plastic shards, anyone?

There is a tragic story, yet one with a moral of perseverance, in the soup I made last night. After the soup was finished cooking I needed to blend it. I don't have one of those nifty hand blenders, so I scooped the soup into a normal blender. The first batch went well even though hot orange soup splattered all over the stove and fridge. I put it into another pot in order to add the coconut milk later. The second batch in the blender did not go so well. The hot soup made the lid of the blender expand and come loose (thus the splattering) which allowed the small plastic middle piece of the lid to fall in. It was immediately ground up. However, when I pulled it out, they looked like big chunks, so I thought I could just pass this soup through a sieve and into the first batch of blended soup. I did and soon discovered that the plastic was broken into tiny slivers and had gotten into all of the soup. "NO!!" I yelled this, among other things. It was almost two hours later and I had to throw away all of the soup. There was no way I could extract the plastic bits and I would never risk me or anyone else eating them. It was sad rinsing so much time and delicious ingredients down the drain.

So, here is the moral. Don't let a failed soup making attempt get you down - push on! I began again. Although this time, I was not humming or daydreaming as I chopped onion and grated carrots, I was totally focused on making the soup quickly and efficiently. Thus, the second batch turned out to be delicious, but not as spicy as the first and overall with less luster. I truly believe that you can taste the difference in a dish that is made with pleasure and happiness. I am glad I persevered and was able to share the soup with a friend today, but I probably won't make another batch of soup until February's soup cycle.

g'night. shelly

soup's on

This isn't soupcycle, technically, but I am making soup right now. I guess it could be considered testing a potential soupcycle recipe, but we'll see. Its still cooking and smells amazing.
I wanted to try & duplicate Pacific Soup's Cashew Carrot Ginger, which I love.

I found the following recipe, which adds curry too:

http://vegandad.blogspot.com/2007/11/carrot-cashew-curry-coconut-soup.html

INGREDIENTS

- 2 tbsp oil

- 2 onions, diced

- 2 celery stalks, sliced

- 3 cloves of garlic, diced

- 1/4 cup chopped fresh ginger

- 1 tbsp curry powder

- 1 tsp cinnamon

- 1 tsp tumeric

- 1 tsp coriander

- 1/2 tsp cumin

- 1/2 cups raw cashews

- 1 1/2 lbs carrots, grated

- 6 cups vegetable stock

- 1 can coconut milk

- salt and pepper to taste

METHOD:

1. Heat oil in a stockpot and saute onion, celery, garlic and ginger for 15 mins, until onions are golden brown. Add in spices and cashews and cook for another minute.

2. Add carrots and mix thoroughly. Add stock and bring to bubbling. Lower heat, cover, and cook until carrots are soft. Really, the longer you can cook this the better--it lets the flavours develop.

3. Blend with a hand blender until smooth. Stir in coconut milk and heat (but don't boil). Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve.

The only thing is that I am not measuring ingredients, I'm making it extra spicy, and I am using roasted, salted cashews instead of raw. I probably won't add any salt in the end.

If you happen (or are lucky enough) to be around in me in the next couple of days - I'm sure you'll get some too. much love, shelly

the star explosion

OK, the first thing I want to do is give a shout to Ballard Market. Not only are they open 24 hrs, have the most attractive grocery store staff in Seattle, but I was able to buy a huge bag brimming full of organic beautiful vegetables for only $15.00!! This made me happy. The one thing they lacked was the alphabet pasta shapes.

So, next stop, FGMeyer. Less charm and also NO alphabet noodles! What is wrong with consumers today? Are they not demanding ABCs to make every pasta dish extra fun for young and old? In any case, I bought tiny stars instead, bringing my grand total spent to about $18 . I guess the reason I tell this story is because I am really inspired by the shear quantity of food one can make and feed so many people for so little cash.

The cooking was fun, but a little chaotic. There were sailing volunteers and students galore milling around the tiny CWB galley and I felt bad for our soup cycle explosion taking up so much space. And it was literally an explosion. We had three pots brimming way too full of veggies and broth, so it became a respectable mess.

The funny thing about the cycling part was the Peugeot and bob trailer - called the "cadillac" by one of our soup recipients. Before we left Jean had to jerry rig the trailer onto the bike with a tiny piece of wire. Then we soon discovered that the front wheel of the bike was totally bent! It made for an extra adventurous balancing act - but the soup didn't spill one drop the whole time!

