the stories
the kitchen
the market
the proof (party pics!)
the food porn
the recipes
the about
the drop me a line part
the resources
the full list
jewelry alchemy

soupapalooza!

the stories
the kitchen
the market
the proof (party pics!)
the food porn
the recipes
the about
the drop me a line part
the resources
the full list
jewelry alchemy
View fullsize IMG_4064.JPG
View fullsize IMG_4066.JPG
View fullsize IMG_4015.JPG
View fullsize IMG_4046.JPG

sweet potato with pancetta rosemary croutons AND roasted yellow pepper/ roasted heirloom tomato with serrano cream: soup(s)apolooza!

I’ve almost never fully understood what my currency has been at any point in my life. What a waste my twenties were in this regard and what a crappy thing to have silly things like ideals. I remember giving up an invitation by a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences to attend the Oscars with him because I thought he was a little suspect and aged (I think I’m older now than he was then, by the way) and I didn’t like his hair much, because I was that nit-picky. I also thought that surely if an opportunity to go to the Oscars was being presented to me at 22, I would certainly have others-- I didn’t realize that it was youth and naivety that were my sources of power at the time (I thought it was just my plain ol’ ”badassness”). What giant lady balls I had! I would stomp on kittens to have any number of those lost opportunities now. Yes, I said stomp on KITTENS. Or even BUNNIES, though at this stage of the game I would try and use my feminine wiles to get the dude to cut his hair, which I am quite sure at this point he already has, or at the very least make sure he didn’t take Corey Feldman as his backup date, which he actually did, much to both my disgust and to my delight.

The only time that I can think of in my past when I did know what it was that was my source of advantage was my senior year in college. I was one of the few people (I think there were fifty of us total) that petitioned to live in off-campus housing and had a non Middlebury sponsored residence, which meant I had a nice kitchen and a wood burning stove, which was cozy, if not completely necessary, since this was Vermont and we were all semi-lame pseudo-hippies that smelled good. Anyway, because I wasn’t on the meal plan in the dorm and because there was a food co-op right down the street and because that co-op sold ramen noodles and Annie’s mac and cheese and because I washed down every meal with at least three cans of Milwaukee’s Beast (that’s not a typo), I had acquired quite the culo. My solution? Use whatever means at my disposal to lose the fat ass. And what was at my disposal, you might ask: why, my kitchen and my (sort of) ability to follow directions.

Read more …
PostedOctober 12, 2010
Authormelissa mcclure
Categoriespositively piggy, soup
Tagspistachio ice cream, rosemary crouton, roasted tomato, serrano, CPK no!, tomato, chopped herbs, serrano cream, 80s throwback, Bait and Switch, pancetta, soup, Legal Eagle, sweet potato, roasted yellow pepper, duo, stomp on bunnies, soupapalooza!, piggy piggy piggy, Oscar FAIL, the two Coreys
CommentPost a comment
View fullsize IMG_2654.JPG
View fullsize IMG_2693.JPG
View fullsize IMG_2658.JPG

mussel and fennel bisque: the shellfish strikes back

I kind of feel like this week’s soupapalooza! was an unintentional homage to the 1980s. Not the semi-ironic Breakfast Club, shoulder pads and leggings-wearing 1980s (sorry LiLo, but you’re doing it wrong), no, but the big flavor, Windows on the World 1980s. Which, incidentally, was the site of my first ever consumed consommé. At the time I thought it was just exceptionally expensive broth to be eaten while looking out over the whole of Manhattan, and I was right; but it was also the only thing on the menu that didn’t completely fry my eight year old brain other than the chocolate soufflé. 

Last week someone asked me what made a bisque a bisque and I had no answer other than I ate a lot of it in the 80s because, for some reason, it seemed like anything with fish had to be healthy (mind you, this was the era when pasta was considered a DIET food). Let me be frank: even when I don’t have an answer I always have an answer. It’s pathological and obnoxious; and for me to be not only stumped, but stumped AND speechless considering I consider myself a bit of a soup expert, well that just would’t do.

Read more …
PostedJune 24, 2010
Authormelissa mcclure
Categoriessoup
Tagsharicot vert, white chocolate whipped cream, grand marnier chocolate souffle, it's a bisque deal, recipe, fennel, 80s throwback, salad français, soup, mussles, soupapalooza!, market greens, seafood, shellfish, dijon vinaigrette, baby potato, a time when pasta was considered diet food, vinaigrette
CommentPost a comment
 
 
goldsmith, sometime costume designer and badass cat owner. 

goldsmith, sometime costume designer and badass cat owner. 

  • dessert (1)
  • party planning (1)
  • libations (2)
  • stocks and broths (2)
  • vegan (5)
  • breakfast (6)
  • desserts & sweet treats (9)
  • quick pics! (9)
  • appetizers and snacks (10)
  • salad (10)
  • positively piggy (11)
  • gear and miscellany (15)
  • vegetarian (33)
  • soup (36)

Why? Because soup is cheap, delicious and easy. Kind of like me.

a weekly attempt to eat well and to savor life. or to see how much food I can get on my clothes.

 copyright © 2009-2015 soupapalooza! and melissa mcclure. all rights reserved.