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I hope everyone who celebrates Solstice had a lovely day yesterday. I always feel a sense of relief after winter Solstice when the dishes are washed and the candle blown out. The winter days ahead might be the coldest, but at least there will be more sun. Of course all of you in the southern hemisphere are launching out into summer and have just had your longest day of the year. This too is worth celebrating.
Since Bookman had to work yesterday he was concerned about leaving me to fend for myself in his kitchen. Trying to be of help, he left quite a few things out on the counter so I could find them. He also said to text him if I ran into any trouble and had a question. He was going to be busy but he’d get back to me as soon as he could. He’s such a sweetie.Off to work he went. I put on some tunes, Beth Hart to be exact, and started in on the cake. It wasn’t long before I ran
into my first problem. We buy our baking soda and baking powder in bulk and Bookman puts them in nice jars in the pantry cupboard. The jars are unlabeled. Which is which? I texted him. I got tired of waiting. I shook the jars. If I were a box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda sitting in the fridge absorbing smells, what would I look like? Would I be sort of crystal-y sugary looking? Or would I be heavy and clumpy? I went for heavy and clumpy and crossed my fingers. The cake was already baked and cooling before Bookman called me back and I learned I had guessed right. The cake, chocolate bundt cake. I dropped dollops of orange marmalade into the batter and then made a sugar glaze that had a bit of orange extract in it. The cake was delicious! Then it was time to start making the soup. I found the recipe for this very easy carrot ginger soup on the internet. I chopped up the carrots, cried over the onion, enjoyed the smell of fresh ginger on my hands (I put in more ginger than the recipe calls for), put it all in the pot and then realized I wasn’t supposed to put the coconut milk in until later. Oops. No matter, it still came out tasting so very very good. And it was easy to make. We ate it with a garlic sourdough bread I bought at the bakery of our food co-op. We will be making this again for sure.I was tired out by this time so I figured I deserved a little sit down. I read for a bit and then at four I was up and back in the kitchen and not nearly as energetic as I was earlier in the day. I decided to make the chickpea quinoa pilaf. My food co-op had red quinoa and white quinoa so I used half of each for the pilaf. And then I had to chop another onion. The onion did me in. Since I don’t cook but once a year I do everything slower than Bookman does and chopping onions, I decided, is something I totally suck at. Not that they make me cry, I don’t care about that, but it takes me nearly half an hour to finely chop a small onion. By the time I was done chopping my back had begun to ache and I was getting hungry and grumpy. The pilaf was easy to make, onion chopping aside, and tastes so very good. This will also be something we make again.
While the pilaf was on the stove simmering, I started making the marinade for the pomegranate tofu. I came to shallots on the ingredients list. Crud, I didn’t see that when making the shopping list. Will have to do onion instead. But I couldn’t face the prospect of chopping another onion so I used dried onion. It made the texture of the marinade kind of lumpy, not what it was supposed to be, but it still tasted good. Really good. Bookman plans to make it again sometime but with shallots. It will probably be even better.
While I was struggling with my tofu marinade, Bookman called to say he was on his way home a half an hour early. Yay! I fear that when he arrived home I was in such a state of tired grumpiness that he immediately went into “I’ll save you!” mode which made me even grumpier because I didn’t need to be rescued. But we worked it out and it was nice to have Bookman home to help me make the sauteed green beans and mushrooms. By the time we got the table set and the candle lit, the sparkling apple cider poured and the hot soup on the table, we were feeling celebratory. Everything was delicious and Bookman declared it the best Solstice meal ever.And now today begins two weeks of laziness as my well deserved reward.
Sounds delicious, even with all the grumpiness that extended cooking can cause – I know exactly what you mean. But the end result seems to have been great, and the upcoming week of rest will balance it out 🙂 Enjoy it!!
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Melwyk, it was delicious and well worth the long day of cooking!
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I’d love the recipe for the carrot-ginger soup! The cake looks lovely – like it was covered with lace. I’m not a very successful baker. Good job. Have a great vacation. I envy you the time off.
