Tuesday, July 29, 2008

k-brow: potato pause


It is raining great white sheets of Nuuanu wind-driven rain, as I write this. I am heating this most excellent veggie soup for dinner's first course. It's a multi-course dinner because I'm awaiting the completion of a 3-hour baked potato.It's gonna be about 2 hours more for the potato, so I need the soup first to keep me from bonking. I first learned about this slow-cooked method for potatoes from Rachel's blog, and gave it a try. Dude! Those potatoes are substantially different for the extra 2 hours of baketime. Just try it. Yum. So. The soup, also, is a soup with a difference, that difference being the bit of parmesan cheese rind (carved off a Costco Parmesano Reggiano wedge) tossed in as it bubbled away. The cheese rind disentegrates, and adds a richness to the soup that makes it more than the sum of its parts. Especially if you add a cup of wine and lots of garlic. Otherwise, it's an unremarkable scratch veggie soup, but it's a mainstay around here.

Today was my first day with students. Fun, but I'd forgotten how frantic the first days of school are, before I've learned the new schedule, and I felt like the kids could smell my insecurity. Aaaaak! So many directions, so much talking, so many decisions to make. My resource teacher job of yesteryear, in the spider hole of the cubical, was so low-key by comparison. It's entirely pleasurable, though, and I'm feelin' the love, big time, for the students and the job. But ask me again in 2 weeks how it's going.

I'm going to go make a martini. Put on the new "X-Files" compilation dvd and crank out some moss stitch. I leave you with a shot of Ella, who does not enjoy this windy weather, and is extra clingy. The moving trees and slamming doors and rattling window blinds make her nervous.

2 comments:

Opal said...

that potato soup looks awesome. i might actually give it a try! think i might be able to manage it without setting the kitchen on fire? :-D

Red said...

HI Ella! Send me some soup!