Welcome!

OK, fine, the blogosphere won. I swore up and down I’d *never* start a blog; who would care anyway (remains to be seen), that it was just a narcissistic pretentious waste of time. Yet, here I am (and, hopefully, here you are too).

This space is for sharing thoughts on cooking (then you make soup), using resources wisely (then you make soup), and the amazing bits and pieces that make us who we are (then you make soup).

I am also finding that setting up this blog is a great way to procrastinate about housecleaning, other writing, yardwork, and various activities that I probably *should* be doing :-).

Enjoy and visit often!

Soup of the day:

2-day Avgolemono Soup (Greek egg-lemon soup)

1 4-lb. chicken cut in pieces
1 onion cut in half
1 bay leaf
2 branches fresh or 1 T dry Greek oregano
water to cover
½ cup raw rice
2 eggs
juice of 2 lemons
salt and pepper to taste

Day one (chicken broth):

Put the chicken, onion, bay leaf and oregano in a large heavy pot, cover with water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer, add bay leaf, oregano, salt and pepper, cover and simmer very low for 2 hours. Remove from heat.

Taste for seasoning, remove all non-broth bits (chicken, herbs etc) to a strainer over a bowl to catch any broth. Cover the soup and chill overnight.

Day two (finish the soup):

Carefully skim the fat from the top of the soup. Place the fat in a small wide-mouth glass jar, cover with a lid. This will keep in the fridge for a week or more and can be used with olive oil for sautéing vegetables.

Bring 6 cups of the stock back to a boil, lower heat to a simmer and add the rice to the soup pot. Simmer about 20 minutes or until rice is tender. Remove from heat and keep warm.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs until frothy. Continue beating while slowly adding the lemon juice in a small, steady stream.

Continue beating; gradually and slowly ladle 1 C or so of the hot broth into egg-lemon mixture to temper. Pour hot egg-lemon mixture back into soup pot, stirring well. Over medium heat, bring soup to simmer until slightly thickened. Add salt and pepper if needed. Serve at once.

(Or, you can use store bought chicken stock and arrive at nearly the same final result in one day, just simmer the broth for 1/2 hour with a bay leaf and the oregano, then remove them before adding the rice and proceeding.)
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