STONE SOUP== use whatever you have to make a tasty meal

Last night my boyfriend and I were talking on the phone. He was thinking of making some soup. I'm vegetarian and he isn't but he's coming around, somewhat. It seems that he tried out some veggie  sausage that I had left in his freezer and he texted to ask where I had gotten it. We started talking about soups later and stock and whatnot.

Now months later, after having left a few soups I made while visiting, I asked him if he had ever eaten those frozen soups I left in his freezer. His answer, “What soups?” Apparently he never uses or looks in his freezer and as a self-professed MINIMALIST, says he really doesn’t “even use a fridge” so there you have it.

Soup making is so easy. You get some broth (and this can be the juices of veggies you’ve steamed or boiled, veggie bouillon you’ve 
purchased, or whatever. But starting with water is a no-no because the veg then don’t have anything to soak into them, or whatever it’s called. 

You cut up the hardest veg first and by this I mean:
Carrots
Parsnips
Beets
Corn on the cob, you have to chop off the cob
Potatoes or any other hard to chop veg.

You put those into the broth first and cook them until they are el dente (not quite soft) BUT WHILST you are cooking them, go ahead and get the softer veg chopped up.

Mushrooms
Tomatoes
Maybe some hard tofu you’ve bought and baked (or BOUGHT BAKED from your local coop salad bar, if you’re me)
Or, add veggie ground “beef” also called “vegetable protein” because that? Is what it is!

When the harder veg are at the el dente stage, throw in the softer veg.  Also throw in half of a flavor packet from a veggie ramen or whatever spices you like. Don’t overdue this as you don’t want it too salty or have so many flavors, it tastes weird.

Cook it up and test it out, but don’t burn your MOUTH! Cool it down by leaving it out for awhile, blowing on it or putting a tiny bit of water on the spoon.  

Dish it out and top it with grated cheese, or if you’re VEGAN, don’t top it with dairy. Add dollop of cream cheese, instead, that is vegan—not made with animal products.

Enjoy!

A Post POST Retirement

I HAVE CAPS ON BECAUSE FOR WHATEVER REASON MY IPAD DOESN’T SEEM TO BE ABLE TO DO LARGER PRINT.

TECHNOLOGY! ARGG!

IT IS NOW OCTOBER 9TH IN GOOD OLD LOVELY VT.

FOLIAGE IS AT ITS PEAK AND IT IS ARGUABLY THE MOST LOVELY TIME OF YEAR WITH REALLY THE BEST WEATHER (ABOUT EVERY OTHER DAY) WHEN IT IS SUNNY AND COOL. WE CALL IT SWEATER WEATHER AND WE LOVE IT HERE.

I HAVEN’T REALLY WRITTEN IN THIS BLOG IN MONTHS. SINCE WINTER, I THINK, WHEN I WAS IN THE DOLDRUMS AND COULDN’T FIND ANYTHING POSITIVE TO SAY. NOW I CAN.

I SPENT THE SUMMER (and not in this order) doing the following things:

1) camping in NH, MA and VT in friend’s backyards and in state forests
2) staying in Air B N B’s in Vt and MA
3) staying in a motel for 4 nights in Amherst, MA during a 4 day rain storm
4) staying indoors at friends’ houses/apts/condos
OH, and many nights in Burlington, VT as part of a deal-gone-wrong, but that? I won’t write about.
5) watching my niece and staying at my sister’s house on the land I grew up on
6) watching a LOT of YouTube, Netflix and just DVD’s and movies.

NOT ONCE was I really alone except on overnights camping and MAN did I ever miss having a place of my own!

FINALLY IN JULY, PUSH CAME TO SHOVE WITH FAMILY AND I FOUND A PLACE TO RENT IN MY HOMETOWN. I’M THERE NOW, BUT NOT REALLY,

It got so bad that my “man friend” offered for me to live temporarily with HIM. And that is not only a bad idea, he lives in a HOT climate and I can’t STAND the heat. At all. He has A/C, but it really was a matter of my having committed to watching my niece —plus an elderly neighborhood woman—and having to be in VT.

And that is still happening.

So, I can say one thing about this? I learned a LOT about A) being retired and B) committing to things whilst being retired that don’t pay and therefore really just cost money, if you think about it. We hall have to eat, for example. I can’t tell you how many loaves of bread, chunks of cheese, bottles of milk, sticks of butter, leftovers, etc. I have LEFT in refrigerators because as a “camper” one doesn’t really have any way of insuring food stay fresh—meaning not moldy or poisonous.

I will stop dog/house sitting, stop watching the elderly woman and START my actual RETIREMENT about a YEAR after the date of 12/12/18– Actually, I think the week after 12/12/19.

I’m a slow learner.  It only took me a year to figure out what retirement is.
And isn’t.