Soup and Simplicity

You really can't get more basic than soup and, through a unique set of circumstances, I've found myself exploring the creative possibilities of a stock pot and a variety of ingredients almost on a daily basis. I've also come to realize the true value of even a rudimentary knowledge of cooking. Being able to look at a pantry of ingredients and making the most of what you have is a skill that will become very important in the coming years.

And making the most of what you have is what soup is all about.  I start all soups pretty much the same way and then vary the finish with what I have on hand or what I'm try to achieve. Coat the bottom of a pain with oil (olive, sesame or butter) and dump in an onion (red, white or green) and start it over medium heat (that's 5 on a number dialed).  There's some potential in your combinations even here and your decisions largely depend on taste. Olive oil is healthy and flavors vegetables well.  Sesame has a nutty, asian flair that also works with potatoes. Butter has a horrible reputation but adds a richness that's hard to replicate otherwise.

The choice of onion gets interesting as well. Reds have some heat and green onions taste, well, green.  White onions are your workhorse, general purpose onion and good for about anything that an onion is good for.

So a little bit of oil and the onion of your choice cooking over medium heat.  Call it sauteing or sweating or whatever but the goal is to break down the onion and other ingredients just enough to release the flavors.  Onions usually take the longest so you always start them first. You can add other ingredients to the cooking onions as you finishing slicing, dicing or grating keeping in mind that you don't want to cook everything to death.  Most recipes suggest cooking the vegetables until tender or translucent.

So let's do a beef stew.  Get the onions going and add a pound of beef stew meat. If you have mushrooms, a cup or so should go in now (chopped or not)  I add a couple of shakes of cajun seasoning at this point and then brown the meat. If you have fresh parsley and rosemary handy, add a sprig or two of parsley and chop up a twig's worth of rosemary and toss it in.  The meat will make it's own gravy of sorts and if you want to get fancy you can add a cup of red wine and let it reduce by half (which means boiling away the liquid until only half remains.)

While the meat and onions and wine simmer away, slice up a pound of potatoes (golden yukons are my personal favorite or the little red ones work well), about three carrots (or have a bag of baby carrots handy) and about three stalks of celery.

Now, with all this chopping and slicing, try to keep everything a uniform thickness.  This ensures that everything cooks evenly.  I tend to toss the carrots, celery into the meat and onions to let the flavors mix  for a minute or two and then add beef broth, about two quarts.  Your can use cans, cartons or bouillon cubes and water.  Bring it up to a boil, reduce to a simmer (That's 3 on a numbered dial) and add the potatoes. Cook until everything is tender and salt (carefully) to taste.

That's a basic beef stew.  You can add to or take away ingredients due to availability or a whim and you'll still have beef stew.  Want chicken soup?  Switch out the beef for chicken and the red wine for white and maybe the potatoes for cooked rice and you have chicken soup.  Want it thicker or with more body? Add about six or seven teaspoons of cornstarch to a cup of cold water and mix thoroughly before added slowly to the soup towards the end of cooking. From this point on, the longer it cooks, the thicker it will get.

Want to make it creamy?  At the very end, add a quarter to half cup of cream or half and half and bring it back to a simmer. This works especially well with the chicken soup.  Go extra heavy on the mushrooms and you have cream of mushroom soup. Drop the cream and add extra rice, sausage and maybe a can of Rotel and you are really close to a jambalaya.

Or keep it really simple and fast:  Cut up half an onion, add two or so cups of broth and throw in some rice noodles . Eight to twelve minutes later you have lunch and it's not ramen.  You could even cook the base  ingredients at home and make the broth in the microwave at work.  The noodles get soft by soaking, not boiling so it makes for very convenient, fast food. Fast as in fast. Not fast as in fast food.

The possibilities are literally endless.  Crank up your knowledge of spices, work on your flavor combinations and don't be afraid to experiment and you'll soon have a recipe box worthy of passing on to children.

