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
IMG_7914.JPG
IMG_7907.JPG
IMG_7905.JPG
IMG_7908.JPG
IMG_7911.JPG
IMG_7916.JPG
IMG_7919.JPG
IMG_7920.JPG
IMG_7921.JPG
IMG_7928.JPG
IMG_7929.JPG
IMG_7930.JPG
IMG_7932.JPG
IMG_7933.JPG
IMG_7935.JPG
IMG_7936.JPG
IMG_7937.JPG
IMG_7938.JPG
IMG_7939.JPG
IMG_7940.JPG
IMG_7941.JPG
IMG_7942.JPG
IMG_7943.JPG
IMG_7945.JPG
IMG_7944.JPG
IMG_7946.JPG
IMG_7947.JPG
IMG_7949.JPG
IMG_7950.JPG
IMG_7951.JPG
IMG_7952.JPG
IMG_7953.JPG
IMG_7954.JPG
IMG_7956.JPG
IMG_7959.JPG
IMG_7960.JPG
IMG_7961.JPG
IMG_7962.JPG
IMG_7963.JPG
IMG_7964.JPG
IMG_7965.JPG
IMG_7966.JPG
IMG_7967.JPG
IMG_7968.JPG
IMG_7971.JPG
IMG_7973.JPG
IMG_7974.JPG
IMG_7976.JPG
IMG_7978.JPG
IMG_7979.JPG
IMG_7980.JPG
IMG_7981.JPG
IMG_7914.JPG IMG_7907.JPG IMG_7905.JPG IMG_7908.JPG IMG_7911.JPG IMG_7916.JPG IMG_7919.JPG IMG_7920.JPG IMG_7921.JPG IMG_7928.JPG IMG_7929.JPG IMG_7930.JPG IMG_7932.JPG IMG_7933.JPG IMG_7935.JPG IMG_7936.JPG IMG_7937.JPG IMG_7938.JPG IMG_7939.JPG IMG_7940.JPG IMG_7941.JPG IMG_7942.JPG IMG_7943.JPG IMG_7945.JPG IMG_7944.JPG IMG_7946.JPG IMG_7947.JPG IMG_7949.JPG IMG_7950.JPG IMG_7951.JPG IMG_7952.JPG IMG_7953.JPG IMG_7954.JPG IMG_7956.JPG IMG_7959.JPG IMG_7960.JPG IMG_7961.JPG IMG_7962.JPG IMG_7963.JPG IMG_7964.JPG IMG_7965.JPG IMG_7966.JPG IMG_7967.JPG IMG_7968.JPG IMG_7971.JPG IMG_7973.JPG IMG_7974.JPG IMG_7976.JPG IMG_7978.JPG IMG_7979.JPG IMG_7980.JPG IMG_7981.JPG

quick pics: a cajun feast for Jenni Jihad's birthday

Jenni Jenni Jenni.​

I'm lucky to know you. And I'm also lucky that your roller derby name, Jenni Jihad, and the fact that I've propagated said name all over this blog has pretty much guaranteed us both FBI files. ​

Hola Department of Homeland Security, and welcome!​

Jenni, you make the world a better place just by being in it. You are deserving of every good thing I can imagine, most certainly the eight course cajun feast​ prepared to perfection by your boyfriend and the rest of our favorite zydeco-playing-chair-designing-robot-engineering-architect-and-master-chef, the Ragin' Cajun.

Happy Birthday to you, and here's to another trip stuffing our faces around the sun!​

Soup on!​

PostedJuly 31, 2012
Authormelissa mcclure
Categoriesquick pics!
Tagsquick pics!, birthday, cajun, oysters, Ragin' Cajun, eight course, Jihad Jenni
CommentPost a comment
View fullsize IMG_3746.JPG
View fullsize IMG_3724.JPG

pasta e fagioli with homemade pesto: who says "soup sucks?"

There’s this famous chef who is a tad portly and has been known to wear orange clogs (let’s just call him Mario). He has also been known to say “soup sucks.” And while it may be true that I have a somewhat fragile sensibility, and it may also be true that this “Let’s Just Call Him Mario” guy is most definitely one of the greatest living chefs, I have to fervently disagree with him on this point. It might actually be the one thing I could ever go croc to croc with him about. 

I mean, really, what kind of culinary scrooge do you have to be to hate soup? 

Soup is universal. Every culture makes it in some form or fashion. 

Soup is communal. What other dish is served from a single pot around a table?

Soup is economical. You can feed a lot of people with few fresh ingredients.

Soup can be a whole meal onto itself. What other course of dining is so all-encompassing?

Soup is humble but can be a full expression of subtle (or bold) flavor.

Soup is patient, soup is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast (unless it wins a Beard Award and then watch out, it turns into a real douche), it is not proud (unless it gets a shout-out in Bon Appetit). It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs (unless it’s name is Bourdain; well, not really-- I’m IN LOVE with that guy). Soup does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Not to be grandiose or anything.

