Creamy Mushroom Soup

This is a rich, hearty soup that's great for dunking with a big chunk of crusty french bread or ciabatta roll.

Ingredients:

1 cup chopped button mushrooms
1 cup chopped Portobello mushrooms
2 oz. dried wild mushroom mix (comprised of an earthy combination of black chinese mushrooms, nutty porcinis and oyster mushrooms)
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 small onion, minced
1 cup half-and-half
1 (48 oz.) can chicken broth
1 chicken bouillon cube
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Bring a pot of water to a boil then turn off the heat. Drop in the dried wild mushroom mix and let it soak for 20 minutes. Drain and set aside. Discard the liquid (it will have gritty sediments from the dried mushroom).

In the meantime, melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour, then saute the onion and the mushrooms until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the chicken broth and the chicken bouillon cube. Cook while stirring occasionally, for another 5 - 7 minutes. Stir in the half-and-half. Heat through, but don't boil. Transfer about half of the soup into a large bowl. Use an immersion or hand blender to puree the soup left on the pot. Pour the soup from the bowl back in the pot. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with optional chopped chives.

Makes 4-6 servings.

Eight Years and Going Strong...

P and I celebrated our eight year wedding anniversary this month. Yes, we made it past the so-called "7-Year-Itch" period. I'm sure well make it past midlife crisis and work our way through our second childhood, too! If were lucky enough to make it to the Dementia/Altzheimers stage, then all the better. Every day, we'd meet up and fall in the love with each other all over again. Just like the first time. Notwithstanding hearing aids, dentures, walkers and adult incontinence briefs.

Awww ~ now I'm really getting carried away...

Flash back to the present. We couldn't have dinner out on our special day since baby Sam's too young to lug around in a fancy restaurant, so I opted to cook dinner for three.

Something simple and delicious. Something crispy, crunchy and tasty. I had four fresh D'Artagnan young chicken, each one as big as the palm of my hand. I thought ~ if you could deep-fry a whole turkey, why not 4 whole "teen-age" chickens? Rubbed in Provencal herbs, rock salt, paprika, black pepper and served on top of baby mushroom & asparagus risotto, it tasted way better than turkey.

S thought it was a neat idea to tell her friends that she was able to eat a "whole" chicken all by herself . As an added bonus, she got the four wishbones as well!

P took care of dessert.

It came wrapped in Bordeaux red wrapping paper with a Biendermeier motif.

Inside the elegant engraved wooden box was an Original Sacher~Torte from Vienna.

The history of the world~famous Original Sacher~Torte began in 1832, when the 16~year old apprentice cook Franz Sacher created this dessert at the court of Prince Metternich.

In the meantime, it has become the most famous torte in the world and the hand~written recipe is a "state secret" of the Hotel Sacher Wien. The hotel ~ opened in 1876 by Franz Sacher's son, Eduard ~ is an Austrian institution.

This torte is recommended to be served with unsweetened whipped cream and coffee.

Sorry, I couldn't wait for neither. Yum!

LINK:

https://shop.sacher.com/sacher/HotelSacherWien/index.jsp

Its Easter Time Once Again

S's unique Easter "eggs"

Our day started with a HUGE breakfast ~ piping hot breakfast sausages, fresh Swedish ham, Schaeller & Webber hard salami,

croissants, sesame bagels, and thanks to Fresh Direct, warm sourdough rolls.

These rolls were delivered frozen. Just popped them in the 400 degree oven for 10-12 minutes and voila! Tasted like I kneaded the dough myself. There was Danish butter, cream cheese and Sarabeth's strawberry rhubarb preserves. All washed down with French roast coffee, hot coco, OJ... We even ate some of the Easter eggs that P and S painted the night before!

Fresh fruits drizzled with honey and dipped in organic French Vanilla yogurt completed the meal. Afterwards I felt like a stuffed hare and had to will myself to stay awake during the 10 AM family mass.

Happy Easter!!

Boiled eggs, anyone?

LINK:

http://www.freshdirect.com/index.jsp