Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Help the chef

Some cooking blogs go so far as to, you know, actually offer cooking advice.

And that's why this will never be a cooking blog.

I need help. Help me, please!

I made Thai Pumpkin Soup last night. I followed this recipe, using one roasted acorn squash and one can of pumpkin puree (there were no sugar pumpkins at the store! Heresy!) It was okay. Nothing special. Kind of...one note.

I used a sweet curry because I don't like the spicy ones, and added a bunch of freshly grated ginger, and a hint of freshly grated nutmeg. It helped, but still wasn't awesome. I have a bunch of it I put into the freezer with a note that it needs SOMETHING. I hope you'll tell me what that something is.

Here's the picture of it. It's pretty, right? I garnished with roasted pumpkin seeds. This should have been great. I'm so disappointed it was just okay. Help a sister out, won't ya?



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Last night was some GREAT television. First, let's talk Chuck. Casting Bruce Boxleitner, Captain John Sheridan himself, as Awesome's dad...well, it was AWESOME.

Then, in Heroes (spoiler alert! Stop reading now if you have it DVR'd and haven't seen it yet!)

Okay, you've stopped reading if you don't want to be spoiled, right? Last warning!

Oh my, I love Seth Green. Heroes has some great casting. But on a down note, please, please, please don't tell me my best friend Kristen Bell has been written off. I thought for sure she was going to end up preggies with a lil' baby watchmaker...

In other random news, I just saw the preview for the new Star Trek movie. Despite my full-fledged geek status, I'm just not a big Trekkie and have been ignoring this. And will continue to do so, except that did you see Zachary Quinto (Sylar) was cast as Spock? That cracked me up, since on Heroes his incredibly huge eyebrows do half the acting, and now he's cast as Spock, another famous eyebrow-actor. Funny, or maybe it's just me...

7 comments:

LauraC said...

I wonder if the spicy curry paste made a difference as the acorn squash and pumpkin are already naturally sweet? And I imagine the coconut milk would dilute the spiciness of the spicy curry paste. So you just added more sweetness to it?

I would go for something to spice it... like maybe some chili powder?

I wonder if I could add more question marks and elipses to this comment... ??

Btw, do you have Heidi's Cook 1.0 cookbook? I make this sweet potato pot pie recipe all winter:
http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/000127.html

I've recently started adding chicken to it to make it much heartier. Super easy to make and uses up our sweet potatoes we drown in during NC winters.

Nancy said...

OMG - I LOVED that they used The Scarecrow for Awesome's dad!

I'm so far behind in my Heroes watching :( Mike refuses to watch it with me, and he hasn't been teaching on Thursdays, so I haven't been watching. *sigh* Poor me - my husband is around ;)

pink cake box said...

I love thai food. How about this... saute some garlic and little bit of onions, then add the soup that you already made. Add in some lemongrass to give some lemony contrast with a little bit of spice. I think its better to just pound the lemongrass so you can take it off later, and you dont have to eat and feel fibers on your mouth. You can finish it off with some chopped thai basil or cilantro. If you want it creamier you can add some more coconut milk or if the coconut taste is enough for you then how about some light cream.

pink cake box said...

oh and by the way...can I have some soup???

What A Card said...

Thanks Laura and Epicurean! I have some stuff to try. I forgot, I had added some lemon grass, but perhaps needed more (I used dried). I think I'll try garlic and onions...everything is better with garlic and onions :)

Anonymous said...

Maybe something with a bit of a kick as a topping? Like scallions or chives. Not sure how that would work with the thai flavors tho. Good luck!

We went to Drumlin farm yesterday and saw a flock of wild large birds on the way out. It was cool!

Dana

just me said...

Were you inspired by the luncheon with our MIL for the Thai Pumpkin Soup? Because I had that for my warm appetizer - yummy. It had coconut, lemongrass and radish. One of the standouts at that restaurant.