More snow, olive oil, soup, wisdom of Maisie

Another storm started this morning, and is now at the point where police are begging people to stay off the roads, at home, that is, since a whole lot of optimistic drivers set off this morning and went off the road in no time.  Impassable bridges, slippery corners, ditches, fill in the blanks.

But there's always soup.  Which reminds me, it beats me when I read other bloggers who complain they have nothing to write about! Because they're home, some even with families and pets.  How do they manage it? I seem to have enough ideas that I choose which to bother with each day.  Well, moving along here.

Last night I roasted potatoes for supper with a fried egg, comfort food, and put the butternut squash in at the same time, 400F for half an hour, so it was nicely done ready to use this morning.  The seeds are now flung out on the patio for the squirrels who love them. They're still warm, too, so they have a hot meal coming.

 

Butternut squash, cashews, carrot greens.  And the usual cast of assistant spices, kosher salt, nutmeg, turmeric, Old Bay, chicken stock.  I added milk powder after I'd blended, and it's definitely a good idea.

 This is my current Misfits olive oil, the best, lovely stuff, great flavor.  Which brings up a point: I don't agree that there's a cooking grade of olive oil.  Or of wine, come to that.  If you don't want to drink the sherry, why on earth would you cook with it? Likewise, people insist that this very high grade of oil is for finishing, for salads, and so on.  Yes, but I see no reason why I can't use it for anything else.  And that malarkey about the smoking point doesn't apply to soup.  So I use the best, and it's lovely.

 

And I like these people, too, note the instructions on storing it.

 And here's lunch.  It's very good, because I soaked the cashews overnight, better than a couple of hours.  And the color comes from the carrot greens, whose flavor works as well as carrots in this soup, I find. I don't think I'll ever get tired of soup.  Just as well, I suppose.  

This afternoon is Misfits Choice afternoon, where I Build My Box, as they grandly put it.  And where I get to choose salads greens, too.  Last night I dreamed I'd done it all, and the box had arrived, and I woke thinking oh good, I'll have a salad today.  Oh, wait, that was a dream only.

 Then there's the What Would Maisie Do book, which has quite a few helpful thoughts for meditating on, very a propos at this time, though the book came out before the pandemic.  And yes, everyone in the world is facing a change in circumstance just now. So it's worth thinking on this one.  It's like a fortune cookie thought, only it makes sense.