It’s Wednesday evening at 6 pm, and I’m making soup while listening to Lyle Lovett. I’m always telling people I hate country music . . . and I’m hoping Lyle doesn’t fall into that category since I love him so. He sings so many amazing songs, and they always lift my spirits.
So tonight I was singing along with Lyle and getting out ingredients for my soup when I soon realized I’m talking to the vegetables. “Tomatoes–you are positively squishy! You are definitely going into the soup! Old onion, you smell terrible. Hmmm, we’ll have to think about you. Carrots, you are extremely long in the tooth, but I think you’ll do just fine. I have my eye on you, red potatoes, haha! Get it, eye?? I’m sorry, broccoli, I don’t think you’ll be a good choice for this particular batch. Hope you don’t rot before someone eats you.” Then I made a sad face and placed the broccoli bag back in the crisper.
Should I be concerned about my mental health? I guess I should start worrying when the vegetables start talking back to me . . . I’m just glad the family is not around tonight so I can chit-chat with my soup ingredients without being mocked. With two adult children living with us this summer, I have to walk a fine line or else I find myself being teased by my wise-ass kids. I guess evidence of their snarky humor just shows we raised them right. (I feel it’s served me well in my own life.)
You may be asking, why is Mary making soup when today’s high temperature was 101 degrees? The answer is I was feeling guilty about all the veg going bad from the lovely fruit/veg box I picked up at Clark Park a week ago. What a bargain for only $20, but next time I will most definitely share it with a friend! I’ve taken some fruit to school for our preschool snack, and gave a huge bag of Brusell sprouts to our friend, Chuck. (We are anti-cabbage here in the Vaughan household.)
In other news is the Terrible Annual Return of the Bark Scorpions. I take my black light and an old flip flop out back every few days for a scorp hunt, and so far this Spring the grand kill total is 38. We had one in the house last week which Hubby decided to kill by squishing it in a paper napkin. Let’s just say that didn’t go well, and he had a numb thumb for three days. Another big number in my life is FIVE. As in, FIVE DAYS LEFT OF SCHOOL!!!!! Woot woot. I’m really not sure what I’ll do with myself, but I know I’m looking forward to getting more sleep.
Lastly, I believe it may be time to take a break with Words with Friends since I’ve been playing the game in my dreams. That can’t be good. Some of my favorite, long-time WWF opponents have seemingly dropped off the planet. To me it’s more fun to play the same people (all strangers) day after day. For example, I try harder after Chocolate Thunder (this is a real person) has beaten me four times in a row!
My (mostly) carrot soup is now happy and is ready to be blended (recipe below). Tonight I added an old jalapeno and two extra tomatoes. Goodnight!
Do you Carrot All? Soup
2 teaspoons butter
5 large potatoes, skinned and chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 jalepeno pepper, seeds removed, diced
6 large carrots, skinned and chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
32 ounces chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 cup chicken shmaltz
In a big-ass soup pot, melt butter and stir in vegetables. Cook for ten minutes, stirring constantly. Add shmaltz and vegetable stock. Cover and cook for an hour, or until potatoes and carrots are soft. (Sometimes I precook the carrots and potatoes in the microwave to speed up the process.) Using an immersion blender, blend until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Cheers,
Mary