-25 Celcius...Soup Weather

Above photo is the fixins for Butternut Squash soup. Super easy...once you ge the bloody rind off. Peeling a raw squash is a crazy chore. I used to always broil squash then make it into soup, but I've found out that more butternut flavour goes into the soup if you cut it raw, into little cubes, then saute the squash. About 20 minutes. Then saute onions and celery separately, then combine. Add chicken stock. Simmer for an hour. YUM! (you see that knife...no not the blue one, the stainless steel Global knife. I bought that a few years ago inspired by the novel Stanley Park set in Vancouver about a chef)

A few blogger friends are changing their eating habits to lose weight. I think a serving of soup every day is a satisfying meal for weight loss...as is a small portion of organic legumes. I love homemade hummus with celery sticks. Good source of protein, crunchiness (to replace potato chips while watching tv?) and vitamins and fiber.

It's insanely cold. There is ice and frost INSIDE our windows tonight. I went out today...had to...wanted to make some split pea soup and organic Boston baked beans for Stagg. The house smells great because te spiit pea soup is simmering. I used three cups of champagne, 2 cups water, tons of garlic, thyme, marjoram, onions and celery and 2 cups water to make the split pea soup...with some amazing organic ham cut into classic cubes. I've also got more acorn squash roasting beside the baked beans. I used three beans...kidney, black and butter with molasses, garlic, mustard, beer, tomatoes, balsamic vinegar...all really good ingredients and organic.

Stanley ParkFrom Publishers Weekly
What's local in a world that is becoming one global monoculture? That's the question confronting Jeremy Papier, the Vancouver chef at the center of Taylor's comic debut novel. Jeremy divides chefs into two types: the transnational Crips, who mix, say, Chilean farm-bred salmon and kimchi, without compunction; and Bloods, who are purists, stubbornly local in their food choices. Along with his friend Jules Capelli, another Blood, Jeremy runs the Monkey's Paw Bistro, making meals from mostly local ingredients for local foodies. Storm clouds lie on the horizon, however. Jeremy is deep in debt. To get by, he scams some $2,000 with the aid of Benny, a customer-turned-girlfriend. The scam backfires, and Jeremy has to turn to Dante Beale, an old family friend and the owner of a national chain of coffee houses, for money. Dante redesigns the bistro, turning it into a potential Crip palace. Jules is fired. Jeremy, under contract, remains. Turning for solace to his father, an anthropologist whose major project is living with the homeless in Stanley Park, Jeremy is reluctantly drawn into his father's work and the investigation of a decades-old mystery involving two children killed in the park. Along the way, he becomes fascinated by cooking for the homeless, and the joys of preparing squirrel, raccoon and starlings carry him into a glorious prank, which he plays at the opening of Beale's redesigned bistro. Taylor has written a sort of cook's version of the anti-WTO protests, striking a heartfelt and entertaining blow against conformity.