Soup Songs #4: Right Life Wrong Life

It has finally come my friends, this week is an escape week. There is something in the air making me itch for an adventure. Perhaps it's talking to a friend in Ghana, another who is about to travel cross country, another in going to Panama in a month and realizing that I don't know where Bhutan is. Maybe it is just a reaction to the recent warm front creating much talk of the fearful onslaught of summer. Maybe I am simply bored far too easily.

A friend once told me that the hardest part about ending your travels is that in one very short instance, your life goes from being extraordinary to a bit below ordinary and there isn't anything you can do about it. You come home broke, jobless, dirty and fairly crazy. But what happens next? Is there a way to merge those two lives? How do you create extraordinary things within a comfortable and ordinary life? Sure, you can claim you're living the wrong life but slowly depleting your savings in Cambodia isn't real life. It's more fun, but it's entirely unsustainable. There is value in staying put but as I said, this is an escape week. Where do you want to go next?

The following soup was by request from my old roommate. He loves comfort food and this week I think a lot of us could use some comfort. Let's cook together and dance around and talk about the great adventures to be had.

Potato Leek Soup
[adapted from Bon Appetit Magazine]

3 pounds russet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces*
5 cups canned chicken or vegetable broth
3 cups water
3 large leeks (white and pale green parts only), chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup whipping cream/half & half/soy milk/soy creamer
1/4 cup minced fresh chives or green onion tops
2 tablespoons minced fresh basil or 2 teaspoons dried, crumbled
1 tablespoon minced fresh dill or 1 teaspoon dried dillweed
hot pepper sauce
salt & pepper

Potential Toppings:
chopped fresh chives
green onion tops
crushed red pepper
sour cream
shredded sharp white cheddar

*try sticking a couple of sweet potatoes in the mix

Bring first 8 ingredients to boil in heavy large pot or over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until potatoes are very tender and soup thickens slightly, about 1 hour.

Transfer 2 cups of soup to blender and puree or use an immersion blender inside the pot. Return puree to pot if using regular blender.

Season with salt, pepper and hot pepper sauce to taste.

Ladle soup into bowls. Garnish with desired toppings. Enjoy!

Here's la musica from tonight. We had folks cooking up a storm in Santa Fe, Chicago, Brooklyn, Hanover, Tucson, Tempe, PHX, and likely some other fine locations around the globe...