Cooking - a rarity

I've got my cooking mojo back just a smidgen of late. Last night I made absolutely-delicious, brimming-over-with-goodness soup - chock full of veges, pulses and scrumminess. This morning I was a little late to work because I decided to soak some beans in preparation for making a batch of bean salad tonight. I must take photographs along the way this time and redo the recipe.

This batch of sloup*:

• thinly slice onion, fry off, add a couple of oxtail bones, brown, add water.
• add diced carrot, parsnip, kumara
• add chopped celery leaves and a few diced stalks for good measure
• boil, for ages
• remove oxtail bones, if there's any good meat on them, hack it off, cut it up, set it aside.
• carefully semi-blend the soup - don't lose all the chunks of vege, but make sure the celery leaves are unrecognisable. ;) I just used my stick blender straight in the pot and pulsed for less than a second each time.
  
• add the meat back in, add Soup mix (barley, lentils, split peas)
• boil, for even more ages than last time (ooh, and make sure there's enough water!)
• season. Cool. Refrigerate until required, or until you can't resist it any longer.
  
• reheat, consume with toast. Or on it's own.

* SLOUP: not a spelling mistake, rather an indication that this is a cross between a sludge and a soup - ie its really very very thick and hearty.

WARNING: when you taste this before the cool, refrigerate step, try not to blister the roof of your mouth.
Ooh, another WARNING - if you're cutting up the veges with a victorinox serrated knife, remember they are omnivourous and will not be sastified with the veges and are liable to take a chunk out of your thumb if you don't keep them under control. (gory details - DON'T KEEP READING IF YOU'RE SQUEAMISH!!!!!!: I felt every single serration going through the pad of my thumb). I'm fine. So's my thumb. This is why I keep sticking plasters in the kitchen.