I realized this week, that I had more soups left in the Winter section than I had Sundays left in March. So I counted the soups. Despite the subtitle A Year's Worth of Mouthwatering, Easy-to-Make Recipes, there are 60 soups in the book, 15 for each season.
Deciding that if I can't make them all, I want to choose which ones I skip, I started thumbing through the book. And that's when I discovered a St. Patrick's Day soup (at the end of the Spring section, which is wrong by any measure).
So on Thursday I made Corned Beef and Cabbage Soup--"Under Cover" (in ramekins with puffed-pastry crust). It was easy to make during my lunch hour (it needs to be refrigerated for an hour) and is easily the most tasty corned-beef dish I've eaten.
Five thumbs up.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Sunday Soup 10 and 11
Okra and I seem destined never to meet. One of the stories from the early days of my parents' marriage that entered our family lore (along with The Crazy Landlady and the Columbus Day Storm and Make Sure You Take Your Checkbook to the Grocery Store) is The Time Mom Made Okra.
Canned okra was on sale, you see, and they were trying to be frugal. Both of them agreed that the results were awful, and as a result, Mom never again served okra. Considering she used to feed us liver and onions and daily doses of cod liver oil, I think that's saying something. I grew up convinced that okra was the worst food in the world. Or at least America.
So when I looked at Soup 10 (Gulf Coast Shrimp Gumbo) and realized it had okra in it, I was dubious. Still, I promised to work my way through the cookbook, so off I went to get okra.
As it turns out, that's not an easy thing to do around here. I checked the produce and frozen food sections of both grocery stores, and neither had okra. I had suspected it might be difficult to find, so I had researched substitutions ahead of time, and purchased some asparagus. Not being able to find the andouille sausage, since I'd seen some last month, was unexpected. Pulling out my trusty cell phone (90% of all my cell phone calls are made from a store to home), I called Michael and asked him to google substitutions.
So, I can't actually tell you how Gulf Coast Shrimp Gumbo tastes. Apparently, a soup can't even be called gumbo if there isn't okra. However, Gulf Coast Shrimp Soup with Asparagus and Chorizo Sausage got five thumbs up.
Okra eluded me again.
Today I made Fennel X Two Soup with Vegetable Pitas with Goat Cheese and Fresh Herbs.
The soup is six cups of chopped fennel, one potato, two onions and some chicken broth, simmered, pureed, and mixed with cream that has been infused with tarragon and crushed fennel seed. Very tasty.
The goat cheese, fresh basil, and kalamata olives made the vegetable pitas especially yummy, although I think next time I'll reduce the salt slightly. Again, five thumbs up for both soup and sandwich, although NB notes that the pita is a bit messy to eat.
Canned okra was on sale, you see, and they were trying to be frugal. Both of them agreed that the results were awful, and as a result, Mom never again served okra. Considering she used to feed us liver and onions and daily doses of cod liver oil, I think that's saying something. I grew up convinced that okra was the worst food in the world. Or at least America.
So when I looked at Soup 10 (Gulf Coast Shrimp Gumbo) and realized it had okra in it, I was dubious. Still, I promised to work my way through the cookbook, so off I went to get okra.
As it turns out, that's not an easy thing to do around here. I checked the produce and frozen food sections of both grocery stores, and neither had okra. I had suspected it might be difficult to find, so I had researched substitutions ahead of time, and purchased some asparagus. Not being able to find the andouille sausage, since I'd seen some last month, was unexpected. Pulling out my trusty cell phone (90% of all my cell phone calls are made from a store to home), I called Michael and asked him to google substitutions.
So, I can't actually tell you how Gulf Coast Shrimp Gumbo tastes. Apparently, a soup can't even be called gumbo if there isn't okra. However, Gulf Coast Shrimp Soup with Asparagus and Chorizo Sausage got five thumbs up.
Okra eluded me again.
Today I made Fennel X Two Soup with Vegetable Pitas with Goat Cheese and Fresh Herbs.
The soup is six cups of chopped fennel, one potato, two onions and some chicken broth, simmered, pureed, and mixed with cream that has been infused with tarragon and crushed fennel seed. Very tasty.
