When my parents moved away from New Jersey, I was sad for a few different reasons. No more quick weekend trips home whenever I was feeling needy, no more easy access to a car, having to find a new dentist, like an adult. Ya know, just some truly devastating inconveniences. But one thing I’m really missing in this cool, fall weather that’s finally arrived, is my favorite soup from Market Basket in Franklin Lakes, NJ – creamy tomato soup with ravioli.
I love throwing parties. If I had a truly disposable income and an untiring pool of friends, I’d throw a party a month.
I may have gone to The University of the South, but trust me, I have no delusions of being a southern belle. I’m a Yankee through and through, from the pace at which I walk to the way I say ‘pecan’. But as someone who has spent a solid chunk of her time there, I do have an appreciation of the South and of southern cuisine.
Well, Memorial Day Weekend has come and gone and I’m so happy it’s the start of another summer season.
Back in mid-May, I made what very well may be the last meal I cook in my home of 16 years. My parents are selling our house. Just like baking chocolate or revenge, it’s bittersweet. After living in five different states all while under the age of 10, we finally landed in New Jersey, where I did most of my growing up and where I learned how great bagels really are. In that house, we’ve said goodbye to dear pets and we’ve welcomed new ones. On our street, I learned how to drive in a car that was recently, after 17 years, traded in for a pick-up truck. (I’m still laughing about how my dad parks his new truck behind his cream-colored Mini-Cooper with racing stripes.) Through the years, I’ve left our pretty, grey house for multiple adventures to Europe and across the U.S. Over almost two years in Brooklyn, I’ve gone back often to spend quiet weekends in the suburbs with my parents and my pets. And, in our home’s kitchen, I’ve learned how to cook.
I’ve been in a funk lately. Maybe it’s the transition from two and half weeks off to a full week at the office. Maybe it’s the uncomfortably low temperatures that January brings. Or maybe it’s the fact that everything I’ve tried to blog in the past week has been unsatisfactory. Who knows? All I know is that 2015 has been off to a weird, cold start and I needed something to snap me out of it. That something came in the form of a luscious, creamy Vermont Cheddar Soup.
A Pinch of This 