Glorious Sunday. :-)

Today was one of those 'wish you could bottle it to keep forever' days -- perfect blue sky, ideal temperature (not to hot, not to cold), a Sunday so no need to think about work. Just all over perfect, really.

Paddy and I chose to celebrate the morning with a walk along Merri Creek. We weren't alone, with other dog walkers, joggers, people out for a morning stroll. It's a big enough place for everyone to share.

We headed over the bridge, which Paddy didn't like much at all. It's a sturdy bridge, but it rocks as you walk on it and clearly he thought that wasn't such a great idea.
We passed the market garden, admired the transitional vegetables with their wilted foliage and discarded fruit, and the new crops recently put in, the soil dark and prosperous.

Beyond the market garden, but before Bell Street, we took a side path into a cul de sac. At that point we decided it was our halfway point -- well, I decided and Paddy had no choice. :-)

Coming out of the cul de sac, the sun shone toward us, lighting the leaves in the trees and making for some pretty photography.
Back inside the park, on the metal pylon of a major electrical conductor was this poster.
I have no comment....

Beneath the poster, beside one of the metal rivets, was graffiti and a blow fly. Both posed for a noir shot.
Back at home, after garden and grocery shopping, I got to cooking with Em keeping me company. What can I say, days like today make me want to do creative things. Sorry Codee, creative but not *that* creative. ;-)

First up, soup. I adapted a rice and asparagus recipe I'd found on the internet. I cooked the brown rice in the rice cooker and oven roasted a mix of root vegetables with a little olive oil, rosemary, sweet paprika and salt.

When the vegetables and rice were done (in their separate places), I fried up some garlic and onion and mixed in the roast vegetables, being particularly rough with them so they would mush down a little. Into that I added a can of diced tomatoes, some shitake mushrooms (I'd had them since forever in a dried state. I soaked them in water for 20 minutes before use -- they add a delicious rubberyness, like calamari only without the fishyness), a handful of black beans left over from another recipe and some diced celery tops. I added a few cups of water, some vegetable stock, the rice and let it simmer away so the flavours would combine.
I taste tested half an hour later, not sure of what this odd combination of flavours might have turned out like, and... wow! There is a subtle hint of rosemary from the roast vegetables -- each of which have retained their full flavour despite their addition to the soup. The brown rice adds much needed texture and bulk, making this a standalone meal, should one wish.

Given that I've ended up with a dozen containers, I'm delighted that this turned out a winner!
For dinner I made a roast pumpkin and rocket salad which wasn't quite to the recipe but still turned out delicious. The best part, I get to have this for lunch tomorrow as well! And there will still be leftovers. :-)
The last recipe I ended up with time for today was Turmeric Rice. I've made turmeric rice before, but a different recipe to this one and I have to say that this one turned out a lot nicer. This recipe called for red pepper and sun-dried tomato, in addition to the turmeric, onion and garlic. I used brown rice, as the recipe called for, and it ended up just a little chewy which is how I like it.
I've frozen small bags of this for use in lunches and dinners -- out of one cup of rice, I have six small serves. It'll be divine with tinned fish, grilled chicken or tofu... really, it'll taste great with almost anything!

And here's how much help my little buddy is now that it's gone 9pm.

Going...
going...
gone.
With all the barking, playing, harassing Chester and more barking that he's done today, it's no wonder he's completely zonked. Which, of course, makes me happy to see. :-)