{"id":612,"date":"2011-03-28T04:41:00","date_gmt":"2011-03-28T04:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elitemporaryblog.wordpress.com\/2011\/03\/28\/easy-enough"},"modified":"2015-12-24T23:03:52","modified_gmt":"2015-12-25T04:03:52","slug":"easy-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2011\/03\/easy-enough\/","title":{"rendered":"Easy enough"},"content":{"rendered":"

We moved last Tuesday. I\u2019m going to repeat that, because it sounds so unlikely, so inadvisable, that I know you might not believe me. I hardly believe me. But we did. We moved. Brandon is starting a second business<\/a>, and I\u2019m trying to start a second book, so, you know, la la la,<\/i> let\u2019s move. We\u2019ve had worse ideas, but I can\u2019t think of them right now.<\/p>\n

This is the last picture taken in our old kitchen. Our old kitchen, our old place, our old duplex, where we lived for almost five years, on a noisy street with the nocturnal neighbor<\/a> who does outdoor home improvement projects by flashlight. I will miss that place, but only a little, and never at night.<\/p>\n

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\nI don\u2019t know where this white table is going to live in our new place. Right now, it\u2019s in the living room, looking out of sorts, trying to seem relevant by holding up a vase with a couple of wilting ranunculus. The saddest table in the world. But I love this new-to-us house, even the red carpet and wood paneling downstairs, sort of. I hope we stay here for a long time. The dishwasher is a model called the Quiet Partner. The Quiet Partner! YES.<\/p>\n

The kitchen is hardly set up, and I feel like an alien in there, like I\u2019m trying to find my way on a new planet, one with banana-colored formica and a mauve oven and stove. The only thing I\u2019ve cooked so far is spaghetti with braised kale<\/a>, and then I\u2019ve been microwaving leftovers, which is easy enough, even if you come from outer space. But tomorrow I plan to unpack the blender, and maybe I\u2019ll find the mesh strainer with it, and then I can make parsnip soup. That\u2019s what I want for lunch this week. Parsnip soup, toast and sharp cheddar, and an orange.<\/p>\n

This soup is adapted from a parsnip puree<\/a> that my friend Matthew taught me to make. Matthew and I co-host the podcast Spilled Milk<\/a>, and recently, when we did an episode on parsnips<\/a>, he made this puree. We ate it on crostini, which was terrific, but it was so nice on its own that I really wanted to eat it just like that, from the serving bowl, with the serving spoon. Matthew mentioned that with a little thinning, the recipe also makes a good soup, so when I got home, I tried it. There\u2019s barely anything to it: a bag of parsnips, some vegetable stock, a little butter, a little cream, a little salt, a little pass through the mesh strainer. But what you get is something that you, or at least I, can be very pleased with: a perfectly smooth soup in a shade some call Cosmic Latte<\/a>(!!!), subtle but gutsy, with that sweet vegetal funk and enough fragrance to fill your whole head. The key, I think, is the vegetable stock. Matthew says that the natural sweetness of vegetable stock plays up the natural sweetness of parsnips, and I\u2019m a believer.<\/p>\n

Have a good lunch.<\/p>\n\n

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Recipe<\/div>\n

Parsnip Soup<\/h2>\n

Adapted from Spilled Milk<\/a> and Matthew Amster-Burton<\/h3> \n \n <\/header>\n\n
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