The goat cheese, fresh basil, and kalamata olives made the vegetable pitas especially yummy, although I think next time I'll reduce the salt slightly. Again, five thumbs up for both soup and sandwich, although NB notes that the pita is a bit messy to eat.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
February's Reading
Wedding Season--This book delivered what I've come to expect from Katie Fforde: rural English setting, a protagonist focused on a traditionally feminine trade, some romance. I preferred other books by this author, but I'm not sure if that's because I'm tired of the pattern or the quality slipped.
Operation Mincemeat--I really enjoyed this account of trickery during World War II. It tells the story of a successful scheme to convince the Nazis that the Allies were not going to attack Sicily from North Africa. The British fooled the Nazis by placing fake documents on a dead body off the coast of Spain.
In this book I (briefly) met the inspiration for Q of James Bond fame (did you know Ian Flemming was in British intelligence during WWII?):
[Charles] Fraser-Smith [of "Q"-Branch] possessed a wildly ingenious but supremely practical mind. He invented garlic-flavored chocolate to be consumed by agents parachuting into France in order that their breath should smell appropriately Gallic as soon as they landed; he made shoelaces containing a vicious steel garrote; he created a compass hidden in a button that unscrewed clockwise, based on the impeccable theory that the "unswerving logic of the German mind" would never guess that something might unscrew the wrong way. 112, 114
I found the conclusion stirring:
But [wars] are also won by feats of imagination. Amateur, unpublished novelists, the framers of Operation Mincemeat, dreamed up the most unlikely concatenation of events, rendered them believable, and sent them off to war, changing reality through lateral thinking and proving that it is possible to win a battle fought in the mind, from behind a desk, and from beyond the grave. Operation Mincemeat was pure make-believe, and it made Hitler believe something that changed the course of history. 295-296
I definitely recommend this book. There are fascinating bits all the way through.
Water Witches--My Pilates teacher passed this to me. It's a novel about dousers and the ski industry in Vermont. I found it an enjoyable but unmemorable read.
The Imperfectionists--I read this one for book group. Every chapter is told from the perspective of a different person affiliated with an international English-language newspaper. Perhaps unsurprisingly, my favorite chapter was one about the corrections editor. He rants about the use "literally" and his chapter is one of the happiest.
* literally: This word should be deleted. All too often, actions described as "literally" did not happen at all. As in, "He literally jumped out of his skin." No, he did not. Though if he literally had, I'd suggest raising the element and proposing the piece for page one. Inserting "literally" willy-nilly reinforces the notion that breathless nitwits lurk within this newsroom. Eliminate on sight--the usage, not the nitwits. The nitwits are to be captured and placed in the cages I have set up in the subbasement. See also: Excessive Dashes; Exclamation Points; and Nitwits. 84-85
Room--The best book of the year so far, and I'll be surprised if it doesn't end up in the top five come New Year's Eve. Like The Poisonwood Bible, this book gave me a new view on life and parenting that will return to mind again and again in the years ahead. I almost didn't read it because the subject matter seemed so disturbing, but I'm very glad I did. Haunting, horrible, and hopeful.
Operation Mincemeat--I really enjoyed this account of trickery during World War II. It tells the story of a successful scheme to convince the Nazis that the Allies were not going to attack Sicily from North Africa. The British fooled the Nazis by placing fake documents on a dead body off the coast of Spain.
In this book I (briefly) met the inspiration for Q of James Bond fame (did you know Ian Flemming was in British intelligence during WWII?):
[Charles] Fraser-Smith [of "Q"-Branch] possessed a wildly ingenious but supremely practical mind. He invented garlic-flavored chocolate to be consumed by agents parachuting into France in order that their breath should smell appropriately Gallic as soon as they landed; he made shoelaces containing a vicious steel garrote; he created a compass hidden in a button that unscrewed clockwise, based on the impeccable theory that the "unswerving logic of the German mind" would never guess that something might unscrew the wrong way. 112, 114
I found the conclusion stirring:
But [wars] are also won by feats of imagination. Amateur, unpublished novelists, the framers of Operation Mincemeat, dreamed up the most unlikely concatenation of events, rendered them believable, and sent them off to war, changing reality through lateral thinking and proving that it is possible to win a battle fought in the mind, from behind a desk, and from beyond the grave. Operation Mincemeat was pure make-believe, and it made Hitler believe something that changed the course of history. 295-296
I definitely recommend this book. There are fascinating bits all the way through.
