Homestyle Cooking: Parsnip Potato Soup

The past week it has really began to feel like autumn is about to be upon us in New York State.  As the cold fronts move over the northeast from Canada, I am beginning my own autumn transition into scarfs and pashminas, sweaters, hot coffee (though I'm still making my own iced coffee-ha!), as well as homemade soups and chilis!

Cooler weather certainly points to homemade soups and stews choked full of autumn and root veggies!  A couple days ago, I had such an urge to make a hot, comforting soup and was looking for a little challenge.  I scoured the recipe binder I now have (full of page protectors housing recipes I've printed online and torn out of food magazines) as well as the saved bookmarks on my computer for some inspiration.  I decided on parsnip potato because, frankly I've never cooked parsnips before and it looked divine!

This recipe comes from a modern parenting site called Babble.  While, I'm very happy to be child-free in my life until I make that decision (a very, very long time away), this website did have some good-looking recipes on it-including this little gem!  You can find the precise recipe located here if you, too, are interested in making this for yourself, family, or friends, as the cooler months descend upon us.

I manipulated the original recipe a little bit to fit the taste buds of Gregory and myself (we really love our garlic and onions).  I also baked two boxes of classic Jiffy cornbread in the oven to accompany the soup as well.

Ingredients:

2 head garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for garnish
2 tablespoons butter
5-6 diced green onions 

4 medium-sized peeled and diced parsnips

6-7 medium-sized yukon gold potatoes peeled and diced
2 medium carrots peeled and diced

6 cups vegetable broth
water as needed
2 teaspoons salt
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs fresh thyme

4-5 stems of fresh cilantro

4 strips of cooked bacon hand crumbled (to top off your soup)

You could add other soup toppings once it is finished as well.  Gregory and I like to top our soups off with croutons and/or fried onion pieces, depending on the soup.  Sometimes it's just better to dip a little a crust bread, crackers, or a warm sandwich in your soup too!  Also, this dish could easily be made into a vegetarian by leaving out the added bacon in the end, or vegan by substituting the little bit of butter used with extra virgin olive oil.

It's certainly a little easier to shift into the cooler months up in the northeast with a hot dinner!  

Happy cooking!
-Caroline

This year so far in books read

I should have taken note in June (a half way point through the year) to look and see exactly how many books I've successfully read through and how many more I can squeeze in before December ends the calendar year-whoops!  Well, I did not and I am instead, I'm taking inventory now. 

Shown top to bottom: 
          Jack London: Sailor on Horseback by: Irving Stone
          The Call of the Wild and Other Short Stories by: Jack London
          Adventure by: Jack London
          The Valley of the Moon by: Jack London
          Lives of the Artists by: Calvin Tomkins
          The Old Man and the Sea by: Ernest Hemingway 

I technically have yet to finish all of the short stories that are in the same paperback collection as The Call of the Wild.  There are six stories in all that presented in this order: 
          The Call of the Wild
          Diable-A Dog
          An Odyessey of the North
          To the Man on Trail
          To Build a Fire
          Love of Life 

I only read through the first two and am a pausing point in the third.  I really want to get To Build a Fire, but I don't want to rush through the others and not respect their literary worthiness.  As you can most likely conclude, I am infatuated with the late Californian writer, Jack London, and the adventurous life he lead.

I have been dedicating my lunch breaks to complete reading, though I honestly don't read as much outside of these breaks (I'm going to work on this).  Almost six books down and I'm going to set an official goal to read four more by the end of the year!  

Happy reading!
-Caroline 

Homestyle Cooking: Pickled Yellow Squash

I realized that all I've been about is the pickled yellow squash without dishing out the recipe for anyone to share...if you're jonesing for a unique pickle side dish!

The photograph above was snapped while Gregory and I shared a small dish as an afternoon snack together on our day off.  Light, crisp, and pickily (I know that isn't a proper word-but it fits perfectly). :)

I came across this recipe from one of my personal favorite food sites, TheKitchn.  This website is a mecca for food recipes, inspiration, advice on the simplest to the complex kitchen methods, and just all around gorgeous food photography!  The articles are well written and short, but certainly have gotten me motivated to trying new dishes. The specific recipe for these pickled yellow squash can be found here. 

