Stone Soup, Redux ~ What to Do With an Entire Head of Celery

I love celery.

What I don't love is buying an entire head and not really knowing what to do with it once I've used a couple of stocks in the dish I'm making. And, the next time you notice it, it's a limp, bitter mess.

Not attractive.

While I appreciate celery stuffed with peanut butter or cream cheese or somesuch, I'm just not interested in fussing with it.

It's been a kindah rainy, dreary day. Almost cold. The perfect soup weather . . .

"Mmmm, what to make? " I thought as I stood in front of my opened refrigerator. As I've mentioned before, I'm sort of famous (or infamous, if you will) for having a refrigerator full of nothing but condiments. Not a single meal (except my fresh bagel, cream cheese, capers, smoked salmon, sliced tomato standard) to be had.

And, then I spied it ~ a full head of celery I'd bought this weekend. Fresh, crisp, nice. Celery soup! Oh, yes! That's just what I'll make.

I sauteed an onion with a couple of cloves of garlic. Added some fresh stock. Coarse chopped the entire head of celery including the few leaves and threw in a cup of rice. Set it to simmer.

When everything was tender, the chopped celery was a little too aggressive looking so I sieved out the broth and threw the solids into the Cuisinart. Re-added the broth and stirred in some half and half, freshly ground pepper, some salt and freshly ground coriander seeds from my friend Byron's astonishing garden.

At the table, I had the last of the smoky BBQ'd fresh wild salmon to crumble over the soup. How's this for a visual? Steaming Celadon green soup with bright red salmon broken over the top. Oh, yes!

Niiiiiiiiiiiice!

Was it a big damn deal? No. But, it was fresh, fragrant, hearty, toothsome and a lovely way to end the day. 

 

 

Day 50 Everyday Grateful ~

Rainy, blustery day. Friends for dinner.

Logan is coming to town tomorrow!

Happy!

Planting the Pots on the Deck

Gawd, what a day! Ron and Karen came over. Many flats of annuals, some perennials, many bags of potting soil, a box containing several plastic bags of Miracle Grow, a couple of tarps. All the pots on the back deck were emptied. The soil was replaced, fertilized and fluffed within an inch of its life. Decisions were made. What goes where? Which goes with what? Waddayah mean, there are six more pots? Many were roped into the process including my darling exchange student from Saudi Arabia.

Warm. Sunny. And, the satisfaction of a completed project. Everyone participated including Ramses. He's all about being part of the action.

Then dinner. Karen whipped up an amazing medley of pasta, Alfredo sauce, shrimp, fresh tomatoes, fresh basil, some garlic and onion. Sourdough bread warming in the oven. And, voila! Dinner.

And, not quite best of all but nearly ~ the first dinner of the year on the back deck. Shhhh, don't tell anyone, but, one of the best things about Seattle? No mosquitoes. You can actually sit outside and feel the air and not get dragged off by biting, sucking, itching insects. Like I said ~ we live in paradise.

And, the outdoor furniture? In my continuing quest for vintage and salvage. I bought the galvanized basket when I. Magnin's was closing. I think it was probably display piece; bought the glass top at Pier One; the chairs are Martha from Target and, the hurricane lantern? A complete score! Bought at a yard sale in Lewiston, Idaho on a scorching hot day in the summer when I was over taking care of my father. $42.

OMG ~ I had to sit down when I found the label ~ Chapman! Still in the line for $1500! 

Another reason to keep your eyes open. Amazing things are out there.

And, as we were going from pot to pot, one of the pots of daffodils was definitely saying, "see you next year." So I braided the greens and in a couple of weeks, when all the energy has gone back into bulbs, this pot will sleep until next spring.

The Joys of Stone Soup

Last year, we had a Chinese exchange student stay for the year. It's wonderful to see the world through the eyes of someone who is seeing America for the first time.

Over the past year, his mother and I have become friends. We've spoken on the phone many times. Her written English is practically perfect. Her spoken English is accented, but when she follows up our phone calls with an email, I see that her spoken English is perfect as well.

Of course, the main thing to keep in mind is that her English is a hell of a lot better than my Chinese!

As a surprise, I learned she was going to be in Seattle yesterday. She will be here for a few days, then she and her son are going to travel in the US on the way back to China.

Tonight, she is slumbering over.

To celebrate her visit, I invited a group of friends over for "Stone Soup." What is Stone Soup? It's whatever you have in the refrigerator and/or pantry. Because I hadn't been to the store this week, that is really all I had to offer.

My Stone Soup consisted of the following: I had one very large head of cauliflower, some onions, some garlic, some Parmesan cheese, a small container of artichokes and a bag of potatoes on the back porch. In other words ~ Stone Soup.

Oh, dear, it was wonderful! I sauteed the onions and garlic in olive oil, steamed the cauliflower, put it and the onions and garlic through the Cuisinart, threw it all back into the large pot with veggie broth, then grated some potatoes with their peels, added some freshly grated Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper and voila! Delicious! Actually, really delicious.

My next door neighbor brought over a sourdough baguette. I put it in the oven at 150 degrees to warm. I had a bottle of red truly vin ordinaire. And, of course, my smoked wild salmon to crumble over the Stone Soup.

It was so wonderful.

Cat Stevens was on the speakers in the dining room. The Stone Soup was fresh and hot and flavorful. Who knew?

The company was sparkling and the conversation with animated. Everyone had a glass of red wine. Much laughing and talking and visiting. Toasts all around. Completely convivial. And, very international. How great is that?