The difference between a tasty soup and one that tastes like dishwater lies in the soup stock. Heard of chicken stock cubes or other such soup stock cubes. I don't use them.

I like my soups healthy, without MSG or other food additives and those instant soup stocks, though they can make any dish tasty, do so with the addition of artificial flavorings, msg and other ingredients I'd rather exclude from my home cooked meals.

That means I have to make my soup stock from scratch. Those cubes would take away hours of cooking time. Just add to water and you've got a tasty soup base that is full of additives. The alternative, takes hours.

How to prepare a soup base from scratch

Start with bones (Preferably bones with meat on them). Chicken bones, pork bones, beef bones.

I buy a kilo of chicken feet each time I go to the market. It is cheap and makes a great soup base. Half kilo is enough for a soup that would feed the family.

Bones enough aren't enough. You need soup vegetables. On top of the half kilo of chicken feet, I'd get carrots, a large onion, potatoes, celery

Let's begin.

1. Put half a kilogram of chicken feet into the crock pot.
2. Add a large onion (peeled and sliced finely)
3. Add 2 medium potatoes and 3 large carrots (all peeled and sliced finely)
4. Put in finely sliced celery
5. Add in a handful of washed red dates
6. Top up the pot with boiling water and turn it on high
7. Let the soup boil for hours. I'd normally let the stock boil from 9am to 4pm to extract all the flavor from the bones and veggies
8. Remove all the ingredients, leaving only the liquid. That is your soup stock. You are now ready to prepare the actual soup.

A lot of work huh? That could be replaced by a cube, but this way produces a soup base that is far more nourishing and free of additives.

And now….soup is ON?

These bones do have meat on them and the soup is on…

The bones (with meat on them) are ready to boil.

As an accountant, here's my take on what is going on.

The "Rumor" mill has us understanding that there is something in the works along the lines of project financing.

You are probably asking "Who would finance a project like this?"

There is an Asset category on the Balance Sheet and within this category are line items such as "Performing Assets" and "Non-Performing Assets". The license we have for Ras Lanuf would most likely be classified in one of these categories. Wonder which one? The license does have a present value and most definitely a future value.

I’m sure that whoever is looking at providing project financing is well aware of this; the only question left is “What is the value?”

Wishing everyone Happy Holidays and a Blessed New Year,

Gumby1116