Yummy soup.

Tonight I made some yummy soup. It was cream of potato and asparagus. I was going to make cream of asparagus to use up the woody bottoms of the asparagus I had the other day. I cut them up small and simmered them until they were soft. Then I went online to look for a recipe. I saw one recipe where they used potato with the asparagus and decided to try it. I didn't have much asparagus, so mine was more of a cream of potato soup with asparagus. I peeled and diced one potato and added it to the asparagus. I simmered them until the potato was tender and then I used a slotted spoon to move the pieces to the blender. I added dried minced onions to the liquid. (because I am somehow out of onion...a tragedy in my book. sigh) I also added a chicken boullion cube and some garlic.  I let the liquid simmer with those added ingredients while I pureed the potato and asparagus. In the recipes I saw they also had you add pepper and salt. I don't really care for pepper and I try not to add salt. The boullion has more than I need.
I then returned the pureed mixture back to the pot and added about 1/2 a cup of sour cream, and maybe a cup of milk. I don't really measure when I make things up so I can't tell you exactly. I cooked and stirred that over medium heat until it was well blended. I served it with a piece of french bread toasted with butter and garlic. It was delicious. It would taste really good with bacon in it, I think, but I don't use much bacon.
I always thought I hated potato soup because in the ninth grade we made it in home ec and it turned out just terrible. To this day I can't eat chunks of wet potato. But my son made a soup one day and used the potatoes creamed and I found out I actually love that. It's kind of like pureed baked potato.

Here are a few more pictures from my recent ocean trip. We were sitting in the car just enjoying the sounds and smell of the surf. There were hundreds of seagulls sitting or standing on the beach. A few smaller birds came in and landed and then the whole flock came in. I'm not sure if they were Plovers or ? I never got a very good look at them because I was in my car when I saw the first two land and by the time I got out of the car with my camera, the flock showed up and they did some graceful swooping back and forth along the beach. On their last pass in our direction they flew low to the ground and stirred up the seagulls which then took flight. The Plovers? took off to the south and the seagulls came back and resumed resting. It was great to watch. I wish I could have gotten the flock when it was still close to me, however. Someday I will buy the better telephoto lens. Sigh. But, there are other needs right now, so it will have to wait.


The seagulls taking flight.

The flock going North.

Second pass going North.

The first pass coming back South.

Making the turn for the final pass to the South.

Back to resting on the beach.

Away from the madding crowd.

Stand alone. And yes, he really does have two legs. One  is up.

Cooking, cooking, cooking.

I tried this recipe for Onion Marmalade the other day. I'm not sure what happened but mine did not smell heavenly. I tasted it a bit and it has a bit of a sour taste, so maybe the onions I used were just a little too sour? It isn't really a bad taste, but it tastes like I added vinegar and I didn't. I only used the two ingredients, onions and butter. I did add three red onions, but that shouldn't have mattered because there are recipes for red onion marmalade. I might try it again and use sweet onions or maybe just try a different recipe. Some of them even call for liquor or wine. I will have to research this more.
Today I started my second batch of SARC butter. It smells heavenly, already. I also put on a big pot of water and made some veggie sinagong. I used chicken bouillion and no meat at all. I am taking some to work with me for my lunch.
My house smells heavenly, today. It's a good thing, too, because we were all getting pretty sick of the smell that onion marmalade produced. I'm hoping the next batch will smell like I had anticipated.
Getting ten pounds of cranberries turned out to be a really good thing for me. I have been cooking and canning and baking and cooking and canning and baking and feel all in the mood to continue this until and through Christmas. I have stocked up on all the things I need to make Christmas cookies and fruitcake and lots of goodies. It's a good thing, too! That might just be the presents I give this year. I always think home made things are the best for Christmas presents, especially for those people who seem to already have everything they need.
Ok...time to get ready for work. I need to start starting my blog a little sooner. I'm pushing the time limits these days.