Sunday, November 29, 2009

Not tonight, I have a headache...

I tried to get out of blogging by asking The Sous Chef to blog for me because I've had a headache since yesterday. She laughed. Apparently she has no sympathy for me because I told her that if she really did get food poisoning this past week from eating at the golden arches, well, that's what she gets for eating there. She didn't like that much, so here I am blogging. She did help with the dishes though...she loaded all the dirty spoons into the dishwasher!

I also tried to get The Southerner to blog, but he's too busy practicing all the cool stuff he's going to play next weekend at his third annual benefit gig, Concert For The Commons (which, by the way, is sold out, but it is probable a Sunday show will be added so if you live on the island and you want a second show to happen, add your name to the waiting list at Artworks). A house full of music is lovely though, so I'm not complaining.

We had a very nice, rather quiet evening. The power stayed on the whole time, and the soup was a hit. Someone asked what it was called and I said, "What I had in the fridge soup." It's true. Last night at nine o'clock, I still didn't know what I was going to make, so I looked in the fridge. I made a very nice soup out of leeks, a parsnip (grown by The Farmers), carrots, and potatoes (grown by The Southerner) and some seasonings. I basically simmered it all in water, removed half the vegetables, pureed the rest, put the veggies back in, and seasoned it all with salt and pepper and a secret spice (okay, Penzey's ranch dressing mix).

And that's about it here! Have a great week and eat well. Oh, and if there is a second show, never fear, Sunday Soup will go on as scheduled...The Neighbour will hold the fort down until we get back around 5pm.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

All right...who turned out the lights?

The soup was bubbling in the pot, the biscuits were hot out of the oven, and luckily The Southerner had a roarin' good fire going in the woodstove because The Crowd was still coming through the doors when the power went out. Our first Blackout Sunday Soup! How exciting.

We soon discovered that while we're well stocked with candles, we're lacking in holders. But we made do with some old dishes and before we knew it, The Fix-it Guy was dishing up Borscht for everyone and even serving it to them around the table (it's usually serve-yourself)!

Just about the time that we were going to send out a search party for The Neighbour, she came hobbling in...turns out she had her knee surgery a bit early, but didn't tell any of us because she didn't want to bother us! Can you believe it? Tomorrow we are banding together to stock her house with kindling, food, and good books and The Southerner made sure she got home okay tonight. He was going to drive her, but they decided it would take three times as long to go down our long driveway, around the block, and into her driveway rather than just walk through our backyards. Plus she would've had to climb into the truck.

It was a lovely candlelit Sunday Soup and the power just came on a few minutes ago, well after everyone had left and we'd heated our vegetable curry on the woodstove (and I made rice which was actually better than on the regular stove!) and eaten it. I'd even cleaned up by candlelight while The Southerner practiced guitar for his upcoming gig. You really should go to it on December 5th, if you're on the island. It's going to be a cavalcade of stars - The Fix-it Guy, The Fiddler, The Irish One, The Musician, and others are going to join The Southerner all in a benefit for the Commons!

Oh, and yes...I do realize I let everyone down by not posting last week. The Sous Chef pointed this out several times, which caused me to suggest that perhaps The Sous Chef should take over the blog, since that seems like a perfect job for a sous chef. But as she pointed out, she doesn't know how to use capital letters in emails so she probably wouldn't in a blog post which would drive me INSANE. Oh, wait... what I meant to say is that she pointed out that while she often helps cook she is rarely actually present for SS.

Anyway, while I did not post last week, I will tell you that we had Chocolate Chili and bread and a very special guest. The Poetess came all the way from Tennessee to visit for a week, and also to attend the poetry festival. Oh, and to teach a wonderful Yoga For Writers workshop. So I'm sorry I didn't blog, but I was just worn out from all the fun we had running around, showing her the island!

Today's soup was borscht. I made it for three reasons. The first two are because The Fix-it Guy and The Musician have been requesting it for months. The third reason is because The Farmers gave me the beets, the greens, the dill, and the recipe, so what could I say, "Ummm...thanks, but I hate beets?" No. My mother raised me to have more manners than that. So on Friday night, The Sous Chef and I made the soup and guess what? It was really good. And everyone loved it. Even The Southerner ate some and he has a "No meat, no beet" food policy. I still am not a big fan of beets, but I could definitely make this again next year and be happy about it.

So...until next week...Eat Well.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

vacation?

I know I never posted this week. I'll double up with great stuff next week.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Nice & Relaxed

Tonight's SS was nice and relaxed. We had the group of regulars and there wasn't any ukulele practice so it was quiet (we loved the uke practice, don't get me wrong, y'all come back!). I've been reading the Betsy-Tacy books lately, and as you know, Sunday Soup got started because of them (if you don't know the story, look to the left hand side of this blog). In the book, all Betsy's friends are affectionately called The Crowd. I think that's what I'm going to start calling the regulars.

Today, we had The Crowd in for mushroom, lentil, tomato soup. It was a yummy soup...in fact, I'm eating a bowl now and The Southerner ate about four bowls so I didn't even have to cook him dinner after everyone left. AND he did the dishes. He's a keeper.

That's about it for today. Oh, except this news! Late last week, I received the galleys or ARCs (advance reading copies) of my book! These look like a paperback version of my book, but they're uncorrected - meaning, I've made some changes since they went to print. Still, they're way cool! They are for reviewers and booksellers, but my publisher gave me a few, which leads me to this story: You're probably wondering if the Sous Chef helped make this soup. She did not. She came over to make it, but...this is what she did instead!

Sunday, November 1, 2009

The Best

If you were at Sunday Soup tonight, you might have thought it was awards night. Through much discussion, it was determined that we apparently had the best of everything tonight.

The pumpkin-peach soup was declared The Best Soup Ever by The Neighbour.
The Writer's apple pie was crowned The Best Apple Pie So Far (it was only given the "so far" award because we hope he'll keep trying to surpass it so we can test it for him).
The seed & fennel bread was declared The Best Bread in Recent Memory by many.
The Fleece Lady's artichoke dip was deemed the very yummiest, bestest ever, please-bring-again every week by me, The Chef. Oh, yum! I don't even need dinner now.

I think we also should give an award for The Best Crowd for a non-party Sunday Soup. There were simply zillions of us! Way more than I can count. And just as the first wave was putting on coats to leave, a bunch more people arrived with ukuleles and wine and the party got going all over again.

There is one more prize to give out though. It is for Best Hair.
The Southerner models The Fleece Lady's Halloween wig.