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Plant by Plant I have just finished an article in my new issue of Fine Cooking magazine. The article is about making good homemade soup by building layers of flavor bit by bit. I learned how to make really good vegetable beef soup by watching great grandma Katie make it. Yes, you make it layer by layer, bit by bit, over the day. You will need an "at home" day to make this fine soup. First, you need a good meaty soup bone and find a big soup or stock pot. Cover the meaty bones with water, add a tablespoon or more of salt, a great big yellow onion (chopped coarsely), and two or three stalks of chopped celery. Simmer several hours. You will now have excellent beef stock. Take out the soup bones to cool and remove the meat to return to the soup. Strain the stock as it is now the base for building flavors. You can easily spoil the soup by over cooking the vegetables. One starts with the veggies needing the longest time to cook like chopped celery and carrots. From here on in you add whatever vegetables you like. Adding the potatoes last and whatever herbs you enjoy most. Toss the bits of beef back in just before you serve. My family likes dumplings but I will let you find your own recipe for that. This example is also how you build a future or lovely flower garden. Bit by bit with time and effort and throw in some sunshine. You will have something to.....SAVOR. I have been reading Anne Lamott’s book called BIRD By BIRD. She writes about her life with a father who was a writer and his friends. As to how she found her way to become a writer and later teaching writing classes, she says "A book comes about by working on it every day bit by bit". She tells the story about her brother who was a middle-schooler and had an assignment about birds. He had put off getting it done and began to fret about it. Dad sat down and "said to him, you can do this by starting and doing it BIRD By BIRD." Bit by Bit... Now I suppose you want to know where I am heading, yes, bit by bit. I was sorting some things in an old secretary that is down in the yellow bedroom. I found some photos of our newly built home (37 years ago). Then some shots of the garden. My little plants and trees; how sweet the memories are of the hours of planting and imagining what it would someday look like. I had to go out on the deck and rub my eyes. My imaginings were before my eyes. I sat for a long time and watched the humming birds, butterflies and the wonderful fall afternoon. It is the first day of autumn, the day of equal day light and night. Time to think about what new layers of color and other garden things I’d like to see in the spring.
I am lining up a rental car and rooms on the Pacific coast in Washington and Oregon. Haven’t made a sign "Go West or Bust", but thinking about it. An airline tickets works. Remember to eat good food, be kind and speak the truth, bit by bit. Each and every day. Your Aarde Moeder. Oops, I almost forgot I promised I’d introduce you to Paula Deen. If you don’t have cable or a satellite dish you wouldn’t know about the Food Network. Paula is a charmer of the school of southern cooking. Paula and her two sons, Jamie and Bobby, own the Lady & Sons restaurant in Savannah, Georgia. I don’t know the whole story about how she ended up with a television show. Since you are reading this online, Google the food network and Ms. Paula Deen. She has a number of cookbooks and a line of products. I have been to Savannah and enjoyed my visit so much. My daughter and I did a tour of homes and gardens there. Everywhere we dined, the food was excellent. But, I am sorry to say we didn’t make it to The Lady & Sons. Next trip...As she says at the end of each show "Best Dishes to You". Dateline:
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