I plan to use this space as a dialog and exchange with you, sharing ideas and opinions and advice. So, if you have questions about cooking and life (I give great advice for that too) just contact me. I will try my very best to address all inquiries.

For example, if you are interested in a recipe from one of my shows I will try to get it to you (if I still have my notes from it). Aside from my soup book, I am also working on a book about the television shows with celebrity stories and celebrity recipes - let me know what you are interested in–communication is a two way street, don’t be shy- drop me a note. Let me know what you think but be gentle please. I WISH YOU HAPPY COOKING - SHARE THE LOVE!!!!!!

As I said, I am working on my soup book at the moment. Creating new and yummy recipes is my passion – I LOVE my work - I LOVE cooking. It just makes me feel happy! (I feel a bit less enthusiastic about writing the recipes; life is not perfect, but pretty close) – So, I thought, why not share my successes in this spot with you?

First I thought; never mind the misses - why should I waste your time with that? But then I got thinking; what’s the best way to learn? To me it’s from my mistakes. If you mess up you are surely going to remember next time what does and does not work. So I decided, yes, I will also share my misses--perhaps it will keep you from making the same one some day.

Now let’s see -------- Today’s “special” was both a hit and a bit of a miss – First off I felt like cooking but did not have all that much in the house except the food I had ordered from my trusty “Fresh Direct” for Bogart, my furry beast. Yeah, so if you want to be technical I used my dog’s food for this soup. But wait, before you go all bonkers over that - my dog eats raw and very well. I had chicken thighs, pork rib tips and carrots for him. The chicken thighs were a bit of a mistake, I had intended to order them with skin and bones but somehow clicked on the wrong thing and they were without. I had also ordered 10 pounds of it (it’s cheaper in bulk). Not wanting to have Bogart -the beast - just eat chicken and not give him the benefits of the bones, I decided he needed to share with us. And I will order the right stuff for him that much sooner.

I also still have a ton of wonderful apples from Wickham’s farm stand on the North Fork of Long Island and I had some ginger root. That can work. Soup it is.

First I browned the thighs and rib tips (in batches) in some olive oil to give the soup the benefit of the caramelization– I forgot to tell you, I was also out of chicken broth, which I usually use as a base to have a stronger bodied soup. That’s why I opted for browning the ingredients first – more flavor - Next I browned the chopped apples, ginger and carrots. Then everything went back into the pot, topped it off with half water, half milk (for more body and some mild sweet flavor) and some ‘warm’ spices (ginger, cayenne and cinnamon) and let it simmer for about 45 minutes.
Simmering in milk created a bit of a funky looking broth in the beginning but it settled down and incorporated OK in the end, but not perfectly. Perhaps it would have been better to add the milk at the end. But what’s done is done. To salvage the soup I thought pureeing the broth and carrots and apples would be a good idea. But I am not really wild about a creamy, kind of thick soup with chunks of meat in it. Should I have left it as is? My sweet and supportive mate Randy loved it (but did he love it just perhaps because he loves me and I can do no wrong in his eyes). He especially liked the combination of ginger and cinnamon. I, for one, liked the flavor but not so much the consistency. For the book, I think I will give both versions (pureed and not, but with the milk added towards the end ) as options. I will try that next.

I will keep you posted as to the results. That’s it for now.
Talk to you soon again and don’t forget to write, please email me with your thoughts.

Luv,
Ulli

PS: Come back next week and I’ll have the recipe written for you.

PPS: What do you think I should name the soup?

~ Click on the recipe ~