Carrot Apple Ginger Soup

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Apples, Carrot soup, Carrots, Ginger, homemade stock

I have been in something of a soupy mood all this month. Food just doesn’t warm me up the way a nice steaming bowl of soup does. You will have noticed that most of the soups I have been making, including my older cream of broccoli or the latest spinach soup have been the very epitome of simplicity. And yet they all pack a punch and in some cases are so filling that we make a meal with a bowl of soup and some garlic bread. Or if there are leftovers from the previous day’s meal, but not quite enough for both of us, then a big bowl of soup added to the meal does the trick. So Yay! for soups, for helping me survive this winter!

The clear chicken soup with lemongrass and veggies that I shared with you a while ago, as also today’s soup, both call for a vegetable stock. Well, it’s very easy to buy the stock of course (though even the low sodium varieties are still very high on sodium as far as I am concerned). I remember that my mother never used to buy stock but used to make it at home by chopping up vegetables and giving them a good boil and a long simmer. But that always left behind a bunch of soggy boiled vegetables, which we didn’t know what to do with.

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Spinach Soup: Soup for Zen

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Garlic, Ginger, Healthy Recipes, Spinach, Tomatoes

No consensus was reached by the Groundhogs this year about how long this winter is going to be. For those not in the know, Groundhog day is a tradition in North America. On a certain day in February, called Groundhog Day, if it is cloudy when the groundhog (a furry rodent, also known as the woodchuck) emerges from its burrow, then spring will come early. If it is sunny, and the groundhog casts (and hence probably sees) a shadow, then it is taken as an indication that spring will stay on for at least 6 more weeks. So the emergence of the groundhogs is observed with great anticipation. Ontario’s own famous groundhog Wiarton Willie predicted this year that spring is about to… well, spring, but his fellow prognosticators from elsewhere in the country begged to differ and scurried inside their burrows as soon as they saw their shadows. So you see, spring might be here soon. Or not.

In the meanwhile, even as I published my previous post, Toronto received what the radio hosts were calling a ‘winter wallop’. Every time I hear the word ‘wallop’ I can’t help but think it must be a fun thing. Then I remember what it means. I really think they should change the meaning of this word! After all, a word that rhymes with gallop and dollop must be something fun, right? But I digress. Coming back to the point, a mountain of snow was dumped on us and I played hooky from work because I’m not nearly as adventurous (or foolhardy) as one needs to be, to drive out in the worst snowstorm in five years. It took us a few hours to dig our car out from under the snow and to shovel our driveway, but we did it.

Peas & Coriander Soup

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Coriander, Peas

This is the heart of the long Canadian winter. Everything is frozen.

There are days when the wind howls outside like a crazy beast and blows the snow around in a tantrum. The world gets shrouded in an almost opaque, white curtain and everything’s a blur. It is difficult to see beyond a few feet and it is a comfort to be indoors with the fury of the season only visible through a window.

There are days when it feels as if the fattest, fluffiest feather pillow you can imagine, the most gigantic one possible, tore open in the sky above. There’s not a breath of wind and fat, perfectly formed snow-flakes gently drift to the ground. They cover every surface with a pristine shawl and the world is in a hush. Sounds from a near-by road, which seem immediate on clear days, are far-away and muffled. Most of the world seems to pause to take in the peace and the rest the world tip-toes about, as if to keep the serenity intact.