oily puddle O’ sludge
…it’s YOUR LIFE…dive in and SWIM!Orange-Habanero Puree of Carrots, Onions and Celery
Ingredients:
- 4 T butter
- 4 T extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
- 10 cups carrots (about 1-1/2 pounds) – peeled and chopped
- 8 cups onions (about 2 large Texas gold or 1015) – peeled and chopped
- 5 cups celery (about 1 bunch) – chopped, including the young flowers for a fresh taste
- 8 cups chicken stock
- 1 T Kosher salt
- 2 T black pepper
- 2 large oranges – zested and completely juiced, with pulp
- 2 habanero peppers – stems removed and rinsed
Procedure:
- In a shallow saucepan, melt 3 T butter into 3 T EVOO over medium heat.
- When the butter and oil begin to sizzle a bit, slowly add the onions in one-cup portions.
Note: Do NOT sauté the onions too quickly.
This is more of a slow “sweat”, so watch your heat!
- After adding all the onions and coating well, add the salt and pepper and toss.
- Reduce the heat to low and cover for about five minutes.
- Toss and continue to sweat the onions for about another five minutes.
- Transfer the onions to a large stockpot, setting the shallow saucepan aside.
- Add the carrots and celery plus 6 cups of the chicken stock.
- Stir well and begin to heat over medium heat.
- In the shallow saucepan, melt 1 T butter into 1 T EVOO over low heat.
- Add the orange zest and 1 cup chicken stock.
- Stir.
- Put the orange juice (or entire peeled oranges) into a blender or food processor.
- Add the habanero peppers (whole, but no stems) and 1/2-cup chicken stock.
- Blend well, and add to shallow saucepan.
- Bring heat up to medium, stir, cover and bring to a slow simmer.
- Add the contents of the saucepan to the stockpot.
- Use the last 1/2-cup of chicken stock to “rinse” the saucepan.
- Stir the soup well, and bring the heat up to medium high.
- Once the soup boils, drop the heat to medium low and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Puree the soup in small batches in a blender or food processor.
- Add the puree back to the stockpot, cover and keep warm until ready to serve.
Garnish with finely shredded carrots, a dollop of sour cream and a bit of orange zest.
Makes about 24 cups; serves about 12.
(adapted from Carrot and Orange Soup, as published on cooks.com)
Earth Day 2007
Click here for a definition of Earth Day from wikipedia.com. Worldwide events can be viewed here. And in Austin, TX, you can search for this year’s Earth Day celebrations here. Enjoy!
I want to live my next life backwards!
(adapted from an email from Tracey in DC)
You start out dead.
(It’s good to get that out of the way first.)
Then you wake up in some kind of an old age home. But you get to feeling better and better each and every day. Suddenly, you get kicked out for being far healthier than any of the other residents. You go on to enjoy your retirement, and you collect a pension! Next, when you start work, you get a gold watch…on your very first day! So you work for 40 years…until you’re too young to work any more.
You attend college. You study whatever you want. You drink booze; you party, and become generally promiscuous. Next comes high school, and then you go to primary school. You become a kid. You play. And you have absolutely no responsibilities whatsoever.
Next, you find yourself as a baby. And then…
You spend your last nine months floating peacefully in luxurious spa-like conditions. You enjoy bathing naked in relative darkness and silence. You have central heating; and room service on tap.
And then you finish off as an orgasm.
I rest my case.
Pop Culture 101
From The O’Reilly Factor tonight, 20070326:
Michelle Malkin’s (syndicated columnist) response, when asked by Bill O’Reilly why young women aged 18 to 49, cannot get enough of the Anna Nicole Smith story:
(What does it say about America?)
“It says that there are too many Americans who are celebrity-obscessed tabloid junkies, who live in an un-serious world; who don’t deal in reality, and would rather live vicariously through C-list has-beens and their groupies. That’s what it says.”
Chew on that shit for awhile, folks, and take a wild guess why our nation is spiraling downwards into an ever-deepening abyss.
