Trust (When NOT in Japan)

Perhaps I was awfully lucky whilst in Japan (that's possible), but if asked to name the best Japanese thing, I would probably say that it's the way you can trust people to not mug you, betray you or be generally nasty.

Japan is a place where I saw people leave their wallets and mobiles unattended for a minute in shops and not be stolen. It's also the place where a charming lady found the scarf I'd just lost on temple grounds, and she went hunting for the owner of the scarf (I still have that scarf, thanks to that lady).

The entire country and the entire population isn't perfect, but that particular point is really awesome.

Today, I tried to trust someone the Japanese way, but I hope it's not going to come bite me... somewhere painful (but, yea... this post is a security of some sort because we're not in Japan).

The thing is, we've got passes to get our classroom keys in my college, and when we give the key back, we need our pass in order to open the door of the thingy where the keys are stored.

Tonight, the generally charming bloke who usually takes my key back was not in the mood to get up, and he told me he'd get my key back in storage soon. I trusted him, but if there's any problem with the key, I'll slap him. Literally.

I hope I won't have to growl, and I hope I was right to trust him...

*fingers crossed I won't have to update this post*

[Recipe] Sweetcorn Soup

Yes, it's not winter yet, but since the temps dropped so much, I'm sharing one of my favourite soups with you (and it doesn't take too long to make, which is a bonus).

You'll need:

* 400 g potatoes (confession time, I can't be bothered to weigh my ingredients these days, so I just choose four really big potatoes - the pink ones, they're fantastic in this)

* 150 g sweetcorn (I usually snatch a medium-size can)

* 1 small(ish) red sweet pepper 

* 1 leek (a big one)

* 1 big onion

* 2 cloves of garlic

* some oil

* 20 cl of crème fraiche

* 1 bay leaf

* salt & pepper

* 3/4 l water

1 - Finely cut the cloves, onion and leek and put them into a big pot. Add some oil (I favour olive oil, but use whatever you prefer to gently brown that kind of vegetables) and put the pot on medium heat.

If you can work on the other vegetables near your stove, you can add them the one after the other and it saves up to ten minutes (yes, I usually do this soup when I'm super hungry, and time is important. Why?).

2 - Whilst the first vegetables are very gently browning, cut the sweet pepper into small cubes (or whatever shape you'd like in your plate in the end; there's no rule, just suggestions).

You've got to stir that a bit. I like my onion and leek soft, but my sweet pepper still a tad crunchy. Add some salt.

3 - Next, peel (or not!) the potatoes and cut them into small cubes (or close enough), and add them to the mix.

4 - Stir the mix a bit, and then add the water. Add some more salt if need be, add pepper and the bay leaf.

Bring to a boil, and then lower the heat to a simmer for thirty minutes.

5 - Drain the sweetcorn, and add it to the mix:

Stir for 3 or 4 minutes:

(we could play "where's the bay leaf?" with these photos...)

6 - Last step, add the crème fraiche and stir:

(Houston, I can see the leaf!)

7 - Enjoy!