1 – My sister might send us a box of mandarins from California’s Central Valley. She and her husband grow these very fancy Dekopons, as they are known in Japan, under the label Sumo. You aren’t likely to see many of them in our U.S. stores for a while, but I just read that in Japan they already have Dekopon chewing gum.
They are awfully good, large and seedless and easy to peel, with a taste that reminds me of the fruits that we children gorged on from our father’s trees many decades ago, and which I still will savor if I get down there at the right time of year.
2 – I might decide to make a giant pot of vegetable and bean soup to last us through Lent and beyond. This is the Bean Soup Mix after soaking all night. The small brown beans are Tepary beans I bought at a farmers’ market years ago; I found them in the pantry and threw them into the lot.
3 – My CSA box might contain a pale green and spikey cauliflower, which they call Romanesco. I chopped it up put it into the soup, so I don’t know if it tastes any different from the usual cauliflower. But it looks interesting.
4 – The osmanthus might bloom, so that when I come up the sidewalk to the front door I swoon over its sweetness, and decide to cut some branches to bring inside.
It’s warm enough now that I felt safe sticking two of my old orchids out on the patio; the only one that bloomed I put in the garage. I’ve gotten so used to them, I might buy a blooming plant to have in the house if Costco is still selling them.
All these things DID happen. I’m loving Lent and Spring.
Gladsome Lights 
Lots of good “mights” to look forward to. I miss that lovely osmanthus fragrance now that we have moved. Maybe I will plant one here. Enjoy your bean soup! The Romanesco is certainly fascinating to look at. A blessed Lent to you, Gretchen.
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There are very few foods as comforting as bean soup, especially one that morphs over time…IF you can keep from eating it all at one sitting!
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Looks like some delicious citrus…hope your sister reads this and gives you some of hers when they are ready! ♥ I made a 16 bean soup this week that looked very much like yours. Spikey…so pretty and I bet good for you!
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Martha, maybe my silly “maybes” didn't make it clear that my sister did send us some, but through their packing house, so they *might* have been from her grove.
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Yummy! I am wearing satsuma lotion and I have a spray mist, too. I wish I had a tangelo right now. I would eat it and think of you, my friend.
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The fruit looks so delicious. I hope you get some. I had a hankering for split pea soup this week, but didn't have any peas in the pantry, but I did have lentils so we had lentil soup with carrot, celery, onion, and a little ham. Delish!
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Gumbo Lily, I did get some, I did! A box of nine, to be exact. Pom Pom, they are not tangelos, but I can understand why you would think of me now when eating a tangelo. Here are two articles that tell more about how they aren't:
http://dailywaffle.com/2012/02/14/in-season-get-your-dekopon-on/
http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?t=1139648
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Yummy! Such beautiful beans and even your soup is beautiful which is really saying something. I like the green cauliflower. Blessings!
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You might have made soup with cauliflower from outer space!
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I like your list and your soup looks so yummy and the fruit is fantastic.
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oh, how lovely; I am hoping to make a soup this week; my list of 'to do this week' is way too long and I did not even put the veg chili and corn bread I hoped to make. sigh. looks like a lot of yummy things here! Blessed week 2 of Lent!!f
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What a fun posting… that soup sure looks delicious.
Many blessings for the day…
Brenda
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GJ, your aromatic omanthus reminds me that I had a large one at our house in Statesville. You helped me know what it was. How I miss its sweetness this time of year! I have not seen one here in Oriental. Ah well. Please enjoy it for us both, will you? Have you considered keeping the peel from that beautiful citrus fruit and candying it and eating it? It's so very good.
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Yummy! Nothing like a bowl of homemade soup.
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The soup does look yummy! I am a fan of bean soup.
We call that broccoli “dinosaur broccoli” 🙂
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