Hurricane Matthew, Cooking, Thanksgiving and Oktoberfest, Wifi

Seems like Matthew is wreaking havoc in the Caribbean - heading for Cuba at the moment. The trouble with the islands, they don't really have anywhere to run to which makes them even more frightening. At least on the mainland you can head inland and hopefully avoid it altogether - OK your home might get damaged, but so long as everyone is alive, homes can be rebuilt. We were so lucky when we lived in North Carolina, a lot of hurricanes came our way and even though we weren't there, when we returned we still had a home to return to. A friend who had a house right on the Sound got flooded several times over the year not to mention the ruin of her carefully tended garden. She told me to come clean up my mess one time after Hurricane Josephine, now doubt she would want my husband to do the same LOL The picture shows the storm as of the morning, Tuesday.

Tuesday morning I decided to make the recipe I posted on Monday for Spiced Beef in Red Wine only problem was, it turned out to be a warm afternoon and really rather too hot for a beef stew. However, we ate it anyway and it was delicious. I also have 3 more meals in the freezer for when it is a bit cooler. It really is sweatsville this afternoon/evening. Talking to our new neighbours and they asked what the delicious smell was. Asked a friend if she would like to come over for Thanksgiving this weekend but her son should be returning from his Greek trip so she declined. Being Thanksgiving round here, also means Oktoberfest which will start on Friday with the tapping of the keg. We have never been involved in this although it is supposed to be one of the biggest outside Germany. OK for younger people, guess we are a tad past it these days. I'll stay home and drink my bubbly LOL.

I am expecting a call from our ISP technician this morning. I am having terrific trouble with my wifi. The PC works fine on cable, but the laptop is wifi and the connection drops and comes back all day long. It drives me bonkers. It may require swapping out my modem I gather.

This looks like a delicious soup and should appeal to my vegan friends too.

Cream of Cashew Pea Soup

Cashews lend body, creaminess, and richness to this pea soup and also make it vegan; sub almonds if

you prefer.

¼ cup olive oil
2 large onions, finely chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper
2 cups raw cashews
2 Tbs raw or light brown sugar
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
2 lbs frozen sugar snap or green peas, thawed
1 Tbs malt vinegar
Thinly sliced scallions and crushed potato chips (for serving

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-low. Add onions, celery, and garlic and cook, stirring often and adding a splash or so of water if the bottom of pan gets too brown, until golden brown, 30–40 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add cashews, sugar, red pepper flakes, and 3 cups water and bring mixture to a simmer. Cook until vegetables are very soft and losing their structure, 10–15 minutes.

2. Blend one-third of sugar snap peas with one-third of vegetable mixture in a blender, adding some cooking liquid from vegetable mixture as needed to thin, until very smooth, about 2 minutes. Press purée through a fine-mesh sieve into a medium saucepan; discard solids. Working in 2 batches, repeat with remaining peas and vegetable mixture, adding water as needed if you run out of cooking liquid. If soup is still very thick, thin with water until you get a velvety, pourable consistency. (You should have about 7 cups soup.)

3. Stir vinegar into soup; season with more salt and pepper and warm over medium-low until heated through.

4. Serve soup topped with scallions and potato chips.

5. Do Ahead: Soup can be made 2 days ahead. Let cool; cover and chill. Reheat over medium-low, thinning with water as needed until pourable.

Servings: 6

Author: Brooks Headley
Source: Bon Appétit


Have a great day