Comforting soups, comforting memories, comforting sounds - rainy days to the sound of Duran Duran


The weather is giving no respite, and nor are the weather predictions. Outside, it rains and a gale has picked up force, ripping new leaves off the trees and scattering polen from flowers all around. Polen that gets into my nose and gives me bouts of allergy that are leaving me listless and headache-y, nose running and sneazing like there's no tomorrow. The rain makes it all worse, it seems. My whole body is claiming for sunshine and warm temps, my whole being is becoming heavy and drowsy from this greyness and the cold.


I find myself playing old Duran Duran songs, thinking how Simon Le Bon has not aged well, he who was one of my heartthrobs when I was eleven, twelve years old. I move on to watching Spandau Ballet videos, and googling Martin Kemp's photos, only to tell myself that even through all he has been through, that man has grown into such a distinct, gorgeous, fifty year old. He looks better now than he looked in his youth, and boy, did I think he looked good. I try to edit photos, but my eyes are swollen from the allergies and my head aches.


I happen upon a two year old interview with Ville Valo and sit through all forty five minutes of it, looking at a man who though he is about four years younger than me, looks aged, a man I used to find highly charming and attractive, with his heavy eye make up, his naked skinny torso, his deep blue eyes and those suomi features of his. I listen on intently, thinking to myself that he is quite more inteligent than I ever gave him credit for, and that even though he looks aged and roughened by life, there is still something to him. Maybe it is that Finnish blood. I find myself wanting to listen to sappy HIM songs like "Join me in death". I don't plug them on.


And still the rain falls down, reminding me of a Stevie Nicks song, and I am taken aback by memories of Stevie Nicks' outfits in the 80's and I realise how influential her style has always been on me, while "Rio" plays in the background, making me wish for Summer and cherry lipsticks and tiny bikinis that I do not wear anymore. The wind picks up speed outside and I can hear it as if a banshee was just outside my window, or maybe Catherine lost her way and is knocking on my window instead of Heathcliff's. It's not as cold, though, and I find myself wearing blouses under a Winter coat and sweating all the time on my school runs. I think of Kate Bush, and her eerie voice, but I still have to turn off Duran Duran and listen to something else.


I wonder if it would be appropriate to play "Arcane rain fell" on a loop, since doom metal sounds quite appropriate for such grey, dark, rainy days, but "Planet Earth" starts playing, lighting up memories of short stories I used to write when I was twelve, featuring all five members of Duran Duran and Martin Kemp as well for good measure, travelling through space on their spaceship, Captain Adama and Apollo guiding them in their journeys, Starbuck still a boy and not a girl - although Kara Thrace is the most badass girl name ever! I think about lunch and what I long to eat, and soup comes up. Soup always seems to come up, when there's wind and rain and darkness outside. A portuguese cabbage soup, nothing less than that will do on a day like today.


I like to start my meals off with hearty soups during the colder months, and portuguese cabbage, the "penca", being one of my fave vegetables, I find this soup to be hitting quite a few points, even if I'm still sitting doing nothing but listening to Simon Le Bon as a very hot, young man pleading for me to please, please tell him now. I decide to write down a soup recipe instead. Simon can wait, I guess.

  • five or six potatoes, on the large
  • three big carrots
  • one portuguese cabbage, medium sized
  • one courgette
  • one litre water
  • the end stalks of a bunch of asparagus
Start by peeling and chopping the potatoes and the carrots, along with the courgette. Wash the cabbage thouroughly and separate the leaves from the stalk, cutting off the hard, knobbly pieces. Cut the leaves into strips and reserve. Place the rest of the veggies on a large pan and cover with the water. Add the salt and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and let the vegetables cook thouroughly. Once they are cooked, use a blender to blitz them into a puree. Now bring the pureed veggies back to then boil and once it's bubbling away, reduce the heat once more and add the cabbage strips. Drizzle a god glug of olive oil and allow the cabbage to cook through. Serve as an entree or a whole meal, it's a pretty good soup that nourishes and comforts on days like this. As for me, I'm going to just sit here and listen to Duran Duran as I reminisce about my twelve year old silly self!



Comments

  1. A comforting post I would call it...
    Um beijinho e bom fim de semana,
    Lia

    P.s. - quanto ás tortas, não te preocupes se partem, se reparaste, a minha também se partiu um bocadinho do lado esquerdo, mas o que importa é que o sabor está lá todo, por isso não deixes que te intimidem, lol

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    1. Obrigada, Lia! Bem, a sério que partiu? Não se nota nada nas fotos, está cm um ar tão perfeitinho!!

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  2. Que aspecto bem apetitoso para estes dias :)
    Beijinhos e bom fim de semana ...
    Guloso qb

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  3. Este tempo dá c qq uma em louca.. Para não falar das alergias.... Tinhamos TESE. O pior é mm o desconforto e dores de cabeça. Fora o mau estar, haha música e comida BOA para nos animar, eu já engordei + de 1kg em 3 semanas.. Mas não há como não haver este refúgio... arghhh WE WANT BARE LEGS NOW!!!!!!

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    1. eu acho que hoje - vim do aniversário de 15 anos de um dos meus sobrinhos - devo ter engordado uma tonelada e meia ahahahah. O pior de tudo é saber que o tempo vai continuar assim, já n me aguento.

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  4. Adoro adoro adoro posts que falas de música a sério! Dá-me uma noção diferente do que fazes e do que gostas (e sempre aprendo qualquer coisita :p ).

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    1. ahahahaha este post foi todo a descrever um momento de profundo tédio lol, e a minha paixonite aguda pelo Martin Kemp e pelo Ville Valo.

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  5. tb já não aguento mais este tempo deprimente [felizmente não tenho alergias, mas o meu marido é como tu e anda numa lástima]. valha-nos um comfort dish à maneira e boa música para alegrar a malta!

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    Replies
    1. sim, boa música, caramba, que música alimenta a alma!

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