Hot and Sour Soup

You either love it or hate it. Personally, I love it. I enjoy the heat and the flavors and it's remarkably easy to make. Basically, the base is chicken or beef stock with vinegar and white pepper and a choice of vegetables. Restaurants typically use mushrooms and tofu but they are by no means required. Mushrooms have to be prepped and cooked right to really shine in any dish and tofu simply absorbs the surrounding flavors no matter what they are which makes it an excellent filler and protein substitute. But if you don't need the filler or the substitute then it really adds nothing to the dish.

I like grilled chicken, maybe even blacked as the main protein. Grill up or blacken three to four chicken breasts and set them aside to rest.

Julienne one large red onion and sweat in a stock pot with olive oil. Season a dash of a cajun spice mix. Julienne two or three jalapenos, managing the seeds for heat (the white pepper is the main source of heat so be careful). Slice three or four stalks of celery and add to the sweat. When the onions are translucent, add four cans of chicken stock and two cans of water or use six cans of stock. Bring to a simmer and add two tablespoons of white vinegar and a teaspoon of white pepper.

Take three to four carrots and use a peeler to reduce the carrots to long strips. Add to soup.

At this point, start tasting and add vinegar, the cajun spice and the white pepper to taste. Be careful and add each in small amounts until you find the balance between hot and sour.

When the carrots are tender, the soup is done. Beat one egg and while stirring, drizzle the egg into the simmering soup. To thicken, dissolve two tablespoons of corn starch in a little bit of cold water and add slowly to the soup while constantly stirring.

Take the chicken breasts and shred or slice into cubes and add to the soup. If you want to be fancy, slice the chick and then serve in a shallow bowl and pour the soup over the chicken right before serving.

This is by no means a traditional version of the dish but I would put it up against any restaurant's recipe. Other versions have pork or beef as the base but chicken works well with the flavors.

This is also one of the best soups to fight off a cold or the flu. The heat helps clear the sinuses and the vinegar is reputed to have a cleansing effect.

The Mammoth finished...

I fired him to Cone 06 which I should have taken him to Cone 6 but this is the first big sculpting project I've done in a while and I did not want him to explode in the kiln. When he came out, there were some stress fractures on the base so the low fire was a good plan and also left the clay porous enough for paint.

As far as paint, I used acrylics over a black base and finished it with a spray matte finish. The finish came out a bit shiny but in the right light it looks good.

I'm not really sure why I went with painting but I got started at Peach Festival just to see what it would look like and before I knew it, I was done and happy.

Working on wolves next but as usual I have to find the time.

Tortilla Warmer 3.0

This version of the tortilla warmer turned out pretty close to perfect. It's almost 10 inches across which is the size needed for the fajita style tortillas.

Low,wide forms are a challenge for me especially low, wide lidded forms. But I have a few more of these to make now that I have the process down.

I'm also progressing on the pylon project using slab techniques. Had a bit of a breakthrough in that area around mid-January.

Off to a great start, pottery-wise this year. Gotta keep up the momentum.

Bus Stops and Poetry

I was on a bus coming from D.C. on my way back to Texas which is a god-awful trip to take on a bus. Its amazing how a hundred miles can feel like a thousand on one of those things. Several dozen travel weary people angry that they couldn't afford a plane ticket do not make good company. But around Knoxville, the company changed and I found the seat next to me occupied by a dark haired girl with long bangs, a blue jean jacket and a bright smile.

I'm not very outgoing in situations like that. I normally have a long book to read and I ignore everyone. But this one was not going to be ignored. The questions started with "Whatcha reading?" and "What's it about?" and "So you like Stephen King?" and continued until I closed the book and looked at her.

"Your not going to let me read, are you?"

Her dark eyes sparkled beneath those silken bangs. "Nope," she said.

I put the book in my bag and she launched into conversations that ranged from alien abduction to some pretty deep philosophy to favorite movies and music and back again.

Amazing how the right company can make a thousand miles seem like a hundred.

Early in the morning, the conversation waned and she snuggled against my arm, a little into my shoulder.

"Don't take this personally but I'm going to sleep on you," she said and dozed off.

Her hair smelled nice.

Hours later we pulled into the station where we would part ways. She was heading north, to Chicago I think. I was heading south. Her bus left in a hour, mine a little after that.

