Well last night I made my very first real chicken soup! It wasn't completely from scratch in that I did not have time to roast or boil a whole bird, but I did start with just onions, garlic, chicken, stock, carrots, celery, rice, and thyme. It turned out great! And I didn't use a recipe, I just used what seemed the appropriate amount of ingredients for where I was trying to go. I am very proud of myself and excited for fall with soup. My grandma always told me I would be a good cook because I come from a long line of good cooks (she is the best!). I never believed her until recently, it does feel sort of like I have tapped into a stream of memory.

Last night I received my first very own shipment of organic fruits and vegetables from Capay Farms! I am planning a vegetable feast with the bounty including this soup with 20 cloves of garlic. This is part of my new plan to spearhead the loss of the extra 20 pounds I've gained over the last year. Ah Love! it makes you fat.

At first I thought it was an interesting description, but now I'm getting a little irritated at the amount of times the term "shard" is used in food writing around the web lately. Of course I'm too lazy to site sources but let's just say that all of our throats should be permanently scarred if we are eating as many shards as have been mentioned recently.

Every year I get at least one perfect fall evening. I can't wait for this year's and I think I would like to celebrate with an organic roasted chicken.

This whole food chocolate mousse sounds really cool to me. I am liking the idea of making desserts out of unrefined foods so they are sort of good for you. I have made these cupcakes with zucchini and coconut fat two times now and they are excellent!

Alright, enough of the pity party. I feel much better now. Back to the regularly silly items I like to post here. For instance, these cookies look very nice to me.

When you start out the morning trying to decide whether to call in because you're afraid you won't be able to stop crying but decide to go and end up crying in the bathroom by 8:30, it's probably not going to be a very good day. On the plus side the weather is really nice.

Flickr is holding an auction to benefit Katrina victims. Looks like a great way to buy some original artwork and benefit humanity.

the time feels right for apples and some darkness