So THANK YOU to Kira for helping cook, cleaning up, and donating money, and to Jean-er for biking around and helping to hand out our star explosion. You are each gems of the rare variety.

The very last thing I will write is that I found this cool poem-song written by Lewis Carroll! I like it and recommend reciting it in a funny voice. OK, thats all!

love, shelly

Beautiful Soup by Lewis Carroll

BEAUTIFUL Soup, so rich and green,
Waiting in a hot tureen!
Who for such dainties would not stoop?
Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!
Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!

Beau--ootiful Soo-oop!
Beau--ootiful Soo-oop!
Soo--oop of the e--e--evening,
Beautiful, beautiful Soup!

Beautiful Soup! Who cares for fish,
Game, or any other dish?
Who would not give all else for two
Pennyworth only of Beautiful Soup?
Pennyworth only of beautiful Soup?

Beau--ootiful Soo-oop!
Beau--ootiful Soo-oop!
Soo--oop of the e--e--evening,
Beautiful, beauti--FUL SOUP!

carrots, zucchini, onions

Oi! Less than one week until Soup Cycle, Oh Nine! Be there!

I still have zero ingredients for this one. Also, since I haven't really arranged for it to be at anyone's house in particular, I think CWB is the default. I'll start cooking at 10:00.

This is the least organized soup cycle yet, and I wonder if this silly blog is partly at fault. I feel rather disconnected from my previously strong supporters of this project. Hmmm....
Or, it could be that school is like a giant life-eating monster. As a side note, I started drawing the Mac apple logo performing different subversive acts, and I have one where it is a monster eating the city of Seattle. How that relates to soup cycle? I will let you decide.

Ok, so if you are reading this - I need ingredients!!
Check out the recipe - ANYTHING you can donate would be so wonderful.

Lets all do a little dance this week (the Kubb victory dance works) so that the sun stays with us a little longer, at least through Sunday. It does wonders for the soul.

Love to all,
Shelly

peddling goodwill

So, I finally got the bright idea to check the web and see what popped up when I typed in www.soupcycle.com ... you should too. Its a reletively quirky group of people in Portland peddling soup by bike. WOW! What a great idea!!! The only difference is that ours is free and targeted to people in need. Oh, and they use words like soupetarian and souplandistan. Not that there is anything wrong with inventing an entirely new language surrounding one food group.

Even before stumbling upon these other soup cyclers, I thought we might do February's soup cycle in Portland - perhaps even give these guys a call and see if they would be interested in joining forces and giving some of their soup away for free too. What do you think?

Regardless, its about that time to begin planning for the first Seattle soup cycle of 2009.

The date will be Sunday, January 25th. Its right after the opening of the Coffee exhibit at the Burke (which you should all come to, by the way) so I will be living free and easy. I'm not sure where we will cook the soup just yet, probably Heron's house or at CWB again.

We haven't done a noodle soup yet, so below is the recipe I am thinking of. If you have an idea of how to make it better, let me know. AND, in honor of it being alphabet soup, I would love to read some soup cycle inspired haiku.

Here's one to get you going:

by unicycle
i juggle and hand out soup
in a leotard

Alphabet Soup

Recipe By     :
Serving Size  : 16   Preparation Time :0:30
Categories    : Soups

Amount  Measure       Ingredient -- Preparation Method
--------  ------------  --------------------------------
  1/4  cup           olive oil
2      medium        boiling potatoes -- peeled and diced
1      cup           carrots -- peeled and diced
  3/4  cup           minced onions
5 1/2  quarts        chicken stock
2      tablespoons   fresh basil -- minced
1      teaspoon      fresh oregano -- minced
3      cups          diced zucchini
3      cups          peeled, seeded, and diced tomatoes
2      cups          fresh peas
1      pound         alphabet pasta

In a large pot over moderate heat, warm olive oil. Add potatoes, carrot,
and onion and saute 5 minutes. Add chicken stock, basil, and
oregano. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to maintain a simmer, and simmer 15 minutes.
Add zucchini and 1 cup of the tomatoes. Simmer 10 minutes. Add pasta, peas, and
remaining 2 cups tomatoes; simmer until pasta is cooked through.
Season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately and pass a bowl of Parmesan.
Makes about 16 cups.