We pooled our money and bought a world class breakfast of cheap coffee, two bags of chips and a big candy bar. We spread it out on napkins and feasted, finishing one or two of the conversations from the night before. All done, we took turns watching each others stuff while we cleaned up in the bathrooms.

Suddenly, it was getting close to time and suddenly she seemed nervous.

"I want to ask for a phone number," she said finally. "but that's just leading to something that wouldn't work out,"

I shrugged and almost protested. But she just kinda smiled and shook her head. I realized then that there was more to her story than she was telling me.

"Let's just save this for a good memory and leave it at that," she said.

I nodded and looked to the ground, still fighting the urge to argue. But complication lurked like a demon in the shadows of too many miles.

She brightened and gave a little hop towards me. "But I want a hug," she said and spread her arms almost sheepishly.

I opened my arms and she stepped into me and squeezed tight.

And then the music started. Over the speaker system of the bus terminal. Eta James hit that note and she melted in my arms.

"Oh my God," she whispered against my cheek. "I love this song."

She didn't let me go. Not that I wanted her to. The music washed over us and we began to move. Just a little. It wasn't so much dancing as an excuse to hold each other tight. But her hand found mine and I pulled her in at the small of her back and it was nice. Natural. Comfortable.

Her temple was against my unshaven chin and she nuzzled against it.

"I didn't shave," I began but she shook her head.

"It's ok," she said. "I like it."

It's not a long song but it kept the rhythm of an eternal moment. Her hair still smelled like flowers and fresh rain. Her body fit so perfectly against mine, moved so perfectly against mine. Then she pulled back just a little and we were so close to a kiss it was painful.

"So if I let you kiss me" she said "will you love me forever?"

"I'll kiss you forever," I said. "But love..."

She nodded. "I know."

She held me tighter, tucking her head under my chin and we were lost to the song again for another eternal moment until it was slowly over, that last note like the first, haunting and perfect.

And as if on cue, they called her bus.

She held on a bit longer and then stepped away, hand lingering lightly on my chest as she turned without looking up. Then she grabbed her bag and was gone.

I stood there. Wondering what it was like in Chicago. Wondering what the rest of her story was.

And then, as if on cue, they called my bus.

I nodded and got my bag and turned.

A man was standing there. Thread bare suit, cheap fedora, six-string slung across his back.

"Poetry," he said with a smile and glistening eyes. He shook his head and walked away. "Just pure poetry."

Yeah.

I guess it was.

Final Pictures of the Finished Wheel

I have to say I'm extremely satisfied with how she finished out. It sits comfortably and spins extremely well. I had a chance to throw the first pot after she was delivered to her new home and I honestly could have thrown all night. I'm very, very happy with the design and can't wait to build the next one.

Almost Done . . .

I still have a couple of more hours of work on details and the wheel head but she's functional and spins forever off three kicks.

Week Three

I must apologize for my lack of updates but work blew up on me and that, along with some extracurricular projects, kept me running for the past week. I've stuck to the program though with relative ease and I'm still happy with the results.

It's not hard to live this way either but I've noticed that choices have to made consciously and sometimes it takes more planning than I'm sure some would care for.

But I have to say that I am learning to not hate cooking. It's still not something I look forward to but I have enough meals on my menu that I can cook with confidence and improvise when I need to.

Shopping is an interesting experience as well. The hunt for good ingredients can be fun if you let it. It appears to be communal in nature, a time honored tradition of those in the know.

Interesting incident: I was digging through the jalapenos at the local big box and when I three little ladies suddenly surrounded me and began digging through the jalapenos almost as if I wasn't there. But one of them grabbed the peppers in my hand and before I could protest she replaced them with three more she had selected. She held my original peppers up to my face and squeezed it between her thumb and forefinger, explaining something in rapid-fire Spanish.

Unfortunately, I don't speak Spanish and that's unfortunate since she was obviously explaining how to select good peppers. And the peppers she selected were sweet, flavorful and hot. So I need to know what she said or I need someone to tell me how to select good peppers.

