And finally there is pumpkin soup. This is a recent addition to my comfort food.
Ursula brought over a pumpkin at my sister’s commemorative and I left it out on the front balcony until the frost warning.

The week before Catherine, my daughter, invited me to her friend’s parents in the Eastern Townships for dinner. Their house has the kind of distance from Mountain Road that you associate with estates. I immediately loved its outside. Grey and white. Inside it was full of art from their travels: a wooden giraffe from Africa; Some outstandingly colorful silk hangings over their bedroom that took my breath away; Shelves and shelves of jars and jugs collected from different continents. Louisette, made a fabulously delicious lamb dish which she served with fresh Brussels sprouts and barley. And when we left she gave me a recipe for pumpkin soup.

Preparation time: 15 minutes.

It took me almost two hours of preparation. I cut up the pumpkin on my balcony. (The recipe did not indicate to factor in time for clean up of your balcony after emptying the pumpkin). Nevertheless, after frying a large onion in butter and adding chicken stock along with the diced pumpkin and then putting the whole thing through the blender before stirring in some milk and freshly grated nutmeg and then topping it with sharp cheddar cheese, the soup was well worth the time and effort. Pumpkin has a mild taste and the contrast of the sharp cheddar melded well with it. I froze half of it and the rest I shared with some friends, who all loved it.