After Double Trouble - Two's Company

I was sowing some sweet-pea seeds in pots this morning, camera handy:

 

  

It had been a lovely sunny morning, but by the time I walked down to get some meat and vegetables for the week, it was dark and overcast.

Very atmospheric for capturing this crow perched like a weathercock on  a steeple - or an angel on a Christmas tree!

 

 

Unfortunately not so good for trying to take a picture of some little long-tailed tits I spotted in another tree. They were making such a loud noise for such tiny birds - I was looking for something much bigger. I've only ever seen them once before, in my aunt's garden. But some years back I did an embroidery with long-tailed tits on it, so I have no difficulty recognising them.

We had this lovely warming carrot and cumin soup over the weekend. It's meant to be blended till smooth, but C prefers his soups to have some solid content, so I just pulsed it in the blender till it was only partially liquidised.
Carrot and Cumin Soup - serves 4

3 tblsp butter1 onion,
1 clove garlic
2 large or 3 medium carrots
2 sticks celery
1 medium potato
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tblsp tomato paste
3 bay leaves (I like my bay - you could just use 2)
2 tsp lemon juice
1 1/2 Imperial pints of water or stock - 3 3/4 US cups
1/2 Imperial pint skimmed milk 1 1/4 US cups (I use full fat, as it's all we have in the house)

salt and pepper.

Melt the butter, gently fry the chopped onion and crushed garlic for a couple of minutes.
Add the chopped carrots, celery and potato and fry gently for about 5  minutes.
Stir in the cumin and fry for a minute.
Add the tomato paste, water, bay leaves and lemon juice, and cook for at least half an hour to forty minutes till vegetables are tender.
Blend to suit the texture you like, add the milk, season to taste and heat just to boiling point.
It's meant to be garnished with chopped celery leaves, but the way celery is sold here, there aren't really any leaves worth talking about - so use parsley or chives, or whatever...
If you're going to blend it till smooth, then obviously you don't need to go to much trouble chopping the vegetables too finely in the first place.