a snowy soup tromp

Sunday December 21st was one of the snowiest days of this winter, and actually, one of the snowiest days I've ever seen in my whole life. There was already several inches on the ground and it kept coming down in huge beautiful flakes.

The fact that Seattle all but shuts down with so much snow is pretty great. I put my soup ingredients in the truck, put it in 4 wheel drive low, and had a ton of fun plowing down the middle of the street with not a soul on the road at 8 am on Sunday morning.

CWB was pure magic entirely covered in fresh snow and I was happy to be there early enough to just have tea and enjoy a peaceful (but very cold) spot in the Boathouse. I made the lentil just according to the recipe, only quadrupled it. It was very delicious. Soon Brian M. came along too with a giant iron kettle of potato soup - only he had ridden his bike with bike trailer through the snow - and gotten reprimanded by a police megaphone for being on the streets.

We heated up his soup, drank more tea, and devised a plan for hauling the 26 containers of soup to downtown. Brian had also brought a cooler and a huge old sleeping bag to wrap the soup in. I used a cooler with a blanket in the same fashion, we both tied rope to the handles, loaded up soup, bread and spoons, and off we went. My cooler tipped twice on the way out.

Trudging through the snow was fun, but slow. With the trolley car out of commission and unreliable bus service, we loaded the coolers into the truck and drove downtown, so at least the soup would still be hot when we gave it out. From Pike Place Market we set out on foot, coolers sliding along nicely behind and quickly found plenty of people who were happy to be offered the soup. It was especially nice to offer them the choice of potato or lentil.

We ended the afternoon in front of a shelter where reportedly there is normally someone who comes by with food and didn't show up due to snow. They were happy to see us and our soup.

It was a good day. Thank you everyone who helped out, and especially Brian. You are awesome.

shelly

solstice soup cycle

Hello my friends! Time to share some warmth and love with fellow humans of this city.
For those of you still in town, solstice soup cycle will happen in one week! That is, on Sunday, December 21st.
We'll start cooking the soup in the CWB galley (event permitting) around 10 am. There could be some pancake flipping happening too.
Once the soup is done, probably around 12 or 12:30, we'll bike it around going where our wheels take us. Last month we were done around 2 o'clock.
It sounds like this month we'll have a collaboration of soup efforts - Brian will cook some soup and bring it over to bike around with his cart too!

I'm thinking about the soup shown below.
It looks really easy and I have a huge bag of lentils donated by friends Molly & Scott.
May I please borrow one of those nifty hand-held blenders from someone? (Juila, don't you have one?) Jake & Jean, may I use your bike/bike trailer again?
Meg, can you bring in your olive oil? I think I have collected plenty of containers, thanks for thinking of soup cycle when you eat yogurt.
OK, hope to see you there, and/or let me know if you have ingredients to donate.
THANK YOU!
shelly

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/French-Lentil-Soup-236772

• 3 tablespoons extra–virgin olive oil
• 2 cups chopped onions
• 1 cup chopped celery stalks plus chopped celery leaves for garnish
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 4 cups (or more) vegetable broth
• 1 1/4 cups lentils, rinsed, drained
• 1 14 1/2–ounce can diced tomatoes in juice
• Balsamic vinegar (optional)

Heat oil in heavy large saucepan over medium–high heat. Add onions, celery, carrots, and garlic; sauté until vegetables begin to brown, about 15 minutes. Add 4 cups broth, lentils, and tomatoes with juice and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium–low, cover, and simmer until lentils are tender, about 35 minutes.

Transfer 2 cups soup (mostly solids) to blender and puree until smooth. Return puree to soup in pan; thin soup with more broth by 1/4 cupfuls, if too thick. Season with salt, pepper, and a splash of vinegar, if desired. Ladle soup into bowls. Garnish with celery leaves.