Read more …
PostedSeptember 8, 2010
Authormelissa mcclure
Categoriesvegetarian, soup
Tagsno crocs no way, recipe, pine nuts, stelline, caprese, beans beans beans, pasta, Let's Just Call Him Mario, arugula, basil, Italy, olive oil gelato, US Customs, soupapalooza!, pesto, soup sucks, olive oil cakes, fagioli, rosemary, Jihad Jenni
CommentPost a comment
View fullsize IMG_2860.JPG
View fullsize IMG_2943.JPG
View fullsize IMG_2862.JPG
View fullsize IMG_2891.JPG
View fullsize IMG_2866.JPG
View fullsize IMG_2907.JPG

roasted beet, cabrales, dried cherry and toasted walnut arugula salad: rock out, whatever

A bird pooped on my head and down my shirt this last Sunday, which only further bolsters my long brewing animosity towards nature. I’m not a happy camper, quite literally, and I’ve never understood why sleeping outside of four walls and a roof is any more magical than driving out to a location well beyond the lights of the city to marvel at the stars and then returning to a place with a hot shower and clean sheets. I don’t need or have any desire to wake up, dirty, with a creaky back and caffeine withdrawal, only to hike back to my overheated car, no thank you.

Two of my fellow ‘paloozians had milestone birthdays within two days of each other this week, and though I will not repeat that scary number (scary at least to single girls with pet children), it rhymes with worty, which no one wants to be except Madonna who, in a fit of good Kabbalah luck was “enlightened” at worty. 

Anyway, in an impromptu celebration of these two women, a few of our rag tag crew drove up north of Santa Barbara to a very beautiful state park and went glamping. No, that was not a typo; we went “glamorous camping”, which I would argue, is as much an oxymoron as jumbo shrimp. What exactly is glamping you ask? Glamping basically consists of a few steps. One: drive to a very nice campground in your Prius  (for the record and as I stated earlier, the environment and I are not exactly facebook friends, so obviously the Prius belongs to someone else-- I prefer my cars to get less than 14 MPG) which will be weighted down with three ice chests full of such necessities as carrot cake, israeli couscous salad, artisanal goat cheese, truffle sausage and fig jam. Next, pay the nice lady in the log cabin the cost of a very nice piece of furniture for two nights, spend the next hour unpacking the car and then apply bug spray before settling in to your posh camp house, which is really just a re-branded mobile home made to look like a log cabin. And finally, after all this, order your BBQ kit consisting of hamburger, fixins, tools and ingredients to make s’mores, to be delivered directly to your fire pit for dinner. 

Read more …
PostedJuly 21, 2010
Authormelissa mcclure
Categoriessalad, vegetarian
Tagssalad, glamping, dried cherry, recipe, roasted beets, worty instead of 40, walnut, the great pothole of 39, blue cheese, beets, cabrales, not a friend of mother earth, Leggsy McGhee, a bird pooped on my head, Innercity Velvet, Maria-Hold-the-Eggs, Jihad Jenni
CommentPost a comment
View fullsize IMG_2560.jpg
View fullsize IMG_2577.jpg
View fullsize IMG_2576.jpg

red velvet ice cream sandwiches: don’t even pretend you don’t have pool envy

It is true that the Duck Man has a pool. It is also true that I, in a very uncharacteristically brazen and aspirational way, declared to the Girl Whose Name Sounds Better Pronounced as an Indian Food Dish and to the Equestrian to Kids of the Stars at the Duck Man’s holiday party in December that we were going to be lounging by that pool (and grilling and drinking next to it) all summer. I imagined myself ten pounds lighter (with an extra couple inches attached to my legs for good measure) in a chic black bikini perched as the mistress of the pool, doling out invitations and kebabs with a royal, benevolent flourish. 

I am an asshole. Once again, I have counted my chickens before they hatched into chicken nuggets and find myself somewhat short of a 3 piece order. I am hanging out in a loft/sauna with one pissed off cat instead of sunning myself next to a mid century oasis.

It is hotter than asphalt, so I am reminded of my great pool loss on this day, the day that it decided to be summer in SoCal. I guess I should count myself lucky; that I somehow managed to circumvent drawing out a “relationship” (if you could see me in person right now you’d witness the air quotes around that word, relationship) that probably wouldn’t have worked out anyway for a panoply of fantastic reasons, but that hasn’t in any way stopped me from bemoaning my pathetic, pool-less and utterly tragic fate.

Read more …
PostedJuly 14, 2010
Authormelissa mcclure
Categoriesdesserts & sweet treats, vegetarian
Tagscheesecake, poolside, cheesecake ice cream, sometimes I'm a real asshole, recipe, soupapalooza!, pool envy, duck man, Innercity Velvet, red velvet, ice cream, summer!, vegetarian, cookies, don't count your chicken nuggets before they hatch, no kebab for you, Jihad Jenni
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.