Family Visit & Trip to the Holburne Museum

Hello everyone!  I hope you had a great weekend! 🙂

This weekend, my parents-in-law came to stay for our postponed Christmas get-together.  It was lovely to see them and we had a wonderful two days together.  We finally got round to giving them their very belated Christmas presents, and even played a board game, much to Lil’ L’s delight! 😉

Both on Saturday and Sunday we went for strolls around Bath.  The weather was incredibly mild for January (M is still in his t shirts!)  We also took a trip to the  Holburne Museum.  It was in the grounds of this museum that we saw the stunningly beautiful Field of Light back in December.

Between 2008 and 2011 the Museum was closed while it underwent an £11.2 million project of restoration and development.  At the back of the Museum, there is a contemporary extension and Garden Cafe.  It’s one of those modern extensions that I imagine you either love or hate.  Either way, it can’t be denied that it makes a bold statement!

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The museum houses Sir William Holburne’s collection of 4000 objects, pictures and books that were bequeathed by his sister to the people of Bath in 1882, as well as a further 2,500 objects that have been acquired since the Museum opened to the public in 1893.  If you’re ever in Bath, I highly recommend a visit to the museum.  There’s lots to see, as well as interactive displays, audio guides, and lots of pull-out drawers containing miniature collections and ‘guess the fake’ activities, which Lil’ L loved!  It’s also FREE admission! 

The Museum is found at the end of Great Pultney Street, which is one of the most stunning streets in Bath.

This weekend also involved two trips to the library as Lil’ L is passionately into reading at the moment, which is really lovely to see 🙂  He’s currently reading The Spiderwick Chronicles.  After practically finishing the first book in one day, he went back to the library on Sunday to borrow the remaining books in the series. 

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Foodwise, I actually planned ahead (for a change) and made lots of yummy eats including roasted vegetable lasagne and red lentil & cashew nut roast.  (Recipes and photos coming soon) 😉

For Saturday lunch, I prepared one of our favourite soups – Lightly Spiced Parsnip and Coconut.  It was very yummy indeed and perfect for this season.  The bread maker was set to work on Saturday morning so we had freshly made bread to accompany the soup 🙂

 And I’ve finally got round to writing down the recipe!  Here it is:

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Lightly Spiced Parsnip & Coconut Soup

Serves 5-6    Preparation: 10 minutes    Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
3 large parsnips (approx. 450g / 16oz), peeled and chopped
2 medium potatoes (approx. 350g / 12oz), peeled and chopped
1/2 – 1 tbsp garam masala (depending how spicy you like it)
50g / 2oz creamed coconut (I use a sachet of Patak’s creamed coconut)
1.2 litres / 41fl oz / 5 cups vegetable stock
coconut cream and smoked paprika for garnish

Method

  1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and sauté the onions and garlic for 3 minutes. Add the garam masala and cook for a further 2 minutes.
  2. Add the parsnips and potatoes to the pan. Pour in the stock and creamed coconut and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down and gently simmer with the lid on for 15-20 minutes, until the parsnips are tender.
  3. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the soup to cool a little before blending until smooth.
  4. Garnish with a swirl of coconut cream and sprinkling of smoked paprika. Serve in warm bowls with slices of crusty wholegrain bread.

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Have a wonderful week everyone! xx

15 thoughts on “Family Visit & Trip to the Holburne Museum

  1. The Museum extension and the Bath Thermae Spa glass boxes look like a dim architect took a shower to come up with inspiration – and chose the shower screen. 😉

    1. Thanks Jules! BTW I absolutely love your blog! You write so beautifully and the food and photographs are stunning! You must let me know when you finish the children’s book as I definitely want to buy a copy!

    1. I find that parsnip is one of those vegetables that people either seem to love or hate. This soup is very sweet, but the addition of garam masala and creamed coconut give it a light curry flavour which works well with the parsnip.

    1. Ah you’re a parsnip lover like us! 🙂 I fancy trying a root vegetable crumble this weekend with lots of yummy parsnips and celeriac. I’m really into sweet vegetables at the moment!

  2. I love that Lil’ L is so passionate about reading. Cameron has been enjoying the Harry Potter books, but he doesn’t read on his own, one of us has to listen and switch off reading.
    I’ve seen creamed coconut in a couple of your recipes but I’m not sure what it is or if we have it here. (Which is why I have yet to make your Dhal with Coconut.) Is it like coconut butter perhaps?

    1. Lil’ L does read on his own, but he prefers books that aren’t too thick and that have a few pictures inside. I don’t think he’s quite ready for HP yet! At night we sit in bed together and alternate reading one page each. We get through the books far quicker that way 😉
      I’ve looked up creamed coconut (aka coconut concentrate) and I can’t work out how it differs to coconut butter. Both are made from the whole coconut flesh. I imagine it would be fine to use coconut butter as a replacement. Here’s a couple of webpages I found that might be useful: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-wonderful-world-of-coconut-products/#axzz1kbTJibcS http://harvardcocopro.com/Creamed_Coconut.html

  3. Nice weekend! I love the extension to the museum; the photo doesn’t really do it justice. It’s given an old cramped museum space a new lease of life, adding space and light. And I like the boldness; something properly contrasting with the existing building rather than some half-baked Georgian pastiche…And as you approach from the front, you don’t even know it’s there. Given me an idea for the back of our house…..

    1. It was a lovely weekend 🙂 I agree with you that photos don’t do the extension justice. It really does need to be seen in person to get the full effect.

  4. That soup looks so good. I’m not a fan of parsnips, but maybe adding coconut into it would make it taste nicer. I’m determined to like parsnip one day!
    The musuem looks beautiful and I love that so many places in the UK have free admission 🙂

  5. Looks like a wonderful place. I do have to say, that for me, the addition looks a bit out of place. However I am sure it is quite stunning in person.
    Love the soup and so glad you had a good visit with your in-laws.

    Have a great day Sharon!

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