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Ooops…I seek you did leave a link for the soup. Duh. I’ve been drinking too much egg nog.
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Grad, LOL, the egg nog will get you every time 😉 I hope your own Solstice meal turned out well!
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Your menu sounds wonderful! I am the main cook in my family, but getting about a week off, as we’re off to Missouri to visit my mother and then my husband’s parents. We hope for good weather for highway driving.
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Jeanne, thanks! I may not be the best cook but I am pretty good at putting menus together. Have a safe trip to Missouri and a wonderful visit!
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Sounds like a success!!! The cake looked yummy. Happy vacation 🙂
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Helen, the cake was delicious as was everything else! Thanks!
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It all sounds so yummy! I hope you have a wonderful two weeks off to enjoy time with Mr. Bookman, reading and just relaxing!
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Iliana, thanks! It will be nice to recharge my batteries. It has been awhile!
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This posting has made me salivate from glands I never knew I had. Mmmm…
Have a great vacation, now that you have cried over the onions. [I do, too. I’m real bad for that… every time I start chopping it’s like I’ve just been told my Anna has thrown herself under the train!]
For me, my [Mexico] vacation starts two weeks FROM now.
And I will NOT be chopping onions there!
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Cipriano, LOL, I love your onion crying analogy! Mexico to look forward to? That will be a lovely warm get away and here before you know it!
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Oh you make me laugh Stefanie with your cooking adventures! Great post. (Weird that when I clicked on the bottom photo it displayed upside-down, opposite to how it shows in the post!)
I love the solstice themed plates! I know what you mean about winter solstice – I always like to think it’s passed even though the coldest time is still to come. Unfortunately you’ve just reminded me to feel sad that summer solstice has passed here. Wah! But, of course we still have lots of warm weather to come so I’ll focus on that.
Carrot and ginger make for a wonderful combination. the whole meal looks great.
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whisperinggums, I am glad you enjoyed my cooking adventures! I can laugh about them after the fact but while they are happening it is hard to find the humor. Weird about the photo!
I love our plates. We’ve had them for a very long time. Got them at Macy’s on a big discount because they were from a broken set. They couldn’t be more perfect. Don’t worry, you still have months of summer ahead of you 🙂
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A buy like that is doubly special … A real deal! I’ll try not to worry too much … 🙂
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Oh boy I am exhausted just reading about all that cooking. No wonder you were a little tetchy by the end of it. Love the sound of the pilaff. Any chance of the recipe??
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BookerTalk, heh, all I can says is I am glad I only cook once a year! I will email you the pilaf recipe 🙂
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Everything sounds and looks delicious! The carrot / ginger soup looks just like the sun! I love your plates, too. I’m a sucker for anything with stars on it. Happy Solstice to you and Bookman. Have a wonderful vacation from work!
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Joan, thanks! The soup does look rather sunny, doesn’t it? The plates were a great score from a broken set at Macy’s a long time ago. Thanks for the good wishes! I hope you have a wonderful Christmas!
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Whoa! That’s a lot of cooking. I would have been super-duper grumpy too. Btw, that carrot ginger soup looks interesting. I just might try it.
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Nish, it was a lot of cooking especially when I don’t do it but once a year. But it is totally worth it!
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I’m sure your grumpiness is so slight that none of the rest of us would recognise it and all the food looks wonderful.
With me it’s dressmaking. The moment the scissors come out The Bears run for cover. I am actually quite a good dressmaker but you really don’t want to run into me along the way.
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Alex, you are too kind! I’m not bad at dressmaking and it is something that doesn’t generally make me grumpy except hemming things. I hate hemming. It’s good to know the things that make you grumpy though in order to forewarn others 🙂
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Reblogged this on madcapdownsideup.
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Awesome cooking…..am so impressed! I am the cook of the
house and chopping onions after several years of masterhefhood still makes me dread the entire task! So don’t worry so much about the onion chopping skills!
