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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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Hugh Acheson's spinach salad with spiced pecans, sliced pear and blue cheese with a shallot-thyme vinaigrette: zen and the art of herb chopping

I feel alive in New York. More alive than when I'm anywhere else, actually, even though statistically speaking I'm much less significant. There are 12 million people hanging around these here parts, and I am a cog in a big machine, not anything large in and of myself. There's some kind of harmony in the dirtiness, in the smells and in the little inconveniences of being surrounded by so many people and so many agendas and a rhythm in being in it. And as I was walking to dinner last night I was struck by exactly how much I felt like an ant. Like one of those "scout" ants that releases a smell trail so that other ants know where to follow to find food (I was somewhat smelly from a very hot day in the prep kitchen). And yes, that could seem dehumanizing and sad to think that people are like ants, but it somehow made me feel comforted, like it's amazing to think that being so infinitesimally small is actually powerful. That yes, we may have the illusion of freewill (or maybe it's not an illusion, I don't know) and we also have consciousness, but there's gotta be something bigger, too. And I'm really happy to give the idea of my big ego and my big life a much needed vacation; they've worked some long, miserable overtime hours and I'm hopping they'll be more fun when they return with some good drinking stories and a tan.

Making jewelry and cooking both put me in the same headspace that New York does. It's my meditation. It's having a plan, and in putting that plan into motion, making hundreds, if not thousands, of tiny little movements to complete the plan. It's more rote than conscious and it's incredibly mentally quiet, though it's certainly not physically quiet-- the prep kitchen was insane with playlists of both Tool and Tejana music last week. I had to completely block that shiz out the same way I did when we had the same 45 minute music loop (including Coldplay tracks, oh joy) for six months when I was folding t-shirts at Banana Republic. 

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PostedAugust 14, 2012
Authormelissa mcclure
Categoriessalad, vegetarian
Tagshumble-pie-a-palooza!, shallot, spinach salad, thyme, herbs, chopped herbs, chopping to the oldies, new chefs knife kind of sucks, it's OK to be a scout ant, august adventure, blue cheese, Chef Kenobi, Englebert Humperdinck, spiced pecan, callouses, herbalicious, Tom Jones, vinaigrette
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roasted corn, okra & smoked turkey stew with chive biscuits: when the common denominator in bad semi-blind dates is you (and by you I mean me)

I blame it on the rain. Or on Vanilli Willie for aiding in the unleashing of that song on us all and just for being an easy, funny target. But just a week ago last Monday it was 113 degrees, and this Monday it was 59 (that’s a 54 degree difference) and now it has been raining enough to leak through my skylights and create a little stream inside my loft. Almost nothing is better than the seasons changing, especially when you live in a completely season-less city, but when it rains it pours.

And almost nothing helps a girl’s dating life out more than a national magazine article that uses the word “Single” to describe her and uses an overly flattering photograph of her chopping prop herbs (did you SEE how I was holding that knife? It’s lucky I have fingers at all). Really. It’s been the best personal ad anyone has ever imagined. Screw piña coladas and getting caught in the rain. The only glitch: the girl.

Here’s the thing. I have been moping more than dating recently and I am totally out of practice and off my game; if you read about the One Night Stand-Up you even know that sometimes a date with me is not only emotionally painful, but physically so. I have friends because they stick around long enough to get to know me (I am highly contextual), but, as evidenced in these here little pages, I would say I am not so adept at the first (and sometimes second or third) impressions thing when there is a chance of romance. I get super nervous, usually drink waaaaaayyy too much and say things that no girl should (I like to announce that I don’t even have a savings account, because nothing says successful, independent woman more than that). And, as the Guy I went out with on Monday night said, I like to under-promise and over-deliver, minus the over-deliver part.

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PostedOctober 6, 2010
Authormelissa mcclure
Categoriesappetizers and snacks, soup
Tagschive biscuits, smoked turkey leg, okra, recipe, soupapalooza!, herbs, second dates are hard to get, One Night Stand-up, Vanilli Willi, turkey, Soup and the Single Girl, soup, biscuits
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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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