Rabbit Style News

Broccoli & Potato Soup

2 tbsp olive oil
4 medium red potatoes, diced
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium broccoli crown, cut into small florets
4 oz blue cheese, crumbled
4 cups vegetable stock
1/3 cup ricotta cheese
1/8 tsp paprika
salt & pepper

1. Heat oil in a large pan. Add the potatoes & onion. Saute, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes. Add garlic, cook for another 4 minutes.

2. Add the broccoli, saute for 3 minutes. Add the blue cheese and vegetable stock.

3. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 25 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Stir occasionally.

4. Transfer the soup to a blender or food processor in batches and process until the mixture is almost smooth. Add ricotta to one of the blender batches. Leave about a 1/4 of the soup unprocessed.

5. Mix it all together in the pot. Add paprika and season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle on a dash of paprika to individual serving bowls to make it look fancy.

This recipe is adapted from Favorite Vegetarian Dishes, a book that does not appear to have a specific author (”by staff of Paragon Publishing”). I say “adapted” because I changed some of the ingredients to suit our tastes and what was on hand. I recommend the cookbook. Each recipe covers one page and includes a large color photograph of the finished product, three smaller photos of the work in progress, nutritional information, approximate active and total time, tips for prep, freezing, substitutes etc, and a difficulty rating from 1-3 chef’s hats. (The soup above is 1 hat.) My mother gave the book to me in July 2005 and I have enjoyed it ever since.

… wake up in the late afternoon. (Call Parnell just to see what he’s doin. Hello!? Whattup Parn? Yo Samberg what’s crackin. You thinkin what I’m thinkin? Narnia!)

I got up at my usual 12:52 p.m. Ate some leftover tortellini, read the internet, did some things I don’t remember but were probably pretty cool, went to Goodwill for costume pieces, went to Albertsons for delicious mandarin oranges on sale for 50 cents per can, cleaned up the apartment and put away all the food, cooked a new recipe for potato-broccoli soup.

Ate the soup (verdict: delicious) while watching “Office Space” yet again, finished reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz.

Probably took the dog out a few times and did some laundry too. Now it’s time to get ready for bed again to do it all again tomorrow. I gave myself a four-day weekend — I don’t have to go to work tomorrow! Awesome.

I went to a pumpkin carving party tonight and made a cyclops pumpkin.  There were 15 pumpkins lined up in two rows and they looked great.  Most were faces, plus some of the fancier kinds like a spooky tree with a mouth, or a ghost saying Boo!, using stencils from a kit.  People took pictures and somebody will probably send me photo which I can post here.

There was homemade vegetarian chili and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies that were like a cookie/muffin hybrid and apple cider.  I talked to some new people and played Bohnanza and generally had a pleasant evening.

I decided I want to carve a watermelon and see how that turns out.  I can’t think of a reason why it wouldn’t work.  Sure, it might be more work to hollow it out, and I might need to flatten out a bottom so it doesn’t roll, and yet it could be very cool and unexpected.  And think of all that watermelon scooped out to eat!

The San Jose Sharks lost against Detroit, 2 - 4.  I was listening to the game on their internet radio broadcast and something about the connection made it come through slightly garbled.  Not a lot, just enough to make me feel like I was losing my mind just a little bit.  I knew they were speaking English and yet sometimes I couldn’t quite turn those sounds into concepts and syntax and familiar speaking patterns.

One of the announcers has a strong Canadian accent and I laugh every time he says out or about or house.  “He left aboot an hour ago, he said he was oot for some errands and would return to the hoose in an hoor or so.”  Ha ha!  Canadians.

I went to the Arizona state fair last night. It’s no Great Minnesota Get-Together, that’s for sure. It was still a good time, and Weird Al put on a great performance. That man means business.

I paid for the concert tickets so my date paid for parking, fair entrance, and dinner. We walked up to the ticket window holding hands. The woman behind the glass stood there for a few seconds and I wasn’t sure if she had even seen us. She also seemed like maybe she was stoned.

“Two, please,” he said as we stood next to each other. There was a long pause.

“…what?” she asked, finally making eye contact.

“Two, please. [pause] For the fair…,” he repeated. She glanced at me, then looked back at him.

“Is she a junior?” she asked.

“No.”

“Oh. Then $24,” and she reached for the money that he had been holding out to her for awhile as I looked up at the ticket prices sign. Adult - $12, Child (5-13) - $6.

Wow. 5-13. Not so much in that age range, what with turning 26 in three weeks and all.