My shoes is party dance!

Two soups! Because it's soup weather, natch. (Potatoes, sweet potatoes, stock, garlic, and sunflower oil are local and/or from the CSA. Other stuff not so much, because it's January. ;))


Sweet Potato spinach soup, adapted from Quick Fix Vegan

3-4 sweet potatoes
1 onion, chopped
2-3 garlic cloves, chopped fine
sunflower oil for sauteeing
1" or so piece of ginger root, chopped very fine
1 qt stock
1 14oz can diced tomatoes
1 14oz can coconut milk
1/2 tsp-ish coriander
2 tbls. or so of tamari
a bunch of fresh spinach, chopped (4 cups, I think? Or so?)
salt and pepper to taste

Sautee the onion, garlic, and diced sweet potatoes in the oil for a few minutes, then add the garlic and ginger and cook a few minutes more, stirring often. Add the stock (and additional liquid sufficient to cover the potatoes) and boil 15-20 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are done. Add tomatoes, lower heat, simmer a couple more minutes. Then turn off heat and blend as desired (I immersion blended some, while leaving plenty of chunks, just to bring everything together and make it a bit creamier.) Add coconut milk and spinach, stir until the spinach is wilted. Season to taste!

This hit the particular spot that I was looking for: warming and colorful. It's not something I'd make all the time, but I'd definitely do it again.


I more or less followed this recipe from our CSA email:
Potato Cilantro Soup
2 TB olive oil or butter
2 medium onions, finely chopped (or 2 leeks)
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 quart chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
2 medium potatoes, peeled and coarsely chopped
salt and pepper
1 pinch red pepper flakes
2/3 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped
lime juice

Saute onion and garlic slowly until tender. Add the broth, potatoes. Cook til the potatoes are tender about half an hour. Add most of the cilantro leaving a few tablespoons for garnish. Use an immersion blender or food processor to puree. Serve hot or cold, and garnish with the remaining fresh cilantro. Add a squeeze of fresh lime juice before serving.

Optional: add 1 diced, seeded jalepeno pepper along with the broth and potatoes. Add up to 1/4 cup of cream to soup just before serving. Add a couple chopped scallions to the soup after pureeing.

I left out the spicy stuff for Sophie, but she doesn't actually like potato soups anyway...so in the future, I'd use at least the red pepper flakes and possibly the jalepeno too. It was good like this too, though, and I'd totally make it again.

So I kind of neglected this branch of 100things, even though it is so easy to write about! But I thought about it today while driving because it is SO DAMN BEAUTIFUL here. Just driving Ryan to and from work, on the highway no less, is always beautiful, in different ways every day. We have mountain views, and a view of the valley, and glimpses of the lake, and farm land...just while driving on the highway. I sometimes take the slower route though, just so I can take things in a bit more. Right now it is especially notable, because of the autumn leaves and farms with huge piles of pumpkins, and the light.

Things #5: that I live in such a beautiful place.

This is kind of mundane, but one of my favorite things to make that I often forget about is a baked potato party, complete with 27,000 toppings. This week, there were russet potatoes, onions, garlic, and cilantro in my share and I had a lot of spinach left from last week. SO!

You got your baked potato, but here are the toppings I made last night:

*roasted garlic
*carmelized onions
*sauteed spinach
*sauteed broccoli (I love it with lemon and garlic, Sophie prefer it plain, so we went with just olive oil and salt this time.)
*plain yogurt
*shredded cheese (cheddar for Sophie, pepperjack for us!)
*hot sauce
*cilantro

Other things I love that we did not have last night, in case you're getting excited about eating a baked potato like I am!
*black olives
*smoked tempeh (a bacon alternative, though it is not at all bacon-like it is smoky and salty!)
*proper sour cream (we didn't have any last night)
*scallions
*corn
*sauteed mushrooms

Now I'm going to need to eat a second potato RIGHT AWAY OMG.