Food and food preparation has become somewhat of an adventure. I would point out that humans once spent the majority of their time concerned about where their next meal would come from. Today, if we spend more than an hour on prep and cooking we think we're wasting time. I have endeavored to slow down while I eat and have succeeded somewhat but I think I may slow down even more and enjoy the gathering, the prepping and the cooking as well as the consumption.

I haven't checked the blood pressure this week but I can tell that my mindset continues to improve. My priorities are shifting a bit and I think I'll let them shift and see how things go.

Day Fourteen

Messed up today.

Had a gathering and the marshmallow covered brownies were the temptation and I succumbed. It was the sugar rush from hell though and every time I slip and then have to sit and suffer I tend to slip less and less.

The quantity of food seems to be dropping more and more.

This is the end of week two and the weigh-in results are another five pounds. Blood pressure is 138/108 on average which is still better but not good enough.

The workout plan should kick in tomorrow but no promises. I'm still on the fence as far what to do. Leaning toward push-ups but there is still the matter of when.

I'm leaning toward push-ups since they are the best overall workout for the time invested. But there still is the issue of finding time.

Here is an interesting site that talks about push-ups and their benefits.

Day Thirteen

I've had a acrid taste in my mouth for a couple of days and wondered what it could be since the diet has been pretty consistent with the occasional deviation (The occasional diet soda is still a challenge to be overcome). It has been suggested that the acrid taste may be heavy metals purging from my system which triggered a memory of a week long fast from several years ago. Self-induced, of course. Along around day four, I remember that acrid taste. So the system is purging.

Cool.

Day Twelve

I need to do the research on vitamins and their pro's and con's. The most common con seems to be that they go right through you. But then why do I feel better when I take them?

Could be psychosomatic. Or some of the minerals in the common multivitamin may have beneficial effects.

The consensus on the internet appears to be that you should get your vitamins from good food and not a pill. But no diet is perfect. So why not supplement?

This needs a more in depth research but I'm buried in projects right now.

First Pics of the Kickwheel

Here is proof of progress on the new kickwheel:

Definitely a lot of work left to do by most of the cutting and pegging are done. Time to get the flywheel built which is a bit of a project all by itself.

Day Eleven

I had forgotten about omelets. The low carb crowd use them as the go-to meal in a pinch and with my schedule getting crazy as of late, I turned to them quite a bit myself. Fast, easy and a good solid protein.

I discovered a fruit cup at a restaurant downtown and it was a nice change. Cheap too.

Day Ten

I'm building another kickwheel and took today off to work on it. For lunch I got a salad from one of the sandwich shop chains. The dressing was too sweet though. I ate around it but it's amazing how cutting the sugar affects you sense of taste.

The wheel looks good. I'll post pictures when it gets a bit closer to done.

Had a diet soft drink today, mid afternoon. It was mostly a caffine craving, I think but I was still kicking myself over it.

But it was just one. Ok, maybe two.

It was a long, hard day and I was dragging a bit.

Day Nine

I told myself I'd have two weeks of stairs and then I would worry about working out but I can already see that time will be issue. As in my schedule is very full and finding 30 minutes to an hour to squeeze into a meaningful workout may be a challenge.

Monday night is one of my pottery nights at the studio so I'm stuck out. I brought trail mix from work though and will snack through it although I may have to consider packing a lunch and a dinner on nights such as this.

Day Eight

Well there goes my last guilty pleasure food-wise.

I've cut back on diet soft drinks as much as I've cut back on coffee but after several recent articles like the one linked above, I can't justify any soft drinks whatsoever. I even found an article that stated that the carbonation can lead to calcium depletion.

So soft drinks are out.

But anyway, Sunday is soup day. Four cans of low-sodium chicken broth, a bit of water, 2 cans of chicken and an assortment of onions, carrots and celery, spice according to your mood. Let it simmer for around thirty minutes and then cook up a 1/2 cup of rice and add it to the soup.

It makes enough to feed us on Sunday with enough left over that I can take it for lunch for a couple of days.

Still enthusiastic about this venture. But it's only a week in.

