I cut the ham up in chunks and had made a lovely split pea soup. It was decidedly delicious to all three of us. I even mentioned it on my Facebook page and tagged my younger brother in it hoping he would show it to my father. Haven't heard about it yet so I guess not...lol.
Yesterday I set about making Julia Child's Potage Parmentier Potato...in English Potato Leek Soup. After gathering most of the ingredients needed, to my horror I realized I had no Leeks. I had to ask Ray exactly what the difference between Leeks and Green Onions were. So I decided to modify it and make it my own.
Potato Masher
Slotted Spoon
Measuring Cups
Measuring Spoons
8 Qt Cooking Pot with Lid
10 Large Baking Potatoes
8 Cups water
2 Sticks REAL Butter
1/2 Cup Minced Onions ( I chopped mine very fine...I used Yellow Onion)
1/4 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream
1 Cup Whole Milk
1/4 Minced Chives (once again very finely chopped)
1 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Teaspoon Pepper
Scrub and wash the potatoes, leave the skin on the potatoes. Make sure they have no buds on them. Cut into 1/2 thick slices, then cut into chunks.
Add 10 cups room temp or cold water to your pot.
Add potatoes and turn heat up to high to bring water and potatoes to a boil. Once they begin to boil let them boil at high for about 5 minutes, then turn heat down to medium while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
Cut butter into 1 teaspoon chunks (unwrap butter and lay wrapper face up under the butter on cutting board and just follow the markings on the wrapper for measuring your cuts)
Mince your onion into very fine pieces and set aside
Mince you chives into very fine pieces and set aside
Once your potatoes have boiled enough to feel soft enough to squish between thumb and fingers (please let the piece cool down before doing this! You will burn your fingers if you don't!) start using a potato masher to mash them into the water they were boiled in. Try not to make it too soupy, leave some chunks.
Measure out your cream and milk. Add Cream, Milk, and Butter to your potato mixture. use a slotted spoon for this. It keeps you from breaking any chunks into fine pieces. Once mixed in add your Salt, Pepper, Onions and Chives. You may add more or less Salt & Pepper, use to your liking. Stirring slowly to mix everything together.
Reduce heat to simmer and cover. Let the soup simmer for about 20 minutes to absorb all the ingredients.
While the soup is simmering you can make easy crescents, or dinner rolls in a toaster oven to go with the soup.
Serve hot! My version makes about 15 cups maybe less maybe more. I always make a large pot of it. It makes a great meal in the middle of winter.
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I finally went and bought the book Julie & Julia....I am about halfway done with it after 2 days. What do I think of the book? I think "in my opinion" that Julie Powell has a dirty mouth, she is selfish, self centered, arrogant, rude, childish, greedy, insensitive...all she talks about in the book for the most part is how she hates Republicans, drinking, sex, drinking, her friends, sex, drinking, cooking, drinking, her problems being married, her cats, drinking, sex, and how much the relatives of the September 11th attacks are whiners. That about covers it so far...not so sure I want to finish the book. "In my opinion" if I were a person who lost someone on that horrible day in September, I would find Julie and slap her for her insensitive remarks about the survivors.
I have been doing some research on Julie since seeing the movie and now reading the book...apparently she is nothing like the sweet character portrayed in the movie by Amy Adams. She decided after her J&J Project that made her famous to cheat on her husband, become a butcher, become a writer, wrote another book about cheating on her husband and becoming a butcher, then quitting being a butcher. She now self proclaims herself as a pajama writer. A person who stays home and writes while wearing pajamas. Her poor mistreated husband stayed with her. I am not sure if I think him brave or just plain pity him. What do I mean by mistreated? In her J&J book she writes how he is sick and throwing up and how she has to go to the grocer to get the items she needs for that nights dinner from the cookbook and swears and yells at him for not helping her while he is in bed sick as hell. She whines about everything, including her friends, her family, her job, her cooking, republicans, people on the subways, people at her job....ugh. Not sure I want to finish this book at all. To think I just gave her more money to write more crap like that by buying her book! I had an "OMG I'm an idiot" moment the second I bought that book.
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This morning I was feeling a bit better than I have in weeks. I was cuddling with Ray on the couch this morning. He wasn't feeling to well. He called in sick...we went back to bed for another 2 hours. I took him to IHOP for breakfast...well he took me I can't drive because of my spine and legs. He was expecting to pay...apparently the bank screwed up his card...glad I had cash in my purse! We came back home and spent the day pretty much just lounging around the house.
I tried making homemade potato chips today. I am getting good at slicing potatoes thin. :). I used corn oil in a frying pan...not to bright...it's the old way...my house was filled with smoke about an hour later. I think in part because I couldn't stand up all that time, I had to keep sitting down to rest my back and legs. The chips came out okay, some where to soft while others were over fried. Will try again soon, but next time will bake them!
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Ray went to the store tonight to get bread so our son can have sandwiches for his school lunches this week. I didn't make another fresh loaf from scratch today like I said I was going to. When he came back he handed me an electric fruit juicer (for lemons, oranges and the likes). I was tickled. He also handed me a bag full of lemons. I was going about trying it out for the first time. I LOVE it! I have a hand one that works just as good but this one is electric and is better. lol. I went to add sugar to my now fresh squeezed glass of lemonade...the sugar was having a hard time coming out...I held up the pouring container and looked inside the side of it (it's a clear plastic container with a spout lid like in restaurants) I thought "wow, that's a big sugar chunk". I moved the container around a bit, looked again, then realized my husband had played a practical joke on me...when I was not in the kitchen at some point this week, he had placed a giant marshmallow in the sugar container. Once I realized what it was I cracked up laughing! The keys to a successful marriage for us is we...talk to each other, laugh with each other, play together, snuggle together, read to each other, hold hands, make time for each other and most of all we "LISTEN" to each other!
Well that's it for tonight, my coffee cup is empty and my eyes are heavy. Until then, see you next time for more coffee and conversation!
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