Out West!

Greetings everyone!

I (Elizabeth, Emily's granddaughter) am going to be guest authoring this blog for the next two weeks. As you may have gathered from the title of tonight's post Emily is out west, San Jose, California to be exact. She is visiting Josh, Elijah and myself. We are having a wonderful time so far, but the more exiting details of the trip are yet to come as we explore some the facets of Northern California together in the coming days. I am going to be posting three to five entries with some photos, so not every day. Also remember that there is a major time difference so the post will likely show up at 3:00 am for all of you east coasters.

Today Emily had a wonderful time playing hide and seek with her great grandson. She remarked that he has grown up so much since she last saw him around his second birthday last October. They read stories and had a great time playing with his toy cars that she brought for him as a gift. Later in the afternoon Emily and I went shopping in an area called Santana Row. Emily remarked at all of the beautiful flowers that were planted and could name them all. She also remarked on how the park and surrounding streets by my house are lined with Sycamore trees. A rather strange choice because the root systems can be quite cumbersome and apparently they are quite messy. I was rather taken aback by the gap in my own knowledge of the natural world surrounding us. I feel inspired to learn all of the trees and flowers native to my area.

This evening we worked in the kitchen on dinner together and listened to Johnny Cash, it was a fun time. Emily made fried cornbread and I made my Butternut Squash soup. The soup recipe is one that sort of came together this winter when I was looking for a good butternut squash soup recipe, but was disappointed by the ones that I found. So, instead I decided to just invent my own taking a bit from one and borrowing a bit from another then adding a dash of originality. Emily remarked that she would at times do the same sort of thing with recipes and Gene made something of a remark that she never used the same recipe twice.  I would like to share my soup recipe with all of you.

One butternut squash, cut into one inch cubes
Three or four onions, peeled and quartered
Five or so large fresh sage leaves
1/8 stick of butter
One or two cans of chicken stock
A few medium sized chunks of parmesan cheese (the real cheese not the fake powder stuff)
Five or so cloves of garlic
A dash of salt

Combine the squash, chicken stock, sage, garlic, and onions in to a large pot and simmer for 50 minutes. If you are low on chicken stock you can use water to fill the difference - just add another onion and a little more butter. Let cool for ten minutes then transfer the soup to a blender or use a hand mixer (this works best on blenders with glass receptacles because of the heat. Also do not fill to the brim; 3/4 to the top at most.) Add the parmesan chunks at this point into the mix to be blended. Milk or sour cream can be added for a creamier texture and salt and pepper to taste. Grated parmesan tops it off when served.

Enjoy!