potato leek soup

With the craziness of a fabulous Christmas over, we're ready for a season of rest; and so we've been hunkering down for a nice and long cozy winter. I've found myself wondering if winter is not too unlike the Sabbath of seasons. Spring brings energy with its brighter days, new life to flora & fauna and the work of planting. Summer is for traveling, celebrating, filling our schedules to the brim and staying up much too late. We harvest, bustle about and feast in the Fall. And then comes Winter - with its dark days, quiet snow and frozen ground. Perhaps I can grow to appreciate the rest and waiting. And perhaps, Lord willing, I will use this quiet season for spiritual and imaginative refreshment.

So yes, this southern girl still finds cold weather disgusting, but she's realized that a fresh perspective helps a bit.

But on to my point :)

I have the perfect winter soup recipe. In fact, the conclusions above were reached while I prepared this fabulous Potato Leek Soup (found on a friend's pinterest board, where everything she pins looks so tempting).Simple ingredients, minimal fussing and incredibly filling - that's my kind of meal. The biggest hassle is cleaning and prepping the leeks, but I've discovered a technique that makes everything easier. The leeks I find out here are always so filthy with mud and sand. But look at this easy (and beautiful, I think) way of cleaning them:

Maybe everyone else has always cleaned their leeks this way, and I'm just late to the party....either way, I'm super glad to finally know better.

As mentioned, this soup is so simple (and affordable!). The leeks are sauteed with butter and salt; potatoes, water, thyme, chili pepper and bay leaves are added; simmer for 20 minutes or so; stir/blend/emulsify to your texture preference. And that's it!

I'd recommend adding more potatoes to increase the soup's thickness. Also, blending the soup gave it a wonderful velvety texture. We sliced up a crusty loaf of bread and paired it with a bit of sherry. It was a wonderful, simple and cozy dinner. 

Perfect for a calm, restful and reflective winter night.

B

get thee to an anthropologie

Run (don't walk) to your nearest Anthropologie. Don't have one close by? Check it out online.

There's one 5 minutes from my house, and I'm forever window shopping and getting ideas....but hardly ever able to afford anything. Even when it's on sale. But right now you can get an extra 50% off of everything already on sale - in stores and online.

Which is how I afforded this (for $25!!):

And this set (for $5!!):

And several other things that I can't reveal before Christmas :)

I just love a good great sale.

B

purple closet

We're converting one of our bedrooms into a library. We're then converting said bedroom's closet into a study (where the computer, office supplies, stationary, etc lives). I love that we can just close the closet doors when we don't need to be on the computer - out of sight, out of mind. Which really is a wonderful thing because I am too distracted by technology.

Because of my flair for the dramatic, we're painting the closet deep purple.... Lavender Suede, to be precise (doesn't that sound perfect?). And my dear, sweet sister Marge is helping me paint. She is the best!

The color is much more rich and dark in person. We're only one coat in and already I can see places where the paint is showing true to color. 

Paint makes me so happy.

B

Approach my soul, the mercy seat...

where Holy One and helpless meet...



....I must. I will. I do believe, Oh God.

B

disgustingly delicious

When I was younger, my little brothers and I had a favorite phrase: ‘disgustingly delicious’. We would say it really loud and be SUPER awkward about it, usually when something tasty but mushy was served for dinner. Or when we made our own crazy concoctions in the kitchen (think peanut butter, butter, bacon and cheese sandwiches). “Mmmmm, this is DISGUSTINGLY delicious” or “Hey look how disgustingly delicious this looks!”  Please, don’t judge – we also wore black dress socks with sneakers and threw tantrums because we weren’t allowed to watch Power Rangers.

Yeah…..that’s not helping our case now, is it?

Anyways, I haven’t thought about that phrase for years but last night it sprang uninvited to my mind. Why? Because I made macaroni and cheese for a company pot-luck lunch. And why did that particular childhood phrase seem so appropriate? Because I used 3 sticks of butter, 3 cups of half & half, ¼ gallon of whole milk and 4lbs of cheese.  

And it was  – truly – disgustingly delicious. It was the most creamy, decadent and tasty thing I’ve eaten all year.  It also made me feel very conflicted: did I want to dress up and eat it off of fine china or put on sweat pants and eat from a bowl with a giant spoon?

We’re typically very healthy eaters, so I like to think that indulging every so often is ok. No joke, I would live off of celery year-round if it allowed me to splurge like this. And I know this is a heavily biased post, but I work with food scientists and flavorists and they also highly approved. This dish leaves you feeling fat, dumb and happy.

I’m kind of a mac n’ cheese genius. Then again, everything's delicious with enough butter and cheese. 

B

my big little brother

This is my big little brother. He's tied for 1st place in the coolest little brother contest, and he's a Marine.

He's twice as big as me, which is why he's my big little brother.  And he drives a really big armored vehicle.

In the deserts of Afghanistan.

He shoots one of these:

And while he stays very busy, he still finds time to ponder the good things in life.

So while the "99%" are busy having sex on sidewalks:

and crapping on cop cars:

my big little brother got himself a job. And works hard for his paycheck. And sacrifices everything on a daily basis. He's a self-made man, just like the rest of his group:

So blessed to have a family that labors sacrificially for the good, as best as they are able and of their own volition. 

Virtue over folly.

B

kitchen decoration

I'm getting awfully excited about our library (post with pictures to come), but today I'm thinking about the kitchen.

Because our cupboard space is somewhat limited, I've had to be creative with storage solutions. And I want my kitchen to look fancy pants too, as I expect to spend more and more time there as the years progress. So space saving and darling - is that too much to ask?

I've taken a leaf out of Smitten Kitchen's book and put all of my spices on display. The glass jars are a perfect fit on the super cheap ribba shelf. A few rows of spice shelves saves me a ton of cupboard space. And it looks really nice too.

I'm also growing fresh herbs. See?

I realize my dill in particular is looking a little sad, but that's mostly because I accidentally squished him :(

There's still a lot of empty wall space, so I'm trying to decide what else to put up. I have so many ideas for the rest of the house – the kitchen’s been overlooked. There are these 2 etsy posters I’ve had my eye on:

but I can't make up my mind....

I guess I'll go poke around pinterest for more ideas :)

B