What's in a name?

Or, at least what's in MY name? That is the question on the tips of peoples lips (or at least on the lips of one of the 2 lovely people to leave me comments today).

I'd love to say I come from exotic stock, but it's sadly not true (apologies to anyone who thinks 3rd generation Australians are particularly exotic). Nor was the name a particularly imaginative gesture by my parents. The story is far more ordinary...

The name chrubuky (pron chair-roo-boo-key) is a nickname that has been with me since I first registered on Ebay. Not wanting to be myname_239968 or the like, I picked the first letters of all the people in my family & arranged them into Chrubuky. I would have put more than 10 seconds of thought into it if I knew it would be following me around so long.

Today London put on a spectacular pre-winter show. It was dark still at 7:30am - the first morning since I arrived in London where I had to jump up & put the lights on straight away. A sure sign we've said goodbye to the sunnier side of the year. The drizzle & endless grey clouds meant that there was only one thing on the menu this evening. Pipping hot soup.




Looking at this photo now, I think I may have over done the green & yellow styling - it looks a bit too much like puke. I was plating it up & was overcome by the ghost of Australian Womens Weekly past. If I had any little deer crafted from straw or some copper pots, I'm afraid they would have made it in there too!

For those of you brave enough to soldier on past the presentation to the taste, I have included the recipe. I made it up myself with things I had lying about the place. Unfortunately this means I am responsible for any of this dishes downfalls.

Ingredients:

1/2 a butternut pumpkin cubed (or equivalent weight in your favourite type of pumpkin)
1 tablespoon of oil
1 large onion diced
10 large carrots diced
garlic (as much or as little as you like) crushed. I used about 5 cloves
ginger, peeled & chopped. Again use as much or as little as you want. I used a thumb sized piece.
1 liter of vegetable stock
1/2 cup of chopped corriander
150ml sour cream
pinch of cinnamon

Method:

I roasted the pumpkin in the oven until it was turning brown, but I dont think this step is neccessary if you're in a hurry.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add onion & garlic & saute until transparent. Add the stock, pumpkin, carrots & ginger. Boil until the hard vegetables are soft. Add the remaining ingredients & puree to the desired consistency (I use a potato masher so there are still lumps in the soup). Heat for another 5 minutes & serve.