pumpkinstrokemarrow

Not so amused to see two children hauled up to the Old Bailey for the attempted rape of another child. While, from where I sit, and perhaps from where the court sat, it is not possible to be very confident at all about what went on, I am fairly confident that the business of investigating this crime and bringing the delinquents to justice has done a lot more harm than was ever done in the first place. Have we managed to wreck three lives that started off only damaged? What were the jury thinking of? Said to be our last defence against when our authorities go gaga. Were the defendants and their families that bog standard? The DT claims that this is all the result of some misguided justice project from New Labour and that things are done much better in Scotland. I put it down more to our collective and rather unhealthy obsession with sex in general and its application to children in particular.

Back at home able to relax with the much less contentious business of chicken soup. Arriving home a little late for supper the other day, all I had to go with was some chicken stock, a small amount of lightly cooked cabbage and a small amount of properly cooked chicken. Searched the cupboard for something to strengthen the soup with and failed to find any noodles (http://www.sharwoods.com/), my usual recourse in such a situation. But I did manage to find a tin of butter beans. So drained them and added them to the stock. Brought the thing to the boil, simmered for a couple of minutes then added the cabbage and chicken. Looked very pretty and tasted rather better than I had hoped.

Today was able to approach the soup more conventionally. Needing some rolled belly pork for tomorrow's sandwiches, was able to retain the bone as a by-product. This was then boiled up for an hour or so. Meanwhile, simmer four ounces of pearl barley in the other half of the chicken stock. Strain pork stock and remove meat from the bones, trying to avoid the little white marbles which seem to abound in this particular cut. Cut up half a pork tenderloin left over from some previous soup. Mix the whole lot up and bring back to the boil. Add half a slivered white cabbage and some rather elderly mushrooms. Simmer for a few more minutes. Serve with fresh split tin white - to make a change from my usual bloomers.

Made desert of our first crack at the cherries from the US which have just arrived at Cheam - very fine and sweet they were too, despite looking a little palid - that is to say not deep crimson all over - and our second crack at the giant dates - these being still date shaped, rather large and somewhere between the dates in boxes which come with a white plastic spear at Christmas and the bricks of stone out dates which come from Mr S. at any time of the year, in flavour. Achieved what for me is a first by spending more at the greengrocer than the butcher. Now time for a siesta.