Oh! The Butternut-ity! And a Dash of Operatic Inspiration…

I made butternut squash soup for dinner tonight. YUMM-MEE!

See? I made that! From scratch! With NOOOO recipe!

And it was delish, if I do say so myself.

I’d love to share the recipe with you, but I’m afraid if I did I’d have to kill you so…

…hee hee, just kidding. Here’s how I made it:

1. Lightly sauteed an onion in pure olive oil (I learned from Chef Ezra c/o Kitchen Party that you should use pure olive oil for cooking, and virgin olive oil for raw uses).
2. Also lightly sauteed (in said pure olive oil) a clove of garlic, one carrot (minced it first) and one stick of celery (also minced first).
3. Then I put the lid on the pot and added 1 large butternut squash, peeled and chopped in 1-inch pieces. I let that sorta sautee-steam for a few minutes then…
4. I added about 4 cups of chicken stock (I made this a few weeks ago from our Thanksgiving chicken, the provenance of which I wrote about here).
5. I then added (as an afterthought) one medium macintosh apple from my fruit bowl…it was a little bruised and overripe and was headed for the compost pile, so I figured…what the heck? As with the squash, I peeled and chopped this first.
6. After a remarkably short period of time (about as long as it took me to clean my cutting board, chef’s knife and mini-prep food processor) the chopped ingredients were nice and soft.
7. I removed them with a slotted spoon into my food processor. Then I strained the soup through a sieve (do NOT forget to put another pot, bowl or other soup-collecting device under the sieve when you do this. I speak from bitter, bitter past experience) and added all the goodies from the sieve to the food processor – oh, for Beck’s immersion blender! But alas –
8. Processed all the chopped veggies until very smooth, added back to the broth, and seasoned with freshly ground salt & pepper.
9. Let it simmer a little longer and – YUMM-MEE!

My first taste. Sweet!

Of course, the kids hated it. #1 conceded it was "yum-ish" but didn’t finish it, and #2 grimaced horribly before refusing to eat anymore. *sigh* At least I know the Hubster will love it. He loves everything I cook. Hence, we have a happy marriage!

Speaking of Hubster, he re-joined Weight Watchers with me today. It was so great to go back – together! Call me naive if you like, but I feel like we’re taking a big step together, and maybe – this time – we’ll make it to goal. Right?

And Now For the Promised Operatic Inspiration!

Likely you’ve already heard of Paul Potts, YouTube sensation (something like 57 million views!), but I gotta say, I clued into him early this week and have been inspired by his story. Basically, he was a mobile phone salesman and blew away the judges when he auditioned for Britain’s Got Talent. Check out his audition below. I’ve never seen Simon Cowell react like that to an audition!

Anyway, ‘course Paul Potts won the whole deal, and his CD One Chance was just released. I bought it at the iTunes store and have been listening avidly for a few days now.

Now, as my dad the opera buff will tell you, Paul’s talent is prodigious, but raw. You ain’t gonna get far comparing him to the likes of his late hero, Pavarotti. But that’s not what inspires me. It’s the human element…this modest, shy little guy from Wales gets up there and gives it his best, in a last-ditch effort to do what he feels he was born to do. And guess what? He does it! It really was his One Chance.

I’m going to spend more time taking risks like Paul Potts did (he actually decided whether to audition for Britain’s Got Talent based on the outcome of a coin toss!) and going after what I really want. Who knows when I’ll get my One Chance?

And you? What were you born to do? What would your One Chance be? Share! Below! In comments! I command you! ;P Oh, and what do you think my One Chance would be? Let me know…I’ll divulge the secret in my next post 🙂