Today is our 5th wedding anniversary, so The Southerner and I pulled out all the stops. There was butter soup (also known as tomato-orange, but really...if you list the ingredients by volume, you should also call it what it is), cornbread muffins, and fresh peach cobbler with real whipped cream. Can you feel your arteries hardening as you read this?
It was lovely and sunny, but not too warm. The Brits have gone back to the UK for a spell and so last night they came over for bit of farewell supper. Even though they know us well, and are our good friends, we felt it necessary to clean the house, which actually turned out great because today all we had to do was lounge around! They will be missed though, and we look forward to their imminent return.
I'm really having troulbe (sic) writing this post because quite honestly, I'm drifting off to sleep. The laptop is warm in my lap, the big blue chair is so comfy, and we just had a wonderful dinner of leftover homemade pizza, leftover alfreddo, and leftover salad (now you know why it was so wonderful...all I had to do was heat it up), so I'm full and happy. And dozy...zzzz.
Oh, wait. What was I saying? Sunday Soup...that's right. We had a nice big group, and The Irish One brought some guests so there were new people here too. The Fix-it Guy and The Fleece Lady did not make it because they had to go drink margaritas at someone else's house, er...had another social obligation. But I saved them soup because that's just the kind of hostess I am. I understand that free alcohol takes precedence over soup...even tomato-orange soup.
Five years ago, I made our wedding cake so I usually make a smaller version of it on our anniversary - a delicious carrot cake from the New York Times Cookbook, but this year I didn't have any carrots, so I thought I'd just make a zucchini cake (who would really care? I mean, cake is cake). But then I didn't have any white flour! Seriously (thus cornbread muffins), so rather than go all the way to the store - 2 miles round trip - I made a cobbler with whole wheat flour. Delish. Anyway, did I ever tell you the story about when I decided to make our wedding cake? I think you should check it out here.
By the way, if you live on our island, don't forget The Southerner is doing a gig this Friday at The Roxy! It's going to be great fun. How do I know? Because he's been playing at the kitchen table while I peel and slice peaches for freezing (30lbs so far, 10lbs to go!). Hope to see you there. Have a great week!
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Old Reliable
When I say "Old Reliable" I'm talking about the soup, not The Southerner. Although he is reliable, he's not that old. I ditched my idea of a month of zucchini soups. Not because I didn't have any, I do...in fact, The Southerner is sauteeing some up right this minute for our supper. Anyway, I just decided that this weekend was pretty busy and so I went for simple & easy. I made potato-leek soup. I got the leeks from The Farmers and the potatoes at the Village and that's pretty much it. Oh, a little half & half too. The soup basically takes about as long to make as it takes you to cut up the leeks and potatoes, plus maybe a half hour of cooking time and five minutes to puree it and add the cream. And yet...it's one of the SS favourites. And mine too. Yumm...I learned to make it from Julia Child when she guest starred on Live With Emeril. The basics are: 3 cups potatoes, 3 cups leeks, cooked in 6 cups of water with 1.5 tsp of salt. Puree when soft. Add warm cream to taste. Voila. Fini!
Speaking of Julia, have y'all seen the movie Julie and Julia? I haven't, but I read the book and it was fantastic. Oh, no! The Southerner has just given me a two minute warning for supper. I better type fast. Lots of people, good conversations, soup, bread, watermelon, dip and chips, great day. Hope yours was too. Food is being plated! Gotta run. More next week.
The Southerner just said, "Okay...soup's on." Haha!
Speaking of Julia, have y'all seen the movie Julie and Julia? I haven't, but I read the book and it was fantastic. Oh, no! The Southerner has just given me a two minute warning for supper. I better type fast. Lots of people, good conversations, soup, bread, watermelon, dip and chips, great day. Hope yours was too. Food is being plated! Gotta run. More next week.
The Southerner just said, "Okay...soup's on." Haha!
Sunday, August 16, 2009
A Zucchini by any other name is a Courgette
A while back, The Fix-it Guy asked me what soup I was making next. I had just made Curried Zucchini and I told him that since we had the squash coming out of our ears, I had decided to make a month (at least) of soups featuring the gorgeous green vegetable. He sort of grimaced like he thought that was a bad idea, but I would not be stopped (much like the zucchini plant in our garden).
