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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
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spring pea and poblano with cumin and mint crème fraîche and fried serrano ham: there’s a whole lot of cumin goin’ on

If anyone out there in Cyberville has a clue as to how to get the smell of toasted cumin out of a plastic mini-prep, I’m all ears. It’s true that I’m the jerk who probably melted the plastic of said mini-prep by adding toasted cumin seed to it straight from the stove without cooling it first, but someone somewhere must know how to rectify this sorry state of affairs. I tried scrubbing, I tried soaking in soap and then in white vinegar. I even tried steel wool both to the chagrin of the skin on the knuckles of my right hand and also to no avail, and I’m ready to say Uncle. 

I’ve been a little overly, well, scrubby about things lately. I mean the cumin smell in the plastic isn’t exaggerated at all, but it is sort of indicative of a kind of OCD-like desire I’ve been having to scour things clean and to contain stuff. The result of cleaning and organizing is great; certainly it makes life a lot easier, but building what is essentially a bomb shelter in your chemical room (yes, I did this a couple of weeks ago) may not signal the height of rational behavior. 

In the Clark Kent portion of my life I’m a goldsmith. And being a goldsmith that actually forges and welds gold myself, I’m required to have a space with a hood to contain the fumes from various chemicals I use that either remove or add oxidation to metal. When I moved into the studio space that I live and work in (if you’re curious, you can see pictures of the space here), there was a back office area that conveniently already had a hood built in, which was great, but it also had a pile of crap in it (panes of glass, 15-20 carousels of slides, a slide projector, apple boxes, a slab of iron that weighed at least 500 pounds, a ladder, sand bags and rusting C- stands). Which would be fine if I hadn’t already spent the first several weeks of my occupancy ripping down walls, painting and cleaning up the previous tenant’s meshugas. So I “organized” these things into a few corners, brought in the bedraggled fridge from the kitchen (it makes a great beer locker) and added my chemical tables to the mix. And then there were the extra boxes that soon piled up (what if I need to move my Le Creuset 15.5 qt french oven someday?) , the odd items that I was holding in storage for my gay boyfriend (whose computer and SCALE--why I don’t know-- I am babysitting while he is teaching in China) and a panoply of shit that almost reached the ceiling. Looking through the glass windows into the room was giving me heartburn. 

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PostedApril 12, 2011
Authormelissa mcclure
Categoriespositively piggy, soup
Tagsspinach salad, recipe, mint, OCD, soup, Legal Eagle, cumin, Hoarders, creme fraiche, serrano ham, spring pea, bee cake pan, soupapalooza!, piggy piggy piggy, blood orange vinaigrette, lemon lavender ice cream, poblano, Semi-sweet Bitters, green peas
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Bon Appetit, y'all!: I promise to totally shut up about it after it’s off the newsstand

Go get a copy of the October 2010 Bon Appetit if you want to see what a little photoshop and a hair and makeup team can do for a gal. Or if you just like soup. Take your pick.

Here is a link to the article and here it is in person below.... and a recipe for macerated strawberries and crème fraîche ice cream and some behind the scenes pics from the shoot.

You’re welcome.

Now I’ll put a sock in it. Or mittens on my hands, to be more accurate (you know what I mean, One Night Stand-Up).

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PostedSeptember 19, 2010
Authormelissa mcclure
Categoriesgear and miscellany, desserts & sweet treats, vegetarian
Tagssoup and the single girl, Bon Appetit, I'll shut up when it's off the newsstand, recipe, soupapalooza!, Bossy, ice cream, creme fraiche ice cream, creme fraiche, dessert
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cream of red bell pepper: roses are red and so is my face

Remember the episode of “Sex and the City” (I think it was titled “Freak Show”) where the girls are bemoaning the freaks they seem to attract even though they’re all so normal only to then have Carrie tear into her new boyfriend’s drawers and closet (whole apartment really) for clues about his possible freakiness? While carnival music plays in the background she realizes, upon getting totally busted by this nice, totally benign guy, that she’s actually the freak show... 

Well, it was me who was Le Freak (not so chic!) this week, even though I pride myself on my almost pathologically boring, non-craziness and I really, really am loathe to refer to Sex and the City after that truly shiteous sequel.

This is the point where the Tiny Dancer might want to avert her eyes and skip to the recipe (sorry, Mom)...

I had a date. Cue the carnival music.

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PostedSeptember 16, 2010
Authormelissa mcclure
Categoriesvegetarian, soup
TagsGorgeous G, Hillel-arious, recipe, One Night Stand-Up, sake is not your friend, tomato crostini, Blame it on the Billecart, red leaf salad with zinfandel vinaigrette, basil, creme fraiche, soupapalooza!, Eric "Lips" Ripert, Nocino, I love you Anthony Bourdain, mozzarella, roasted, Semi-Sweet Bitters, soup and the single girl, red face, macerated strawberries and balsamic vinegar, crostini, soup, bloody gazpacho shots, no making out in sushi bars, red pepper, a nice girl doesn't scratch and tell, charcuterie, Girls That Attack, DO NOT READ THIS ONE MOM
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goldsmith, sometime costume designer and badass cat owner. 

goldsmith, sometime costume designer and badass cat owner. 

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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.

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