Brocolli Cheddar Soup in a Bread Bowl

We had two blissful days of 60+ degree temperatures here in Boston. Overnight, I was all about grilling and margaritas again. My street was lined with over eager college students sporting shorts and gloating to mother nature. Then wham, as fast as you can say cold snap, that delicious warm weather is over and we are back in the abyss of a never ending winter.

Here's hoping you survived the cold, have today off, and have some hearty soup to warm the bones.

This recipe meets all my standard prerequisites. Easy, big on taste, and come on, it is served in a bread bowl. You save on dishes and literally get to eat your serving dish. The doughy insides of a fresh loaf of bread, being my absolute favourite, was reserved for dipping. I made a few luxe substitutions, using some leftover truffle butter to saute the veggies and a maple smoked cheddar for the cheesy goodness. This dish is a cheesy carbloading festival for your mouth. Enjoy!

Read more for the full recipe and more photos.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Recipe

Ingredients

nocoupons

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cups half-and-half
• 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 4 7-inch sourdough bread boules (round loaves)
• 4 cups broccoli florets (about 1 head)
• 1 large carrot, diced
• 2 1/2 cups (about 8 ounces) grated sharp white and yellow cheddar cheese, plus more for garnish

 

 Directions

 

Melt the butter in a large Dutch oven or pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Whisk in the flour and cook until golden, 3 to 4 minutes, then gradually whisk in the half-and-half until smooth. Add the chicken broth, bay leaves and nutmeg, then season with salt and pepper and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, uncovered, until thickened, about 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the bread bowls: Using a sharp knife, cut a circle into the top of each loaf, leaving a 1-inch border all around. Remove the bread top, then hollow out the middle with a fork or your fingers, leaving a thick bread shell.
Add the broccoli and carrot to the broth mixture and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes. Discard the bay leaves. Puree the soup in batches in a blender until smooth; you'll still have flecks of carrot and broccoli. Return to the pot. (Or puree the soup in the pot with an immersion blender.)
Add the cheese to the soup and whisk over medium heat until melted. Add up to 3/4 cup water if the soup is too thick. Ladle into the bread bowls and garnish with cheese.

Driftwood and Lucite Together at Last

    

                

Images: Skinner Auctioneers and Appraisers 

Can we talk for a moment about this mirrored, modern, lucite bar?

Not as though I have the room in my teensy apartment for such a bar but it radiates cool. My dentist appointment went too long yesterday, resulting in my missing it at the Skinner Discovery auction. Alas, it was not meant to be. Speaking of cool, modern, bordering on perhaps just a wee bit tacky....I also obsessed over the lot of lamps above. Again, not entirely sure what I would have done with them but they are so outrageous and over the top that I want to take them home with me and design around them. Which got me started on a design bender.

This bar would have gone perfectly with the dining room table and chairs I plan on buying. I have a boho modernist vision of dining on a drift wood table with chic lucite chairs. Then again, all the pieces together may have culminated in lucite overload, but is there really such a thing?

Image: driftwood table

My proposed before and after. Our current table is a shamefully ugly, ten year old, Pier 1 Imports triple clearance purchase, made without any advance planning or preconceived ideas about what it may actually look like in our apartment. I feel infinitely better after getting that off my chest. We needed a place to seat people who came over the dine with us, what was I to do? The image on the above, right demonstrates what I would like to do. Scaled down to current apartment standards of course.  Husband thinks the lucite chairs pose a home hazard and would break if improperly used. Clearly, he just doesn't get it (pun totally intended). Some additional driftwood inspiration below!

Images:  driftwood interior 1,  driftwood interior 2

Images: driftwood interior 1, driftwood interior2

Breaking the Jean

Featured above: A.P.C. jeans, Aldo shoes, Top Shop coat and top.

Having heard the hype about A.P.C. denim it was really only a matter of time before I drank the kool-aid. Classic clean lines? Check. Hip French brand? Check. Outrageous price? Check.

Little did I know the commitment I was entering upon crossing the threshold to the Soho outpost of A.P.C. The shop keep must have smelled my longing for French minimalist denim as soon as I entered the store. After a brief denim assessment I was on my way to the back (curtained off accordingly) to try on some jeans. The champagne room of denim.

