Kabobs & Apple Pie

This weekend I did a little experimenting in the kitchen. I had a few bags of frozen cauliflower, some vegetable odds and ends in the fridge and the dregs of a jar of hot curry paste. And that is how curry cauliflower soup came into existence.

Now, I realize that based on the above description, you likely think this soup sounds disgusting. I mean, I did use the terms “odds and ends” and “dregs” in the previous paragraph. Thus I present to you evidence to the contrary:

Curry Cauliflower Soup

Convinced yet? If not, I assure you it is tasty, and Roger will confirm this fact. Just check out his tweets. He even called himself a lucky guy.

So without further ado…

Ingredients

• 2 bags of frozen cauliflower, thawed and diced
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 green and 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 2 large carrots, peeled and diced
• 1 large sweet potato, cut up in a large dice
• 2 or 3 cloves of garlic, finely diced
• 1 cup of peas
• 1 regular (14.5 oz) can of diced tomatoes
• 3 tablespoons of curry paste
• 2 tablespoons of cumin powder
• 1 tablespoon of turmeric powder
• 2 bouillon cubes (I use Knorr Vegetable Bouillon)
• Salt and black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Heat up 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large pot ( I used my trusty 9.5 qt Le Creuset French Oven) on high heat.
2. Saute the onions, carrots and red and green bell pepper until translucent and starting to brown.
3. Add the garlic and mix it well so it is well incorporated with the rest of the vegetables.
4. Add the cauliflower and saute for about 3-5 minutes more until the cauliflower starts to brown a little.
5. Add the tomato, bouillon, curry paste and 10-12 cups of water.
6. Add the sweet potato and peas.
7. Add the cumin and turmeric and stir really well.
8. Once the soup comes to a boil, taste the broth and add salt and pepper to taste. Then reduce the heat to medium-high and simmer for about 30-45 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are good and soft.

Serving Suggestions:

I think this soup would be delicious drizzled with a little coconut milk. Also, you might try serving over a scoop of basmati rice. Finally, I always find curry soups benefit quite a bit from a sprinkling of fried shallots.  Enjoy.

Proof of Azita’s love of accessories…

Trying on Heels

Deciding to Stick to Flats

Discovering Baba's Side of the Closet

We took Azita to the University of Maryland on Thursday to take part in a study on language development. As a seven-month-old girl, her language hasn’t so much developed as shown promise for one day developing soon. But this a long-term study, so we went today to get the first one on the books.

I was more than a little excited about being “studied” as a parent. I was looking forward to seeing how my daughter reacted to words and researchers and a college campus. These are all things I really love. I wanted to be  a part of a university research project. I wanted to be “Subject B-13″ or whatever they label subjects in these sorts of things.

It just wasn’t meant to be, and my dreams of being a footnote in a groundbreaking study on how humans learn to use the spoken word to communicate were crushed because most dads suck.

Yeah, I said it. Most dads suck, and I’ll tell you why most dads suck: Because there are never enough dads willing to participate in university research, so they only test children with moms. Allowing me to participate in the study would have introduced a new element, and damaged the research. I respect this so I didn’t complain to the researchers, but man I was hurt. Not because I took a half day off work, but because so many other dads didn’t. What the hell? A few hours off so our communication with our daughters and sons can help research.

When we returned from our adventure in College Park, I couldn’t stop talking to Azita. If I had a tripod I would have recorded me playing with her and emailed it to the research department — just in case any other dads decide not to suck so much.