we peas, green sea, sweet split, soup tea

split pea is on the menu for this sunday.
i still don't have a bike that works with the bob.
need to work on that.
ok, come help cook and be merry! bring your bike!
love, shelly

soouhp la la

More French Lentil this month. I think it is officially my favorite, both in terms of eating and cooking. I love this soup. And I think the public likes this soup too - its always very popular even though many people ask "What is lentil?" Hmmm.. its a small, nutritious bean, I say.

This month's soup cycle had a hitch, as is now customary for each time we do this...there's always something that gets f-ed up. It started because I sold the silver fancy bike that the bob trailer fit perfectly with, but I was very happily riding my little yellow motobecane for the month of March. I (stupidly) did not make an attempt to fit bob's nuts onto the yellow bike until the morning of soup cycle, after I had already bought all of my ingredients and they were safely tucked into the blue cooler, ready to be wheeled to south lake union and made into soup.

It started by taking the wheel off, in a non-quick-release way. Then, we proceeded to pull out the thinga-ma-jigger inside the wheel hub and after awhile a bunch of ball bearings fell out onto the floor in a greasy lump. nice.

looking at the hole for the yellow bike's wheel as compared with bob's nuts, the two were never going to work well together - a doomed relationship. A flawed stimulus package. A limp, and lame, situation.

The only solution was to load the ingredients into the car as Mark hopped on his bike and rode down to CWB. We cooked there as usual and Brian, bless his Irish soul, was there with bike and trailer, and ready to heat a delicious potato soup alongside our lentil operation. In the end it worked out because I had a meeting to be at and Mark and Brian biked the soup in his trailer, while I went to discuss matters much less interesting...

So HUGE thanks to Brian and Mark for cooking and biking, to Maya for donating money for ingredients, and to Ali for donating a hand blender (carried all the way from Pittsburgh).

The next step is to buy a new bike. sorry yellow, but i need one that works for bob.
love, shelly

trailer envy

Thank yous all around for a great soup cycle this month.

Brian: thanks for making coffee, split pea soup, chopping garlic, bringing containers, bread and spoons, and for cycling around with me! It was a good day.
Scott: thanks for letting me borrow your big fancy pot.
Julia and Ryan: thanks for the cauliflower & use of the hand blender.
Jean: thanks for the beautiful organic broccoli.
Josh: thanks for chopping onions until we were all bleary eyed.
Merle: thanks for bringing containers.
Soccer people: thanks for showing me how the trailer is actually supposed to attach to the bike...

perhaps I shouldn't admit this, but when Brian and I were out cycling around I kept having issues with the bob coming off the spoke spike (?). Finally Brian bunjeed the sucker on and we didn't have any more problems. Turns out I was using the pin in the completely wrong way. Brian's trailer is a two-wheeler with a big vinyl platform to set things on -it seems a good deal sturdier than the bob. I also think my issue was not having a kick stand. When I wanted to stop and hand out soup it was really hard to keep the whole system upright with one hand.

The cool thing was that lots of people are really interested in the trailers. They ask lots of questions and I think perhaps see it as a way to haul their own stuff around. It would be cool if a local bike organization started a bike & trailer lending system to homeless and/or carless people, or really any people...hint, hint Bikery? http://www.thebikery.org/

Speaking of the Bikery, I'm headed over there tomorrow to see if my sweet little yellow bike can be salvaged. I currently have 4 bikes with the recent purchase of a rusty old cruiser (my new market bike that I'm going to fix up) and for someone in transition, thats just two too many bikes.

OK, back to the thesis paper. I would tell y'all about it, but it has nothing to do with soup or bikes. Sadly.

thank you again, everybody, for your love & support of this project.
shelly

let's talk soup

Did you not love that show (talk soup) when it was on a long time ago? I have no idea what happened to it since I left the world of TV ten years ago, but that show was hilarious back in the day.

OK, here's an update on soupcycle for this coming Sunday. So far it is me and Jean cooking soup in the CWB gallery, and joining forces with Zulu Brian who is cooking up his own batch. Julia and Ryan have graciously and unknowingly donated a head of cauliflower and the use of their hand blender while they are out of town. Thanks! The rest of the ingredients will be purchased using the remaining funds donated from my mom...but we could still use someone that is willing to dumpster for bread. We also need more containers. If you have any please drop them off in the CWB galley - there is a bag above the fridge just for this purpose.
Like always we'll start cooking at 10:00, cycle it around at 12:30 or so, and head over to the weekly soccer game around 2. Soupcycle Sundays always feel like perfect Sundays to me.

Alright - this was a very tame posting, but there's not much more to say. I just hope the sun stays with us like the last few days. Oh man, spring is almost here.

shelly

soup cycle invests!

Very exciting developments this evening...

1) mom sends generous check to soup cycle
2) super deal bob trailer found on craigslist
3) guy sells it for cheaper due to great cause
4) soup cycle now has its very own trailer!

...practically brand new, with a beautiful, shiny black coat of paint, and a silver fender.
So now, to talk about when she'll have her first soup-laden bumpy ride through the streets of Seattle.

Date: Sunday February 22nd.
Place: CWB Galley.
Time: 10:00 am to approx 2 pm
RSVP: post comment

What to bring:

• Your bike

• Clean yogurt containers or other med-large sized containers with lids that fit.

• Soup-making ingredients (see recipe below for guidance, but feel free to add something else. I'm thinking of replacing the cheese with milk...maybe?)

• A hand-blender

See you there!
shelly


POTATO BROCCOLI SOUP

• 2 cups chopped onion
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 1/2 pounds peeled and cubed potatoes
• 5 cups boiling water
• 4 cubes veg bouillon
• 3 cups fresh broccoli, cooked and drained
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large stock pot saute onion in butter. Add potatoes, water and bouillon cubes. Cover, bring to boil and then reduce heat to medium and cook until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.
2. Remove tough outer skin of broccoli stems and cook broccoli. Once cooked add to soup.
3. In a blender or food processor puree half of the soup and return to stock pot. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Add cheese and heat soup through until cheese is melted. Serve warm.

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