Sunday, September 21, 2008

The Wordsworth Effect

Is when you return to a place
and it's not nearly as amazing
as you once thought it was,

or when you remember how you felt
about something (or someone) but you know
you'll never feel that way again.

It's when you notice someone has turned
down the volume, and you realize
it was you; when you have the

suspicion that you've met the enemy
and you are it, or when you get
your best ideas from your sister's journal.

Is also-to be fair-the thing that enables
you to walk for miles and miles chanting to
yourself in iambic pentameter

and to travel through Europe with
only a clean shirt, a change of
underwear, a notebook and a pen.

And yes: is when you stretch out
on your couch and summon up ten thousand
daffodils, all dancing in the breeze.

by Joyce Sutphen

Blah-Blah-Blahg: Food For Nought




Brrrr-mont exposed me as the California raisin that I am. I was there shooting a cooking show and had the opportunity to stargaze far from city lights and other modern- day amenities like television, telephones, and internet service. For all of this state’s natural beauty, my favorite thing about it came in the form of a commercial drink. It’s an awesome Maple Seltzer that I found at a General Country Store. It’s pure, distilled maple sap – not sweet ‘t’all like a soda and perfect for sipping on the picturesque rocking chairs of my porch. Drinking it kind of made me want to fire walk and do jazz hands simultaneously – and no I am not a masochistic gay man. I don’t think that would have gone over too well with the locals.

My friend's spoof of our TV show is a wonderfully exaggerated representation of (mis)adventures in Rupert, Vermont.

Carrot-Ginger Soup









Serves 6
INGREDIENTS:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium onion, minced
table salt
2 tablespoons fresh, grated ginger
3 cups low sodium chicken broth
1 ½ pounds carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped (about 5 cups)
¾ cup whole milk
¼ cup orange juice (fresh squeezed is preferable)
ground black pepper
1 tablespoon minced fresh chives

DIRECTIONS:
1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and ½ teaspoon of salt. Cook until the onion softens, about 3 – 5 minutes.
2. Stir in the ginger and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
3. Now stir in the carrots and broth. Bring to a simmer and cook until the carrots become tender, about 10 – 13 minutes.
4. Puree the soup in batches in a blender until smooth. Do not fill the blender past the halfway mark or the heat will cause the soup to explode through the top. (Alternatively, you could puree the soup using an immersion blender.)
5. Return the pureed soup to the pot and stir in the milk and orange juice. Bring to a simmer but do not boil because high heat can cause curdling. Remove from heat and season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with chives immediately before serving. This soup can be refrigerated up to three days and gently reheated in a saucepan.

***You may substitute fresh thyme, sorrel, marjoram, or sweet basil for the chives. This soup is also nice if topped with toasted marcona almonds, pistachios, pepitas, nasturtiums, or drizzled with an infused oil. This soup pairs very nicely with the wheat berry salad from the week of September 24 – 31.

**Ginger is sometimes very tricky to peel. In this recipe, the ginger should be fresh. Often you can freeze ginger and then grate it quite easily while frozen. To peel the fresh ginger for this recipe, however, try using a spoon to scrape off the skin from the knob of ginger. A spoon navigates the curves of a knob of ginger much more readily than a knife so that you waste less of this spicy rhizome.

Recipe from a secret source