I've never made pumpkin soup before. It've had it made for me, and I've had it out of a can, but I wasn't entirely sure where to begin. As is my personality, I didn't let a lack of knowledge hinder my desire to experiment. The final result is quite pleasing, so I'm hoping I am able to capture it from memory.

I do remember seeing Jimmy making it when I still lived with him in Christchurch, but I don't think I've ever seen a recipe. What I recalled was simply roasting vegetables for a while and blending them after they'd cooled again. With that knowlegde, I chopped my veggies, roasted them with olive oil and seasoning and improvised the rest.

   1/2 pumpkin
   2 carrots
   2 red onions
   5 cloves garlic
   1 small fennel bulb
   4 red chillies, seeded
   1/2 can condensed milk
   1 cup water
   1 tbsp cayenne pepper
   1 tbsp chilli powder
   1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar
   1/2 cup olive oil

   Begin by chopping all the vegetables to reasonable sizes
   for roasting.  Cubes, a few centimeters large should be
   fine.  Spread the vegetables on a baking sheet and season
   with spices and drizzle with olive oil.  Stir lightly to
   distribute the oil before roasting at 150°.  Roast for
   approximately 30 minutes, stirring half way through.

   Allow vegetables to cool before adding to a blender to
   purée.  Add milk and water to mixture and transfer
   mixture to a sauce pan over light heat, stirring regularly.
   Add vinegar and season to taste.

I'm not sure what brings the sweetness to the taste, but it is not a disappointment. As a result, it goes well with the Kim Crawford Savingon Blanc that I had alongside the soup.

The final result is a bit spicy, after a sweet start. I like the contrast in tastes, but it's probably not for everyone. The level of spice should be controlled right from the start for a good blend, so cut back then if at all.

I was talking to mom today (Happy Mother's Day), and the subject of moving came up. She's moving to a new house as well, which means that we're both shifting my junk to a new house. When I moved to New Zealand, I left lots of stuff strewn around the province, and it's been taking up space for over 2.5 years now. It might be time to do something about it.

As we were talking, I mentioned that I should sort through the boxes and see what should be kept, should be sold and should be tossed. I'm sure there's a fair bit of all three.

However, in order to do that, I'm going to have to head home. If I can find the time, I'd like to fly home for a week or so, just to clean stuff up. Of course, I have no idea where I would get the time from. I could take unpaid vacation time from work, or wait until I have enough time. Or if I find myself in between jobs, that might be the perfect opportunity. One can hope.

It's been over a year since I've been home, and I'm coming up to my 4th Christmas since moving. Maybe December would be a good time to go, even if it means that I would be fighting with a few million other people desperate to be somewhere else. In any case, I haven't made plans, but I hope to soon.

It seems as if the buses in Auckland are set to start up around 6am. That's a bit unfortunate, since I want to be able to get to the gym by then. According to the schedule printed on the bus stop by the new house, the bus doesn't arrive in town until 6:32.

I'm going to have to arrange alternatives. Car pooling is always an option, but rare at that time of day. I might just have to start running through the area, shower and get dressed before catching the bus.

Looking at the New Zealand YMCA map, Glen Innes is closest to me, and should be low traffic. Of course, I still want to be able to play volleyball on friday mornings, so I will have to make my way to the Pitt St. YMCA for that.

The problem is only one way. I don't have to worry too much about finding my way back in the evenings. The last bus would get to Kohimarama around midnight. That should be plenty of time to get to a bus station after work or after french class.

I went for a run through a few of the nearby residential areas this morning. It's a relatively new thing for me to run around here. Normally, I would head to the gym or to Devonport, but this time I was paying attention to the area itself, and what I will be leaving behind with my upcoming move.

After I got back from my run, I called up Julie and made arrangements to pay the bond that is required for moving to the new flat. So now it's all settled. By the end of next weekend, I should be living in Kohimarama, about 500m away from the beach.

There are a couple of issues that would concern me. Instead of being less than 500m from work, I'm about 10km away. I will either have to find out about bus routes or get a parking pass for work. I'm hoping that I can get around adequately by bus. I wouldn't mind the time to read. The same goes for getting to my gym and my appointments. It's not a big problem, but I do like not having to drive to get anywhere.

Over the next few weeks, I will have a lot of things to figure out. As things begin to settle down, I'll try to get some pictures of the new place. My Flickr account is in desperate need of content...