i was never going to throw out that stale bread.

casey would call it "poor man's french onion soup" for sure.

i'd been eying that piece of stale sourdough for at least 2 days. there was an open container of vegetable broth in the fridge. i chopped up about 1/3 of an onion and 3-4 of the teeniest cloves of garlic and tossed them into a pot with the broth and let it cook until my kitchen smelled wonderfully garlicky-oniony. that stale bread was chopped (it hurt to do it with my hands; it was so damn stale) and put into a a single-serving pyrex. the onion soup was poured over it.

of course i didn't have the right cheese. i sliced some sharp cheddar into thin pieces to make a layer and put them over the top, but then microplaned a pile of parmesan over it. baked it in the toaster until the top was brown.

totally, totally french onion soup.

consumed with some broccoli because, well, green things are good for you. and mighty tasty.

all of a sudden.

how to quickly make soup when it's suddenly cold:
1. saute in a pan: chopped carrots, swiss chard, onion, garlic, and one habenero pepper (which was probably too much, but it seemed dumb to leave just a little and so there's that).
2. cook vermicelli noodles in a bit of water with a vegan bouillon cube (which are better than the vegetarian ones).
3. mix together with a big tablespoon of peanut butter (for protein, and flavor).

locked and loaded.

i made spring rolls to take on the drive to DC so that we would have lunch when chloe and i arrived. included: salt and peppered lentils, grated carrots, cabbage soaked in sushi vinegar, cucumber, and sriracha. 

a note: if you don't keep your spring rolls refrigerated for all the hours before you eat them, they WILL fall apart when you do. 

i threw all of the remaining bits chopped for the spring rolls, along with a bunch of other random items from the fridge, into a soup. included: lentils, broccoli, vegetable broth, vermicelli, garlic, spinach, soy sauce, more sriracha.

the littlest bit.

we had rain and snow last thursday and friday. it was a long day of rain with a wet pup who only wanted to get into my bed, followed by an evening of snow. a whole inch and a half when we woke up, only for it to be gone by the afternoon.

but it required matzoh ball soup, and i was gifted a box of the mix earlier this year. i made a broth by boiling a vegetable bouillon, onions, garlic, and carrots in some water. i never buy broth because it seems too pricey for its contents. i know, i know, i should be making it myself, but that just requires foresight. someday.

days two and three.

day two: homemade pizza with suzannah, shira, and casey.

• no 1. greek pizza with olives, feta, tomatoes, parsley, lemon, garlic, and onion.
• no 2. pizza with roasted eggplant, mushrooms, mozzarella, tomatoes, onions, and garlic.

day three: butternut squash soup with mushrooms and onions, with a bit of mozzarella on top. a handful of salty, caraway spelt crackers. and a crossword.

the soup. the SOUP.

let me tell you a story. about the night of january 22nd.

shira and i had been fantasizing about making bess feigenbaum's cabbage soup; before we had moved to pleasant drive, i was reading about it and she emailed me and told me she wanted us to make it as soon as we lived together. (are we a match made in heaven, or what?)

agreed. items were purchased. in the car. cabbage is heavy.
we started cooking. but, there's this part where one has to BLEND the hot soup. what happened, you ask? the blender blew the soup through the top! all over me. all over the kitchen. it was as if i had murdered someone in here. it was absolutely everywhere.
i had to get undressed in the kitchen. i thought i was being burned through my shirt, but luckily, no such thing was happening. it was just a total mess.
most of the soup was still in the blender and the pot. and we got to eat it. for a week.

naturally, it was delicious. but if you make it, skip the blending part. it's unnecessary. and potentially threatening to your kitchen.

almost last.

store-bought tomato soup doctored with onions and garlic and crushed red pepper. slices of baguette with some sort of cheese. colored pencils and the last handful of drawings in the sketchbook. the end of the townhouse on umstead before i packed up the kitchen.

until then.

almost to the end of the semester. SO close, yet so far still: economics final, grading of the 101 exams, an independent study to finish. i'll be done by christmas.

for now, this is what michelle called romantic soup: lentils with greens and tomatoes and carrots and rye croutons.

late wednesday, a spicy soup.

how to quickly make a spicy soup (asian-inspired? maybe?):
1. boil a cup or so of water and dissolve a vegetarian bouillon cube into it.
2. lower the temperature so that the water is simmering and add a handful of soba noodles. soba do not need very long to cook so it's ok to actually turn off the stove after a few minutes.
3. cut up most of a carrot and throw it in with the noodles. (i don't like carrots soft, but i did want them hot.)
4. in another saucepan, saute onions and garlic in chili oil until soft. add defrosted peas (hey! it's what i had!) and then big chunks of mushrooms.
5. pour the veggies into the soba/soup mixture. crush some black pepper over it. or anything else you might want.

there you go. so quick. and fulfilling.

quick and easy.

keith and tracy were gobbling up all the treats from momofuku the other night, but it's super meaty, which is why i haven't been there yet, nor did i taste anything from the piles of food in my house.

so, i am made something quick and easy. tracy and i had plans to go back to prime meats (my fave these days) to sample their punch once again, as i have a new punch bowl (more on that later). i made a quick broth with a veggie bouillon, sauteed some collard greens with scallion and garlic, and tossed it with firm tofu and vermicelli noodles (i had some leftover from an earlier recipe, so they were ready already).

i ate it too fast. that's a good sign.

p.s. and that drink? grapefruit-sage gin punch. those moustached kids at prime meats really know how to make a knockout punch. and an old-fashioned. much love.