Question Wednesday: Changing Seasons

Once again, Hump Day is upon us. Doesn't the week go by so fast! Wednesday means it's time for Nykki from Nykki's Mane Blog's Question Wednesday. This weeks questions are all about the seasons.

1. What is your favorite season? What colors, scents, tastes, sounds do you associate with it?

Definitely Spring. It's not too hot and not too cold. I definitely associate it with bright colours and pastels and the smell of jasmine at night. I'm a fiend for the smell of night blooming jasmine.

2. What are your favorite and least favorite parts of each season?

In Winter I love curling up under a warm blanket, but I'm not a fan of the freezing cold mornings. In Spring, I love the smells and temperature and feeling in the air, but I'm not a fan of the mosquitoes that start breeding and head straight for my house. In Summer I love all the sunshine and swimming, but don't like the (inevitable) sunburn. In Autumn I love the cooling weather but not the months of torrential rain.

3. Do you have any seasonal disorders (SAD, allergies, the fall dread of school starting up or celebration of same...)?

I don't think so. I tend to experience some anxiety in the cooler months that I don't really get when it's warm.

4. How do you change your beauty routine as the seasons change? Do you use different products, or just different colors? (Or less makeup during one season, or more during another?)

My skin changes drastically between the warm and cooler months, so I change up my routine mostly because of that. When it's warm, my skin is combination/oily, and in Winter it is very dry, so my skincare is a bit lighter on moisturising in Summer. I also change founation, preferring a matte and lighter one in Summer and a medium to full coverage one with a natural finish in winter. 

5. Share your favorite winter or summer recipe! A salad, a sandwich, a dessert, a drink...anything.

For Winter, I will share my incredibly easy recipe for the yummiest pumpkin soup ever (well I think is is anyway). I am yet to meet a person who doesn't like this soup, including my fiance who doesn't like other pumpkin soups. You will need:

• 1 kg of pumpkin - I like to use butternut pumpkin, which I think is called butternut squash elsewhere, for the flavour
• 1/2 kg of potatoes
• 150 grams of shortcut bacon
• 1 brown onion
• Chicken stock

Then, you just peel and chop the pumpkin and potatoes into chunks, and set them aside. Then dice the onion and bacon, and saute them over high heat in a big pot with some olive oil, until the onion starts to soften. Add the pumpkin and potato and stir through. Add enough chicken stock to just cover the pots contents and bring to the boil. Turn it down to a simmer and cook until the potato and pumpkin mash easily with a fork. Then blend the whole thing up until smooth. If it's too thick, just add some more chicken stock at this point. And that's it!

For Summer, I will share my favourite salad dressing. It's light and fresh and goes amazingly with any salad with pear or avocado in it. To make it, all you have to do is combine 4 tablespoons of lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of honey, 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, some salt and pepper. These measurements are just approximate, because I usually don't measure anything and make it by taste, so feel free to add more or less of anything to make it suit your taste.

I can't wait to see everyone's answers (in particular question 5)!