Last week our pesto based vegetable soup featured an abundance of diced zucchini. I have carried on with my plan this week, and today we had a lovely Shredded Courgettes with Orzo Soup. Even though you hear that the French are rivals of the British, for some reason the British like to use some of their words...like courgettes for zucchini, and the Canadians have joined them. While everyone I know around here says zucchini, my Canadian cookbook called this soup Courgettes and Pasta (pronounced paaaasta - like "at" or "cat" - I have no idea why, but also a British pronounciation - or travesty if you're The Southerner!).
I was hoping that by calling it Courgettes and Pasta Soup, I could trick The Fix-it Guy into eating it, but guess what? He hasn't shown up in in a month of Sundays. Three weeks ago, we were on hiatus, then last week he was supposedly too tired. And this week, I've heard he's "off island," but I think maybe he's just afraid of my outstanding cooking abilities, because if he tasted Courgettes & Pasta Soup, then he would have to admit that it IS possible to make a month's worth of yummy zucchini soups (or three weeks, at least).
The Farmers gave me the onions, and I had everything else on hand, so all I had to buy was some gorgeous flat leaf parsley at the market yesterday. With the aid of my thirty year old food processor (it was my mother-in-law's), I made short work of that five pound zucchini that nearly got away from us (FYI, in spite of the fact that everyone tells you to "eat the small ones," there's nothing wrong with huge zukes, just cut them up and remove the seeds and they're fine for company for soup. ).
We had a very nice, somewhat small gathering today - Me, The Southerner, The Neighbour, The Musician, and The Boaters. One of The Boaters has been here before, but today the whole Boating Family came, which was really nice. The Southerner had picked a load of blackberries, so I made a blackberry chipotle sauce (which I KNOW The Fix-it Guy would've loved) and served it over cream cheese with crackers, just for fun and variety. Total Yum. I'm just sayin'.
Nice day, great company, and delish food. Wish y'all were here. Maybe next week, when we'll be having...how do you say zucchini in German?
Last week our pesto based vegetable soup featured an abundance of diced zucchini. I have carried on with my plan this week, and today we had a lovely Shredded Courgettes with Orzo Soup. Even though you hear that the French are rivals of the British, for some reason the British like to use some of their words...like courgettes for zucchini, and the Canadians have joined them. While everyone I know around here says zucchini, my Canadian cookbook called this soup Courgettes and Pasta (pronounced paaaasta - like "at" or "cat" - I have no idea why, but also a British pronounciation - or travesty if you're The Southerner!).
I was hoping that by calling it Courgettes and Pasta Soup, I could trick The Fix-it Guy into eating it, but guess what? He hasn't shown up in in a month of Sundays. Three weeks ago, we were on hiatus, then last week he was supposedly too tired. And this week, I've heard he's "off island," but I think maybe he's just afraid of my outstanding cooking abilities, because if he tasted Courgettes & Pasta Soup, then he would have to admit that it IS possible to make a month's worth of yummy zucchini soups (or three weeks, at least).
The Farmers gave me the onions, and I had everything else on hand, so all I had to buy was some gorgeous flat leaf parsley at the market yesterday. With the aid of my thirty year old food processor (it was my mother-in-law's), I made short work of that five pound zucchini that nearly got away from us (FYI, in spite of the fact that everyone tells you to "eat the small ones," there's nothing wrong with huge zukes, just cut them up and remove the seeds and they're fine
We had a very nice, somewhat small gathering today - Me, The Southerner, The Neighbour, The Musician, and The Boaters. One of The Boaters has been here before, but today the whole Boating Family came, which was really nice. The Southerner had picked a load of blackberries, so I made a blackberry chipotle sauce (which I KNOW The Fix-it Guy would've loved) and served it over cream cheese with crackers, just for fun and variety. Total Yum. I'm just sayin'.
Nice day, great company, and delish food. Wish y'all were here. Maybe next week, when we'll be having...how do you say zucchini in German?
