Friendships are our emotional nutrition. And like the food we eat, the company we keep can well nourish us or not. As Ed Sheeran says in his song, Save Myself, “…human beings are destined to radiate or drain.” When we are able to be ourselves and interact with authenticity and integrity, with a dash of caring, a pinch of love, a sprinkling of curiosity, and a cup of humour, we can be those who radiate.

Friendship comes with a responsibility. This responsibility is about sharing and caring. And its not necessarily about being there all the time, but it is about being there at the right time, about being available, about being vulnerable, about acceptance and sharing some of the things in life we each value.

I live in a small community where the proximity to one another allows our friendship networks to share many things. For instance, unbeknown to a friend the other day, my health had been significantly compromised. However, he brought me great joy by presenting me with a beautiful pumpkin he'd grown in his garden (see photo below) — almost in the shape of a treble clef — along with pumpkin soup for our lunch together.  I thought it would make a change to include a recipe for this week’s blog. As always, however, I can never stick to a recipe. Here is his recipe, probably a little bit adapted by me. It is the soup we shared, and very much enjoyed, for our lunch. I hope you like it as much as I did.

Pumpkin and coconut soup

ROAST:

1 kilo of pumpkin, diced
1 sweet potato, cut in pieces
1 carrot,  cut in pieces

Then:
BROWN one leek/onion/shallots sliced finely in 1 T ghee with ¼ t of minced fresh ginger or turmeric
ADD pinch of curry powder, pinch of celtic salt, and pinch of chilli flakes
STIR IN 2 T of coconut milk and 700 ml of chicken stock
ADD the roasted pumpkin, sweet potato, and carrot
SIMMER for 20 minutes.
BLEND and serve with thick kefir/yoghurt/sour cream and fresh coriander