Hot Soups in Cold Weather

Soup recipes I've been hounded for, perfect for the cold weather;
here are two family favorites.

-French Onion Soup-

6 Red Onions
1/4 teaspoon sugar
2 cloves minced garlic
8 cups vegetable stock (or beef stock for meat eaters)
1/2 cup dry white wine (I like using a good Sauvignon Blanc)
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon dry thyme
sea salt & cracked pepper
8 slices of toasted bread, baguette's the easiest to work with.
Grated Swiss Gruyere cheese with a little bit of grated Parmesan

(you can also use butter instead of oil, and yellow onions (or a mix of both) instead of just red. But the above is my favorite way. Sherry is good in it also.)


Saute onions in extra virgin olive oil on med. high
heat until well browned. Add the sugar about ten minutes into the process.

Add garlic and saute for one minute
Add stock, wine, bay leaf, thyme
then partially cover and simmer until flavors are well blended.
(about 30 minutes, sometimes more)
salt & pepper and discard the bay leaf.

Pour soup into (oven safe) bowls, place the toast on top
and sprinkle each with cheese. Put on broiler for ten minutes
until the cheese bubbles and is slightly browned. Serve immediately,
but careful, you'll want the bowls on plates.
Make it yours! =)


-Caramelized Carrot Soup-

2 tablespoons cooking oil
3 cups thinly sliced onion (I use red, again)
2 tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons freshly grated ginger (believe me you want fresh ginger root, grate it on the smallest holes on your cheese grater if you have to)
8 carrots (about 1 1/4 lbs.)
6 cups vegetable broth (or chicken broth, again for you meat lovers)
1 medium sweet potato (make sure it's ripe, and buy extra for some fries!)
1 cup light cream (or half & half)
sea salt & cracked pepper, if you want

For caramelized onions, heat oil over medium heat/ Add onion, sugar, and pepper; reduce heat to low and cook, covered, for 30 minutes, stirring twice. Add ginger; cook uncovered, for 20 to 30 more minutes, or until onion is golden brown, stirring occasionally. Divide onion mixture in half.

Meanwhile peel carrots and sweet potato; cut into one inch pieces. In large saucepan combine broth, carrot, and sweet potato. Bring to boiling, reduce heat. Simmer, covered, about 40 minutes or until very tender. Add half of the onions. Puree until nearly smooth with a handheld blender or process two cups at a time in a processor. Add cream, heat through. Salt & pepper if ya want, and garnish with remaining caramelized onions.

Burning Up

Starlight
will be here soon.
I want to live with the stars.
Far away
from this world.

Memories
they take me far away.
I want to separate myself
from this world.
Far away.
Rise above it.
Be one
with the light that brightens
the night sky
the dark sky.

Be one...
one that holds a message
piercing through to all of the
lovers of the night
bearers of disparities
hands of the alone.
Like me...
pain in beauty
beauty in pain.
Lady in the stars.
Woman of the dark.
Red lipstick piercing through
the heart of you.
The heart of the unknown.

Not their hearts,
but ours.
The ones that beat
to an unconventional sanity.
The ones that live and love
for the night.
The night that is lit by the
starlight.
I...
just want to hold it
in my arms.
The night that is lit by
starlight.




Conclusion

So I took a shower after our last email.
A very long shower. Way too hot.
I let the water drain and drain while I lay down
and I just let it pour on me
all over me
cleanse me.
Free me.
With my fingers dripping droplets
I traced a heart on my skin
with both hands
where my heart should be.
I stared at it and--
how quick the water bled away
in every direction.
I repeated this a few times
coming to the conclusion that
it is like my... heart.

I have one. It's there.
It just bleeds. I let it bleed.
I make it bleed.
I want it to bleed.
And I love it
bleeding.
It still beats.
And that's plenty for me.

Dear Cancer,

You came into my sons life uninvited. He is only five years old, and doesn't even know who you are. But he knows what you've done. So do I. And he doesn't understand why.
Neither do I.
I hate you.
I hate you.
You have turned our lives upside down and inside out, over and over again. You are relentless. You are cold hearted. You really know how to destroy everything in your path. But I have found a weakness with you. You don't like us fighting. Whenever we get that one step ahead of you, you kick us back ten more steps. And then you kick again and again, until we fall and don't want to fight.
I know you don't care either way. People may think that us fighting proves victory. But you don't look at it that way. You know you have us beat. And you know your survivors live for the rest of their lives with permanent, horrible effects from you, and the drugs that fight you.

What do you want from us? What do you want from my child? You have already taken a year. You have taken us from our home and our solitude. You have taken our sanity away. And it isn't us giving you control! It's you... taking it.
We live with this because we have no choice. We fight you because we can't just sit and let you do your work quicker.

If I could see you, if I could touch you... you would be in permanent agony.
You think you are smart cancer. You think because you can trick us and beat us down, you are special. You think by making my son suffer with sickness, and taking the hair from his body, makes you special. You are wrong. And I will show you who is special. Our little boy is. You may be able to take everything else we ever had, but there is one thing you can't.
Our love.
You- can't- take- our- love.

Well cancer, now you've asked for war. A war I am prepared for. On my sons behalf, I will do anything I can to destroy you. You will not like me. And the only way to my son, will be through me. Aiden may not understand the gravity of your demented sickness, but his mommy and daddy do. And we will destroy you. Whether it be literally, or mentally, you will have no hold on us.

Through your unfortunate appearance dear cancer, we know now what is real. We are full of knowledge we would have never had if it wasn't for you. We are stronger than so many in this world. And because of you, we could have a PhD in the big C. We know all about you. And you will regret spreading yourself more and more around this world. For the more you do it, the closer we will get to destroying you. I can say something about you cancer. You pick some intelligent, inspiring people to attack. That wont help you in the end.

I can't imagine life without you now. What things were like before. What they will be like later. No matter what you will never be forgotten. You are out to corrupt everyone you can, and everything in your path.

You will only make us smarter. You will only make us stronger. You will only make us better. You only make us love each other more, and hold each other closer. You are not going to get away with this. You better back down cancer, now.
At the end of your time, you will be laid out and vulnerable, dissected and dead.
You... Cancer...
You are a life-affirming treatise on the eternity of love.