Water Witches--My Pilates teacher passed this to me. It's a novel about dousers and the ski industry in Vermont. I found it an enjoyable but unmemorable read.
The Imperfectionists--I read this one for book group. Every chapter is told from the perspective of a different person affiliated with an international English-language newspaper. Perhaps unsurprisingly, my favorite chapter was one about the corrections editor. He rants about the use "literally" and his chapter is one of the happiest.
* literally: This word should be deleted. All too often, actions described as "literally" did not happen at all. As in, "He literally jumped out of his skin." No, he did not. Though if he literally had, I'd suggest raising the element and proposing the piece for page one. Inserting "literally" willy-nilly reinforces the notion that breathless nitwits lurk within this newsroom. Eliminate on sight--the usage, not the nitwits. The nitwits are to be captured and placed in the cages I have set up in the subbasement. See also: Excessive Dashes; Exclamation Points; and Nitwits. 84-85
Room--The best book of the year so far, and I'll be surprised if it doesn't end up in the top five come New Year's Eve. Like The Poisonwood Bible, this book gave me a new view on life and parenting that will return to mind again and again in the years ahead. I almost didn't read it because the subject matter seemed so disturbing, but I'm very glad I did. Haunting, horrible, and hopeful.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Town Meeting Day
Today was Town Meeting Day, when voters across the state meet to approve budgets and pass resolutions. I love it.
Our local Fourth of July celebration is more Guy Fawkes than God Bless America, so Town Meeting Day is our greatest group demonstration of commitment to democracy. Some things (the inter-town high school budget and election of officials) are done by ballot in the voting booth, but the issues? The issues we hash out in open debate and voice vote ("all in favor say 'Aye!").
You need a thick skin to serve on a town board. Every town has a crank or two, and Town Meeting Day gives them access to an open mike. And then there are the non-crank but very blunt native New Englanders. ("George, what the hell are you talking about? Just quit the stories and tell us what you want.") Any line in the budget is up for critique, and people in the audience are routinely called on to dredge up the history of certain issues or subcommittee reports.
Today's meeting was relatively free of drama. The two issues I thought would be most controversial going in (the elementary school budget and a large paving project) both passed with nary a nay vote. The cemetery was a sneaker issue, generating far more debate than I expected. And there was one laughable moment, when a woman insisted we should ask nearby towns to help us fund the paving project, since they used the road too.
Due to a computer crisis and orthodontist appointment, I wasn't able to stay for the potluck lunch or the final resolutions (mostly housecleaning), but all in all it was a good day for democracy.
Here's to government of the people, by the people, for the people.
Our local Fourth of July celebration is more Guy Fawkes than God Bless America, so Town Meeting Day is our greatest group demonstration of commitment to democracy. Some things (the inter-town high school budget and election of officials) are done by ballot in the voting booth, but the issues? The issues we hash out in open debate and voice vote ("all in favor say 'Aye!").
You need a thick skin to serve on a town board. Every town has a crank or two, and Town Meeting Day gives them access to an open mike. And then there are the non-crank but very blunt native New Englanders. ("George, what the hell are you talking about? Just quit the stories and tell us what you want.") Any line in the budget is up for critique, and people in the audience are routinely called on to dredge up the history of certain issues or subcommittee reports.
Today's meeting was relatively free of drama. The two issues I thought would be most controversial going in (the elementary school budget and a large paving project) both passed with nary a nay vote. The cemetery was a sneaker issue, generating far more debate than I expected. And there was one laughable moment, when a woman insisted we should ask nearby towns to help us fund the paving project, since they used the road too.
Due to a computer crisis and orthodontist appointment, I wasn't able to stay for the potluck lunch or the final resolutions (mostly housecleaning), but all in all it was a good day for democracy.
Here's to government of the people, by the people, for the people.
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