Tomato Consommé; Spy outed on Facebook; the update

“007 outed in Facebook!”

A question:

Must one have intelligence to be in intelligence?

Answer:

Apparently not!

The wife of the new chief of MI6 – that’s Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, just blew his cover on Facebook… Posting photos of their house, London flat, children, family, friends, diplomatic connections….

And the family has been posting congrats on his appointment on their Facebook Wall.

I am so in awe at the sheer stupidity of it all that I have nothing further to say on the subject…. Beating a dead horse and all that.

Instead, I’ll update you on the sunflowers:

Sunflower_solo

They don’t actually turn with the sun, I’m observing, but face the sunrise.

The field is slowing transforming from green to yellow.

Sunflower2

Every morning the dogs and I walk down to the field to appreciate the beauty.

Well, I appreciate it… They chase the bunnies….

The cabinet doors are in various states of gluing, varnishing, drying.

The bathroom window is having the glass replaced and being caulked.

There was actually a lot accomplished this week…. Just nothing finished.

One of the things we did was to get some bids on putting in stairs to the first floor.

Now we just have the stairs in the barn:

Barn_stairs

They’re not in the best of shape:

Barnstairs_close

The new stairs will be in the house, in the hall.  Eventually we’ll have 4 bedrooms and two bathrooms on that floor.

First, we have to clean up a bit…. All of this lovely insulation has to be removed and the whole thing cleaned before they cut the opening for the stairs.

First_floor

We may have to give some thought to heating it as well – before winter.

We may also have to give some thought to repairing the barn stairs before we start using them in a regular basis….

I’m giving it some thought, anyway.  Mon mari says if you walk on the edges it’s perfectly fine….

What a guy~!

Summer started this week.  Long, sunny days with the temps hitting 35C (95F).

Makes me grateful for our 2-foot thick stone walls!

This is a favorite ‘it’s too hot to cook’ starter:

Tomato Consomme

Tomato Consommé

25gr (.85oz) gelatin
1 cup (225gr, 8oz) beef stock
1 cup (225gr, 8oz) tomato juice
2 tbs Madeira
Fresh basil leaves

Heat stock in a saucepan. When boiling whisk in gelatin and whisk continually for 1 minute. Stir in tomato juice and let cool. Refrigerate at least 4 hours, stirring occasionally to keep from separating.
To serve:  Snip the basil.  Gently stir half of the basil into the consommé.  Spoon into pretty serving dishes and garnish with remaining basil.

Serve with something chilled and bubbly….

10 thoughts on “Tomato Consommé; Spy outed on Facebook; the update”

  1. >>Mon mari says if you walk on the edges it’s perfectly fine….<< Oh, how like a man. Started but not finished projects. How familiar that sounds. Enjoy the sunflowers. And right there in your face to observe. How lovely!

  2. Because of the timing of our visits to France, I am either to early or too late to see sunflowers in full bloom. But I saw man fields of wilting or browning sunflowers last fall and that was OK. At least I saw them.
    Your photos are lovely.

  3. I love sunflowers and I love them in fields. Thanks for the photos: they warmed my heart. I have tried planting some, but no luck. 35C? That’s a scorcher! Would you like some of our cooling fog?

  4. Good heavens that is hot. Southern Ontario is enjoying lovely spring-like temps this week. Thank goodness.
    What a glorious field of sunflowers! Mother Nature at her loveliest.

  5. The consommé looks and sounds delicious! I’m going to try bottling fresh tomato juice this year and I’ll set some aside for this soup!

  6. Add sunflower envy to tomato envy. Beautiful field!!
    And I am stunbound (that’s a word, isn’t it? if not, it should be) at the facebook habits of MI6 chief’s wife. Perhaps Britain’s secret service has nothing to do with intelligence.

  7. Well you have a bit of everything in your blog…from cookery to house restoration and planning for winter…interesting I must say.

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