Another ginger-laced soup

Late home and needed to put a meal on the table fast for others dashing out to a concert. Butternut squash curry wasn't going to be on the table in 45 mins. On holiday in rented cottage. Kitchen equipped only with what I remembered to bring, which was not everything required for the recipes in mind. Inspiration struck on the bus home and luckily it worked:

Sweet potato and lentil soup

2 red onions
1 huge sweet potato (or two more average sized)
2 cloves of garlic
1 inch fresh ginger
1 red pepper
all the above finely chopped and fried in lots of olive oil. Onions first for 5 mins, then the rest for another 5-10. Add lentils, add water and a good dollop of harrisa paste. I used a new brand of paste (proper stuff from my local international supermarket) and it was a lot stronger than the supermarket stuff.
Cook 15 mins until veg is soft and lentils collapsing. Mush a bit with potato masher and serve. We added natural yoghurt and toasted pumpkin seeds. I think something green would have been nice with this. Maybe finely shredded fried cabbage?? Something green and crisp, not sure what else.

A shop with a fabulous name and fabulous food

I'm on a brief holiday in York at the moment and happened to come across this most wonderful place - The Hairy Fig. Could have spent all day there (and spent more money than I earn in a month...). Tiny cafe is also excellent. Again, could have spent all day....

I bought:

3 quinces. OOOOOOO. Only once have I had a quince before, scrumped from a local museum garden. It was bruised and went off before I could cook it. Darn! I need to work out a sugar-free way of cooking them too. I think stewed with apples and a bit of honey is the way to go.
a litre of Ampleforth cider. Aaahhh. It's good. Also very fizzy and took some effort not to spray across the kitchen.
A tin of chestnuts. Mainly because there were chestnut recipes in last month's Country Living and I fancy trying them without the effort of peeling fresh ones. Which I LOVE. So will do at some point.
A block of Willies Supreme Cacao. Bought on advice for chef-friend who made utterly wonderful hot chocolate with it a while back. No idea what to do with it as I don't make sweet stuff. I plan to experiment with making hot chocolate with honey.
Some homemade hummus. This I haven't yet sampled.
Two Upita de los Reyes. The tiny cafe sensibly serves snippets of these with tea which made me buy more. Not sure if I've had them before, but have certainly seen the packaging.
Some Tomme de Chevre. Fond memories of holidays in thee Pyrenees.
Two tiny pieces of sliced Pan de Higo as i hadn't got enough cash to buy a whole one. Link is to a recipe as I can't find much about this stuff - although I have had it in Spain and I think also in London, probably one of the Spanish delis in Notting Hill. Useful info I know....
Mexican green jalapeno sauce. Which I foolishly thought was salsa verde. Damn.

Wish I had bought some smoked garlic. Some fresh chanterelles. Some ripe figs. Some old, old balsamic vinegar. Some chipolte chillies. And more.

Admired the monks' sloe gin and happily remembered my own at home which surely must be ready now. More anon on that if it has worked!

Now time to eat the cheese before the others get home.