is “Happiness Soup” and even I myself thought she may have overstepped the mark just a touch with this one, however the first line of the recipe is asking us to forgive her for the tweeness of the title. Ok Nigella, you are forgiven, especially because after making the soup I can kind of see where she was coming from as this soup is so incredibly bright and summery it would cheer up anyone on even the dreariest of days! The recipe is incredibly simple and straightforward and the end result delicious. It's very light and the lemon juice gives it a lovely bright, refreshing taste, but the addition of the rice makes it heartier.

If I had to criticise it I would say that there wasn't any need for the 3 tablespoons of oil (2 would be more than plenty) and the turmeric again could be cut down as it didn't do anything other than turn the soup an insanely bright luminescent yellow! Next time I make this (which I will) I'll definitely use less olive oil and half the amount of turmeric. I also have to say that this soup rather unusually for soups was better the day it was made. When I had some the following day I had to add more stock as the rice had absorbed the majority of it but the lemon flavour was a little overpowering. All in all though if you can get beautiful yellow courgettes/zucchini's then I definitely recommend giving this soup a try and see if it turns your frown upside down!

Coconut Cake {A Random Recipe Challenge}

I love the Random Recipes Challenge set to us by the lovely Dom of Belleau Kitchen, however for the past couple of months I have missed the deadlines due to (let's be honest here) too much basking in the wonderful Canadian sun! This month however I was determined to take part especially when it was revealed that this months challenged was teamed up with Tea Time Treats courtesy of Karen from Lavender &Lovage and Kate from What Kate Baked. Not so good for my expanding waist line but a challenge is a challenge and I had to do it after being absent for so long, so like the good girl that I am I headed straight to my baking collection of books. Now the challenge was Tea Time Treats so it seemed only appropriate to pick the book Afternoon Tea Parties by Susannah Blake, since that's as close as you get to any Tea Time Treats! I closed my eyes and randomly flicked through the pages. When I stopped I was extremely happy to discover I had picked her 'Snow-topped Coconut Cake' which was part of the Winter Wonderland tea menu. Since I love coconut and lime I was ecstatic, and after drooling over the accompanying picture for a couple of weeks I finally got round to baking the cake.

Random Recipes # 18 - Something a little different

Sagging Bookshelves # 1 & 2
{unfortunately with the bed being in the way you can't see that there is another row underneath}

Having been absent from the last couple of Random Recipe Challenges I couldn't resist taking part in this one since this month the lovely Dom of Belleau Kitchen (and host of Random Recipes) challenged us to something quite different. Rather than cooking randomly from one of our books, the challenge was instead to photograph and share where we keep our books. Now I know most people have been posting theirs with lovely “normal” sized shelves located in different rooms throughout their homes but for me that's not quite the case......(and no I don't have any in my bathroom!!)

You see any guest walking into our house for the first time would quite rightly be forgiven for thinking they had taken a wrong turn when walking into the guest room. For this is not your usual guest room – instead it looks like as if by magic and in the blink of an eye you have some been transported to a different place altogether. Most accurately it looks like you have walked into a small but cozy book shop! The sight of all of the books is perhaps a little overwhelming but once I let everyone know they are actually all cookbooks the reaction turns to complete disbelief!

The walls on two sides are lined with bookshelves which are crammed beyond belief with hundreds and hundreds of cookbooks (631 at last count – give or take!) and if it wasn't for the bed taking up the rest of the room it really would not resemble a guest room at all. I can't imagine Martha Stewart putting her guests up in such accommodation!!!

Bookshelves 3 & 4

To me however it is my favourite room in the house (which is saying something considering I've put it before my kitchen!!). It is warm and cozy and at times when I get a spare moment I can think of nothing better to help me to relax than to come through and lie on the bed and read a cookbook or two – even more so if I have a glass of wine with me!

I've tried to organise them as best as I can and being the ridiculously over-the-top person I am when it comes to things like that they seem to be fairly organised....Celebrity chefs start the collection off then on to restaurant cookbooks; reference and technique books; home cooking and cookbooks published by magazines; desserts, chocolate and drinks then ending that one side of the wall is baking (phew!).

Next wall is all regional including Indian; Asian; Middle Eastern; Mexican; French; Spanish; Portugese; Greek; Italian (lots of Italian!) and British! The last two shelves on the smallest bookcase are specialty books including Meat; Soup; Fish and Vegetarian!!! The books on the very top shelves are there as I had run out of room on the other shelves so are a bit of a mixture! Wow – that's a lot of categories and I guess a lot of books!

The majority of the books were inherited but still I can't stop myself from buying new books throughout the year. In fact that last remaining space on the top of the smallest shelf which is meant for guests to put their bits and pieces on(!) is now home to the books that are the latest additions to my collection which I managed to cram into my suitcase after this last recent trip home to Scotland! Some are brand new, others are ones I bought last time I was back but didn't have room for. I still have about 50 or so books sitting in my bedroom shelves in Scotland so whenever I'm home I always try and bring a few back.....but then I can also never resist buying some new ones as well!! You would think I would learn especially since I actually don't have any space left for them but I'll always find somewhere and so I will always continue to buy more books!

So there you have it – my cookbook room filled with plenty of books to help you sleep at night (or alternatively just make you incredibly hungry right before you go to sleep!) I do have a small shelf of books in the living room next to the kitchen (open plan Canadian style house so the living room literally is right next to the kitchen!) which is where I try and put the books I'm using/ reviewing and basically just wanting some inspiration from! I say small shelf but it still holds 35 books which I am aware is probably what most people would have for their entire collection, but there you have it! Worst of all is that I still have close to the same amount of books packed away in boxes in storage....for those I need a bigger house! And don't even get me started on my magazine collection which just might happen to fill the bottom of the wardrobe in the spare room!!! Sorry guests!! 

The bookshelf in the living room.
{Maybe this challenge should have been called "Where's Nigella" since everyone seems to have her tucked away somewhere!}