Sunday, August 9, 2009
One Drop Per Acre
We were promised rain this weekend, and the gardens really need it, but so far we've gotten what Farmer Ralph calls "one drop per acre". A few big, fat, scattered drops. On the plus side, we got to have Sunday Soup out on the porch, which is always nice.
Today I made a variation on a soup I made last year called Green Goddess. It's essentially a vegetable soup with anything green or white in a pesto broth. Well, maybe not anything green...I mean, I didn't put in the mouldy cheese from the back of the fridge (that's more blue-ish anyway).
It did have (in no set amount):
green beans
purple beans (green on the inside)
edamame
chard
leeks
onion
potatoes
white beans
soy beans
water
salt & pepper
and a bunch of fresh basil pesto
I think it turned out pretty well, which is good because there's quite a bit left. Oh, and zucchini! How could I forget the zucchini? I told The Fix-it Guy (the other day) that I was going to make a variation on zucchini soup every week for the next month. Maybe that's why he didn't come today. The Fleece Lady said he was just tired, but perhaps he feared the zucchini takeover.
The neighbour didn't come either. We're sending out a rescue squad any minute just to make sure she's all right. The Brits did come, which was nice as we haven't seen them in ages. Well, we saw they yesterday, but I mean at SS. Also, The Writer, The Real Estate Agent (who brought pie!!!), and The Musician came and we all had lots to eat and a nice chat.
The bread was a batter bread that I made up using two recipes because the one that was the flavour I liked was made with...get this...Pillsbury Hot Roll Mix. You have got to be kidding me! Hot Roll Mix? I did some checking on the internet to find out what exactly is in HRM and while I didn't find out specifics, I did discover that to use it you have to add oil, milk, eggs, water (depending on what kind of rolls you're making). Ummm...that's not a mix! That's flour! And maybe a tad bit of salt and baking powder. Puhleeze! Anyway, I found a different batter bread recipe for cheese bread, and added the sauteed Walla Walla Sweet onions and diced apple to it from the first recipe, and changed the cheese from cheddar to Swiss. All I can say is yum. All The Southerner could say after tasting it was, "Hide half of it for us for later." Done.
I missed y'all last week! It was so odd not having a Sunday Soup that all week I was confused about what day it was. I am glad we're back on schedule again. See you next week.
Today I made a variation on a soup I made last year called Green Goddess. It's essentially a vegetable soup with anything green or white in a pesto broth. Well, maybe not anything green...I mean, I didn't put in the mouldy cheese from the back of the fridge (that's more blue-ish anyway).
It did have (in no set amount):
green beans
purple beans (green on the inside)
edamame
chard
leeks
onion
potatoes
white beans
soy beans
water
salt & pepper
and a bunch of fresh basil pesto
I think it turned out pretty well, which is good because there's quite a bit left. Oh, and zucchini! How could I forget the zucchini? I told The Fix-it Guy (the other day) that I was going to make a variation on zucchini soup every week for the next month. Maybe that's why he didn't come today. The Fleece Lady said he was just tired, but perhaps he feared the zucchini takeover.
The neighbour didn't come either. We're sending out a rescue squad any minute just to make sure she's all right. The Brits did come, which was nice as we haven't seen them in ages. Well, we saw they yesterday, but I mean at SS. Also, The Writer, The Real Estate Agent (who brought pie!!!), and The Musician came and we all had lots to eat and a nice chat.
The bread was a batter bread that I made up using two recipes because the one that was the flavour I liked was made with...get this...Pillsbury Hot Roll Mix. You have got to be kidding me! Hot Roll Mix? I did some checking on the internet to find out what exactly is in HRM and while I didn't find out specifics, I did discover that to use it you have to add oil, milk, eggs, water (depending on what kind of rolls you're making). Ummm...that's not a mix! That's flour! And maybe a tad bit of salt and baking powder. Puhleeze! Anyway, I found a different batter bread recipe for cheese bread, and added the sauteed Walla Walla Sweet onions and diced apple to it from the first recipe, and changed the cheese from cheddar to Swiss. All I can say is yum. All The Southerner could say after tasting it was, "Hide half of it for us for later." Done.
I missed y'all last week! It was so odd not having a Sunday Soup that all week I was confused about what day it was. I am glad we're back on schedule again. See you next week.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)