novel34

Spam was not something which we ever had when I was growing up.  I am not sure why that was.  We never had tinned meat of any kind except for deviled ham, which my mother sometimes bought to make our sandwiches for lunch with.  It came in a tin which was placed inside a paper wrapper decorated with little red devils.  I am not sure, but I think the devils somehow made it taste better! The one and only tme I can remember ever enountering Spam was at school.  A boy in my class wanted to trade his Spam sandwiches with my peanut butter ones.   I wouldn't trade because I did not know what Spam was and I was a bit afraid of trying something that I had never had before.   Besides, I really liked peanut butter.   I was very lucky.  I grew up in a country that was untouched by war in my lifetime and I had a father with a really good job.  People over here in the UK have not been that lucky.     Having been through two World ...

  I was recently sent a lovely hamper filled with goodies and asked to come up with a "Winter Warmer" recipe using some of them.  There were so many things it would have been possible to come up with one recipe which would use them all, but I certainly can come up with more than a few different recipes using a variety of the ingredients. The term "Winter Warmers" symbolized comfort to me, something we all long for and cling to when the cold weather hits and this challenge could not have come at a better time as this weeks thermometer has dipped down into single and minus digits!  Brrr. . . There is nothing nicer when the air gets cold than staying snug indoor by the fire.  The cold temperatures inspire us to eat heartier and soups, stews and casseroles are the order of the day.  When I saw the ingredients in the hamper I was immediately inspired to want to create a hand and heart warming soup.   There is nothing nicer to warm the soul on a chilly day than ...