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cirtnecce, thanks! I am glad to know that even a good cook dislikes chopping onions. Some inventive person needs to create device that will do it for us 🙂
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Stefanie,
Even though you didn’t feel you needed to be rescued, I can sense that you’ve been spoiled by Bookman. 😉 What a wonderful man… always in time to … ah, not rescue, but, umm, just to give support. So sweet!
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Arti, oh yes, I am definitely spoiled by Bookman! It was nice to have him home early to lend a hand with the finishing touches 🙂
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I think it looks pretty dang tasty myself. And if your apple butter is anything to gage by–I am sure it tasted Very Delicious. I could happily sit with a spoon and a jar of the butter and be very happy indeed–bread is just incidental! 🙂 Sounds like you had a lovely Solstice–and now you can sit and relax and enjoy your reading. I suspect it is as cold (or likely colder) up there than down here, so staying inside where it is warm and toasty sounds pretty nice right now. Have a really great break. I have been trying to write a card or letter every day…so expect to find a little missive or two in your mailbox soon!
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Danielle, why thank you! I am glad you are enjoying the apple butter, I hoped you might!
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It’s quite tasty and my morning toast gets a nice scoop of it, and then I get a nice extra scoop myself plain! 🙂 Are those honeycrisp apples you used? I’m sure you wrote about them, but all the details are fuzzy now….
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Yum! It all looks so very good. Happy to read that you and Bookman had a wonderful Solstice celebration. I too love the plates.
I must tell you that I loathe chopping onions and if I do not use the assistance of a chopper, takes a very long time.
I bought a bottle of pomegranate molasses a very long time ago and could not for the life of me remember why. When I saw your tofu, I think that I wanted to try a braising recipe with tofu. Thanks for the inspirational spark to finally open the bottle.
Enjoy your reading vacation!
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Vanessa, thank you for the good wishes! Chopping onions I am beginning to realize is pretty much disliked by all so I am feeling much better about it now! Pomegranate molasses is wonderful. We just discovered it recently when Bookman made a new salad recipe that called for it in the dressing. if you’d like the marinade recipe let me know!
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Thanks Stefanie I would like the recipe. I emailed you on Friday but I think the email just went as it first appeared in my outbox this morning. Have a wonderful New Year’s Eve and happy New Year to you and Bookman.
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By the way I made it last night at it was delicious! I had mine with couscous and celery. The recipe is a keeper and I thank you again for emailing it to me.
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So glad it turned out good and you liked it! Always glad to share recipes 🙂
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It looks good!! (I tried carrot ginger soup a year ago, but it wasn’t to my son’s liking, I’ll try again as he’ll get older). I confess that I buy precut frozen onions.
You being the only person I know who celebrates Solstice instead of xmas, I explained to my 5yo this way of celebrating and I decided we’d try to have a electric-lights-free dinner on the solstice, only being lit with candles for the evening. My son deemed it a success, I hope that it will become a family tradition.
Happy holidays to you and Bookman!
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smithereens, thanks! Hopefully when your son gets older he will like carrot ginger soup, it is such a delicious combination! How wonderful you had a solstice celebration! I am glad it was a success. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too!
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Your Solstice meal looks utterly delicious and I will have to try the carrot and ginger soup. I think you are a perfectionist! I chop onion any old way and so long as I don’t get a finger mixed in, I am happy. Still, it’s not a special meal unless you’ve slaved over it until grumpiness sets in! Happy Solstice to you and the bookman and here’s to the return of the light!
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Litlove, thank you! I don’t trust myself to cook without following the directions exactly so when it says finely chop an onion I think it means every piece has to be small otherwise it won’t turn out right. Unlike Bookman, I can’t cook without a recipe. That’s why he’s the cook and I only do it once a year 🙂
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sounds like a lovely solstice meal and celebration with excellent food! one thing that has helped me immensely with chopping onions is wearing swim goggles…i look odd but my eyes don’t water. 🙂
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