Soup, bread and a giant bear

It's cooking time in the Pork chop household.

One child had decided to fall asleep while he was eating. Poor thing... shipped him off to his bed quick chop. I think all the dancing around in the morning has made him tired. We do a dance off in the morning whenever SBS has PopAsia on. I was so used to not knowing what the heck they were singing that I was puzzled why I could partly understand what G.E.M was yelling out. Sorry but G.E.M is no singer. I had to google and then I realised this is canto pop. HAHAHAHA!

Off to the supermarket and butcher as I had a hankering for lamb shank soup. You know when you had something once and you never had it again but it was so good that it stays on your mind for the longest time? This lamb shank soup took me ages to figure out and remember what was in it. I googled lots of recipes for ages just trying to match the ingredients. Anyway, it is now on the simmer and waiting for everything to tenderise and the lamb to melt away from the bone. BTW I think I have performed the cardinal sin of using frenched lamb shanks. So please forgive me while I whinge about how expensive it is.

The one thing that I really hate about cooking a soup is having to chop like a maniac. Everything has to be diced and who wants to dice root vegetables? This time I diced the vegetables while the onions were browning so the timing worked out. The soup is still simmering at this point so it remains to be seen whether it is a decent recipe. I used the following ingredients.

2 lamb shanks ($$$$)
2 onions and garlic
3 carrots
1 parsnip
2 celery sticks
2 litres of water
1/2-3/4 cup pearl barley
sprig thyme
1 bayleaf

Brown shanks and remove. Add onions and garlic while it is brown and caramelised. Chuck in your other vegetables and brown slightly. Add water, thyme, bay leaf, barley and return shanks in to simmer. I think I'll chuck in some soup pasta later too. OMG pasta...

I looked outside and I was wondering why this was in the sun. It appears that we are having focaccia with the soup. Mick had decided to make focaccia instead of bread. I have been giving him the uh huh when are you making bread? Like never? I am confused why it needs to be in the sun!?

I am not sure why I'm making lamb shank soup. Really.. we should be on money saving mode after our trip to Costco yesterday. Check out the big giant scary bear that was freaking the boys out in the store! LOLLL D still says oh that big bear is scary. $350 bucks later and a huge trolley of things where you are left wondering why you bought! OMG how does anyone keep their shopping in Costco under $300?

Edited to add: That lamb shank soup needed more body. I will have to use stock next time not water.