My assistants were lovely, lithe, young hipsters. New to A.P.C.? Then you must go basic with the raw denim, "new cure" to all that ails me. Described simply on the site as:

"neither high nor low rise. very narrow leg. coin pocket. button fly. 

the first button is engraved A.P.C. rue Madame pres du luxembourg."

I was encouraged by my sales troup to squeeze into the smallest size I could possibly button, for they stretch at least a size. Deep knee bends and lunges were heartily encouraged throughout the racks. I was shown before and afters. One associate had worn their pair every day for a year (washing optional) and look how soft they were? You can even purchase the "broken" in version of the raw denim, having all the work already done for you, at an even more outrageous price. I smelled the lazy American trap a mile away and said "non, merci". I will go with my new cure and do all the work myself, thank you very much.

These pictures are hereby entered into evidence as new cure, day #1. Please note, they sit perfectly at the hip. The have a snug, but not stifling, fit throughout the leg. Deep indigo, denim perfection...with the mild texture of sandpaper. Yes, these jeans are literally so painfully hip as to so leave my hip bone a little exfoliated.

I am no slacker though. I will break these jeans. The gauntlet has been thrown and the progress will be documented in a new mintly series titled: 1) breaking the jean, 2) how to lose 5 lbs (eating is not exactly encouraged in raw denim), or 3) how to wear one jean 30 ways.

NYFW Fave: Rachel Comey

 Photos: NY Times

Aesthetically simple lines; minimal yet print heavy, and oh yes the shoes, shoes, shoes. Get in my closet!

I'll spare you all any recap of the shows from NYFW, which you all have access to anyways and are already posted every which way, in favor of highlighting one of my favourite designers from New York Fashion Week. Ms. Comey's designs are infinitely more thrilling to me because they are, gasp, wearable and not so astronomically priced as to be unaffordable to the masses.

Side note, yes, the printed pant is making quite a splash at the recent shows and is prominently featured in this line. I confess, I bought a pair at H&M to foray into the trend on the cheap, still a bit phobic about committing to print on my legs full time.

Rachel Comey also sounds like a woman after my own heart, drawing early fashion inspiration from the likes of Benetton and Esprit (be honest you know you rocked it too) as well as a keeper and maker of to-do lists. Unassuming, Northeast bread, and keeping it real in this interview with the NY Times.

"What's the first designer item you ever bought?
Is Esprit considered "designer?" I'm originally from Hartford, Connecticut, and I got really into clothes around the time Esprit and Benetton were huge."

"What's something you never leave the house without?
A pencil, for writing down sketches, ideas, and notes — I feel lost without it. I'm really big into to-do lists."

"Where do you like to shop in New York?
I love flea markets, particularly the ones on 25th Street and in Fort Greene. Except now there's too much food at them — it makes them so crowded! Nobody's boyfriend or husband ever wanted to go to the flea market before, but now there are lobster rolls and sliders. I love the foodie trend, but I preferred it when flea markets were a little quieter and more specific."

Stop by my Tumblr for more of the looks from the show.

Portrait of a Miu Miu

Sometimes I am so moved by the beauty of a pair of well crafted shoes that I am compelled to take photos of them. My own, ever expanding album of shoe porn.

So is the case with these nude Miu Miu platforms I acquired a little bit ago. I was so taken with them  I almost paid full price (gasp!) when they initially came out. Never fear, the bargain hunter and what little sensibility I have won out, and I passed on them for the camera I now use to take pretty photos of shoes. Imagine my surprise when they turned up on sale at Saks at a significant mark down. I think you know how this story turns out, carpe diem I did.

These shoes are a patent leather dangerous liaison in the afternoon. Wearing a shoe like this just makes you feel like a million dollars, no other justification or reasoning required. The platform gives you that extra height, plus comfort, and the nude color elongates your legs for miles.  Shoes, my instant shot of confidence, therapy, and art all rolled into one. Silly, oh quite so, but beauty can be found in everything if we just take the time to look.