Day Seven: Weigh In

I didn't post any numbers at the start of all this since I decided to go with pounds lost as opposed to a target weight. I do have target numbers for my blood pressure which started out high. I check it using the automated machines in the pharmacy at the local big boxes. I usually just take the average since I'm in there more than a few times a week.

My blood pressure was averaging in the low end of the high range according to the little chart on the machine. On Day Seven, I'm in the upper end of normal. I'll check it again throughout the week but I think the stairs are to blame for that improvement.

I've lost 9 pounds this first week. I think I mentioned that I'm not losing as fast as I have before which could be due to age or the fact that I have not gone hardcore paleo. But I happy with this progress and I still say I'll stay the course.

The jeans are a bit loose and I've noticed a increase in energy throughout the day. My mental state seems a bit clearer as well almost as if a fog is lifting off my brain. All good signs as far as I'm concerned.

The challenges for the coming week are to incorporate a more intensive workout routine into the day. I may have to play that one by ear since I have a lot of extra projects going on right now.

So what about holidays?

Halloween is probably my favorite holiday for a lots of reasons but it is loaded with temptations.

And what should I do about the loads of candy and other goodness that the Kid will bring in not to mention the candy that I'll buy to hand out to trick-or-treaters? Or for that matter what about all the other random holidays throughout the year?

I think I'll just enjoy the holidays and then return to the schedule the next day. That should be the strength of this program, the routine and the simplicity.

Having lived through through the holiday, I can say that I did not partake as much as I thought I would. I had a few pieces of candy and found them too sweet. I made a pumpkin pie with a popular sugar substitute and found it lacking. The next day I had a bit of a sugar hangover and the carb cravings returned but I stuck my normal eating patterns, even upped the protein to compensate for the cravings and lived through it easily.

The next holiday is Thanksgiving and I should be fine. Most of the food is not far off the diet anyway and I'll work on a pumpkin pie recipe that doesn't use the sugar substitutes. Maybe honey or I just may use sugar and deal with the hangover. The recipe only called for 3/4 cup for the entire recipe.

I think the key is returning to your established eating patterns as soon as you can but otherwise enjoy the holiday but be aware of how the foods you're eating will make you feel.

Day Six

Dinner today was broiled chicken with creamed spinach and potatoes.

This has to be the best way to fix chicken hands down. I covered the chicken breasts with olive oil, a little bit of kosher salt and a good bit of pepper and then put them on the middle rack of the oven.

You have to have a thermometer for this one to poke into the largest chicken breast. Start checking at around 20 minutes and pull when they get to 170 degrees. Carry-over will take them to 180 degrees which is the recommended target temperature for chicken.

Tender and juicy, not to sound like a commercial or anything.

I used dairy for the creamed spinach and I'll not apologize because it was good. I sweated green onions in olive oil and then added two cans of drained spinach. I heated up about three quarters cup of condensed milk in the microwave and added it to the spinach and let it simmer, stirring a lot to keep it from burning. There was a bit of mozarella cheese in the fridge and I add just a heavy pinch. Very nice. Fresh spinach would have been better but the canned stuff worked just fine.

Tomorrow is Halloween and so we get to discuss what to do about holidays. It's also Day Seven so I'll weigh in and see what I've lost. I know I've lost something due to the fact that my jeans are a bit loose at the hips. Practically had to hold them up while I was doing the stairs today.

Day Five

Today's observations include a further reduction in cravings and an increase in energy levels. I'm taking two steps at a time on the stairs and it's still kicking my butt but in a good way. When I do two steps, it's harder on the legs and I can feel it pull in the abs as well.

I've also naturally reduced my coffee intake. By naturally I mean that I didn't have to think about it. Suddenly I was down to two cups and that just seemed to be enough. That's down from at least five spread across the course of a morning.

I got stuck out and went with a grilled chicken wrap from a fast foot joint for dinner. Had a meeting to go to and there were refeshments and none of it was on the diet. To be honest, I nibbled on a pretzel stick and had a cheese puff but that was it. Neither tasted very good. Too salty.

I'm not losing weight as fast as I did when I went hardcore paleo but I'm past Day Five and I am losing weight so I'll stay the course.