I failed to take a picture, which is too bad because it was pretty:

Soba noodles with edamame, fried tofu, garlic, leeks and spinach, dressed in a little sunflower oil and the most amazing tamari evarrrr.

The CSA share had a huge thing of edamame, not only in the pods but also still on the branches! They also gave me the spinach, the garlic, and the tamari, which is from Quebec (I think) and made the "real", traditional way... which is a really tasty way. (Something about the byproducts of making miso, I read the description but don't recall the details.) I bought the soba, tofu, and leeks. I am not the biggest fan of soba, but it was tasty and the color contrast was nice, and it was a big hit with my fam. The fresh edamame were either a hair undercooked or a bit firmer than I am used to, but they were delicious.

I am starving right now, and roasting some tomatoes and zucchinis for my next installment. ;)

You're going to laugh at me. But if you watch this video, I bet you are also going to smile. Possibly a lot! Do it and report back, I dare you.



I feel like I have a full time job lately Enjoying The Shit Out of Summer, and we are. And now it is July, and I love July. I have to get us ready for yoga now, but I'll be back. :)

Today we braved the chilly rain to go to the farmer's market, which was worth it because Adam had strawberries. The first local strawberries I could get my hands on, as he sold out before I got there the last time. Oh my goodness, people, they are So Good. The farmer's market probably warrants it's own "things that make me happy" post, because it is one of my favorite things...so we won't dwell on that right now.

But after the farmer's market and before going to buy Sophie a new bicycle helmet, we went to a coffee shop to warm up and so Sophie could use the bathroom. Going to coffee shops makes me happy. They have to be good ones - a bad coffee place is just depressing. But there have been a lot of good ones in my life so far.

Pre-Sophie, I spent a lot of time in coffee shops. I would bring my book or my journals, and spend hours reading, writing, emo-ing, listening to music, or whatever. Ryan and I used to go on weekly open mic dates at a coffee shop in the town where we grew up. We drank horrible sweet things like the Funky Monkey and some snickers bar latte business, I don't even know - I just know they were incredibly sweet and served in cups the size of bowls and covered with whipped cream. :)

That's Muddy Waters in the photo up there, taken on my terrible cell phone camera and I apologize. Isn't it pretty, with its wood and stained glass and extreme coziness? Muddy Waters makes a generally perfect vanilla latte, in the perfect size - I really wish 8 ounce beverages were a thing at more places. They are my favorite on a rainy day. Always warm, always with the just-right music, and a place I have been going for many years. Today, Sophie read (recited) "In The Night Kitchen" while Ryan and I drank our coffee.

I came here when I was someone who just visited here. I think I probably came here as a child, even, with my parents. I came here when I first moved into town. I was here was I was pregnant, drinking minimal amounts of coffee and larger amounts of ginger lemonade, eating tiramisu. And now I come here with my family. I love lots of other coffee shops for different reasons, but this one I have mostly known forever. It makes me happy.

This quote:

"…because nerds like us are allowed to be unironically enthusiastic about stuff… Nerds are allowed to love stuff, like jump-up-and-down-in-the-chair-can’t-control-yourself love it. Hank, when people call people nerds, mostly what they’re saying is ‘you like stuff.’ Which is just not a good insult at all. Like, ‘you are too enthusiastic about the miracle of human consciousness’.”
― John Green

It makes me happy because it's so true! I love things SO MUCH. And that is why this series of posts is both incredibly easy and incredibly hard for me, especially in getting started - where to begin? Do I limit the scope? What's the right mix of tiny things and huge things? Ultimately I think it has to be kind of stream of conscious, and opportunistic, seizing on whatever shiny thing about life I feel like talking about. I'll probably write down a list, and I'll probably change it out 5 times. Who knows. But I want to say: I am a nerd, and it feels good. I like nerds. I like people who understand boundless enthusiasm and passion, fascination, people who actually make a squeeing sound, who can find happiness in dandelions or the perfect song on the radio and who understand why I cheer and clap when I watch TV. It's a good club, nerddom. It's a happy place.