I chose to pickle these squash in old salsa jars from the supermarket.  I cleaned them beforehand as well as boiled the jars and lids while the brine was boiling for an extra step.  I like the size and re-usability these jar have about them.  They're also quite the nice snacking size for this condiment dish.  

Happy Picklin'!

-Caroline 

A lovely September Morning

It's Thursday, and I magically (and I really mean magically) have two off in a row this week-only from requesting them off myself to see a concert (Metric) in Rochester, New York.  For those who do not know, I work a full-time retail job that is more demanding than most really believe. 

I excitedly picked the third cucumber from our small container vegetable garden yesterday!  We also have several herbs doing amazingly well...some of these are: basil, thyme, cilantro, dill, chives, and peppermint (I can't seem to make mojitos fast enough for the new growth that I trim back).  The young organic cherry tomato plants and red peppers are doing well, though no fruit yet.  I also have re-planted green onions that spring back every time you trim them down.  I literally planted the white rooty end of these guys in the soil after using some green onion in a dish and they'll keep springing back with new fresh onion growth!

I have to say, I relish the morning that I can take my time.  I thoroughly enjoy checking my computer at the kitchen table with my morning coffee while being able to look out through the sliding doors at the small balcony with all the lush green potted plants sprinkled wherever they can fit.  Those little morning delights really help to start your day off nicely.  I only wish I could take this time every morning, as well as wishing for a consistent and routinely work schedule.  

Some things will change over time, but for now I just need to keep trudging through.  Stay strong out there! 

-Caroline

Syracuse, New York

I began my journey in Syracuse, New York after sub-leasing a room in an apartment building from a recent environmental graduate going back home to Jamaica.  It was within my budget, and walking distance from two fantastic independently-owned coffee/tea cafes, a library, a couple pizzerias, as well as a couple ethnic food restaurants.  I lived surprisingly well with a Colombian woman working on her PhD in architecture, as well as an small family that was comprised of an Indian woman and a Greek man who had just moved from Alaska with their two sons (her parents lived in Syracuse).  I truly enjoyed living with these people and we all managed to share the tiny bathroom and apartment exceedingly well for the amount of people living there.

I moved to this apartment because I had enrolled in one summer course at Cazenovia College to get a class out of the way senior year.  It was one of the hardest/most interesting summer's of my life filled with being as broke as I've ever come in my life, dumpster diving, and being as creative as I could with stretching a budget, staying creative, and eating as healthy as I could.  At the end of my three-month stay sub-leasing this apartment my boyfriend at the time (now ex-boyfriend) had moved in with me as well as his good friend who had just recently moved back from Hawaii looking for work again in central New York.   

I've bounced around five times since that first sub-leased room on Westcott St. (one of the small hip cliques for coffee lovers, vegans, and Syracuse University attendees) living in a tent in a friend's backyard, living in a low-income area only to have both my car and apartment broken into, as well another apartment, sharing 1/2 of a two-family home, to a small two-bedroom condominium that I currently share with my current beau, Gregory. 

My point of this anecdote is that Syracuse was not a "planned" move in my life growing up.  I had no set goals of where I was going to go after receiving my undergraduate degree in the arts and basically made the best decisions with what I had.  I feel that Syracuse was that place where I would save up for my next big move, work on my art, and be mainly as a in-between point for me on my journey.  I felt this way up until yesterday morning before work when I had an epiphany concerning local venues where I could potentially show my work as well as create small solo shows.  I had reached an epiphany on my fate in Syracuse and realized that maybe I was "intended" to stay longer than I had originally anticipated here.  This in-between state was meant to be more rooted than that...and that maybe I was meant to make stronger connections here with my art before I depart.  

This may not seem like much of an epiphany to anyone else, but I feel differently about my stay and my artistic outlook of Syracuse.  I am currently researching graduate schools in the United States as well as requesting catalogs to determine my next move as an artist and the step in my education (I am very passionate about continuing my education and learning in the arts).  By the end of my stay here, I hope to have some solo exhibitions under my belt and be a better adversary to any upcoming exhibitions I apply to.

-Caroline

Taste Test: Yellow Pickled Squash

I officially taste-tested my pickled yellow squash (with sweet onion and red bell pepper) right out of the jar.....and....

they're so scrumptious!!!!

-Caroline