Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Pumpkin Soup


I have a fairy tale vision of Shauna James Ahern's life. Gluten Free Girl's writing and photography are filled with such poetry and grace, that I am certain rainbows and gentle breezes follow her everywhere. So when I heard about pumpkin soup Wednesday, I was in. Surely if I joined the others cooking out of her and her husband's latest book (Gluten Free Girl and the Chef), my life would be equally idyllic. I envisioned myself standing serenely at the stove listening to children laugh while sunlight danced on the kitchen floor. This was going to be good!

I gathered my ingredients and placed them on the counter (in an aesthetically pleasing arrangement of course). I inhaled deeply of the pumpkin’s earthy scent as I smiled across at my children playing in the next room. OK, I'm exaggerating. My kitchen is a little different than Shauna's and the Chef's. I actually yelled at the kids and burned the pumpkin seeds. I got frustrated with my knife skills and cheated with the food processor. I added the cream too early. I watched my hungry family scrounge for food as the dinner hour came and went. And, to top it all off, I splattered the kitchen wall (and myself) with hot soup.

But I'm not giving up on my fairy tale kitchen dream. I just have a few kinks to work out. I have since noticed that there is an entire section of soup advice on the preceding pages of the book. I guess I should have read that first. Next time I'll start early and slow down enough to enjoy the process. Still, it was damned good soup!

3 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness you made me laugh! I'm often burning things. And if you could look at the state of our kitchen, you'd see this is no fairy tale.

    But cooking regularly has allowed me to slow down enough to enjoy the process. All the other little things don't bother me when I do that.

    So happy you liked the soup!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love this! I can relate. I splattered soup all over newly painted cabinets and a new (expensive!) counter top. Nothing was damaged, but I sure made a mess! I left those details out of my post though :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow! You are both such dears to have read this - I didn't even know!

    ReplyDelete