This is a Portuguese recipe (and we all know I love all things Portuguese), but I am embarrassed to say that the best Kale soup I have ever eaten was in America and not Portugal. Come on Portugal, you need to improve your national dish, hee hee!!

I got the idea for this recipe from Nigella Lawson and was quite surprised that her photo was, how shall I put it, not appetizing. Then I made a version of it and low and behold, my photo isn’t appetizing either! BUT the soup is deelicious so don’t be put off by dodgy photos.

What, you say? A Gherkin soup? Never heard of it and don’t want it. Stop right there. It is SUPERB to say the very least. Lena and Dieter are deevine campervan friends and she made this for us 2 years ago and today and it was as great today as it was 2 years ago.

Today's recipes are: Potato Curry Soup; and Compressed Ginger Rice

As promised yesterday, here are more of my curry recipes. Today you get the Potato Curry Soup recipe and then the Compressed Ginger Rice recipe. You can serve both of them on any occasion – they don’t have to be part of an Indian evening. The soup is velvety smooth and delicately spiced – everyone asked for the recipe – and the Ginger rice is great because you can prepare it ahead of time and warm it in the oven at your leisure. But first the stories…

As I mentioned in my last post, we had my in-laws to stay for a few weeks and were able to celebrate my brother-in-law’s 42nd birthday with friends, 16 of us to be precise. For this special event, I made a Narragansett Fish Chowder for starters, stuffed smoked salmon parcels for an in-between course, and then smoked chicken and salads for the main course. I had Sally and Em bring the desserts – very clever on my part as they were both delicious. All recipes will follow in due course!

Joerg is one of the world’s greatest gardeners. If he leaves a tool out with a wooden handle, voila, we have a spade tree. In February, we cut back the vines at the front of the house and he stuck some of the off cuts into the ground….now we have more vines to cut back. Same with the red currant bushes. He also always plants as though we are going to be asked by WHO to supply food to all of Africa on a daily basis. My current surplus is leeks, which was preceded by winter lettuce and Swiss chard. We let one chard plant go to seed last year, let it self-seed and we get new plants coming up daily. Anyone out there have chard recipes for a desperate woman?? Anyone want any chard plants??

Mid-April we were invited to a dinner party at Sally and Ed’s, along with Jane and Rob. Sally has eleven Siamese cats so one feels like you’re in kitty heaven! They also have 3 dogs, 30-odd sheep, 6 horses, lots of chickens, a couple of ducks and a Guinea pig called “Poo”. Occasionally I house sit for them for a few days, which is always fun and sometimes interesting, like the time Tiger Lily, one of the kitties, decided to use my shoe as a kitty tray…..!