monday chat ~ weekend goodness

 The past week and weekend flew by. Nothing terribly exciting, just busyness.

The weather here is still cold (only 23 degrees here right now and an inch of snow

expected overnight...it's ridiculous), but walking around my yard the other day, I 

did notice that the daffodils (at least, that's what I think they are) in front of my

neighbor's house were poking up out of the ground. Hooray! I'll take any little

signs of spring that I can get. I still have not seen any robins, but I am assured

from everyone that I've spoken to, that they're out there.

Friday evening, I drove into Chicago to attend my friend's Spring Equinox dinner

party. I left several hours before the party started so that I wouldn't have to drive

in rush hour traffic. Trust me - you don't want to experience Chicago rush hour

traffic, especially on a Friday. So I stopped in at an independent book store to

kill some time. How I would love to work at a place like this! It had a cool little

cafe in there too, where they serve coffee, tea, wine, beer, and some baked goods.

I wish I had've remembered to bring my regular camera with me to take some

decent photos of my friend's house. It is so warm and inviting and beautiful.

Her cat, Sky looks like an Egyptian prince posing on the fireplace mantle. I

love how the window in the background is void of any window treatment except

for a beautiful asparagus fern plan.

We had a wonderful array of healthy food: Cin had made a pot of one of the most 

delicious soups I've ever had -  a curried sweet potato soup. (Recipe at the end of 

this post, in case you're interested.) I had made a seven-layer Greek dip as an appetizer.

 We also had a spring green salad, an orzo salad filled with asparagus, black olives, 

and juicy little tomatoes, and a ginger pie for dessert. And wine - natch. Poor timing on 

the photo of the food spread on the kitchen island. This was after the food was demolished.

After dinner, we all bundled up and went out in the back yard for a ceremonial

fire. Cin had passed out little slips of paper and we all wrote down what we

wanted and needed to get rid of in our lives...what we were hiding and burying

this winter as we ourselves were hibernating. We then took turns throwing the

pieces of paper in the fire. Letting go. Burn baby, burn!

Yesterday I visited with another friend who just became a grandma. Her

daughter had her first baby - a girl. I got to hold her for over an hour as

she slept. There's nothing like holding a newborn baby and relishing the

miracle of such perfection and beauty. If it feels that good to hold someone

else's baby, I can't imagine how amazing it must feel to hold your own 

grandchild. I look forward to that someday!

As I write this post, the flooring guys are here installing the hardwood floors in Tim's

room. It'll be good to finally get going with getting his room finished. Instead of putting

new blinds and curtains up in this room, I think I'm going to go with a Roman shade.

Two months ago, I won a $100 giveaway with blinds.com through Cedar Hill Farmhouse.

I'm going to use that credit for the Roman shade. We have a new bed for the room

and I'm going to be using an antique headboard that we've had stored in the basement

for years. Since this will now be a guest room, I'll probably move the TV from my

office into this room (I rarely watch TV, especially in my office). And we'll also put a

small bookcase in this room for Brian's "stuff"...some of his books, radios, and a 

turntable that I had gotten him for Christmas. Here's the soup recipe...happy Monday!

Sweet Potato Curry Soup

3 large sweet potatoes, baked until tender

1 onion, chopped

1 Tablespoon coconut oil

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

2" piece ginger, peeled and minced

1-2 Tablespoons green curry paste

3-4 cups chicken or vegetable stock

1 can coconut milk

salt to taste

1/2 stick butter

splash of lemon juice

1. Saute the onions in coconut oil, when they are tender and translucent, add ginger and garlic. Cook a few minutes longer then add curry paste. Cook just a little longer and then add broth and coconut milk.

2. When sweet potatoes are baked and cool enough to handle, peel and chop into small cubes. Add to soup pot along with salt. Let it all boil together for a few minutes so the sweet potatoes pick up all those tasty flavors. Then blend with a hand blender until silky smooth (add more broth if needed to reach your desired consistency).

3. Throw in the butter and the splash of lemon juice. Serve in bowls with a drizzle 

of sesame oil if desired.