I Do Love Chinese

Jerry is back in his PhD program and when a schedule is new, I have a hard time organizing myself around it. Dinner sometimes just can't be on the table and sometimes I don't want to get it onto the table. Most often, it is Jerry who rallies and does something amazing. When he isn't around, the amazing trick ends up being me calling for a delivery pizza or Chinese food. Luckily, everyone except for Jerry loves Chinese...except now that Jerry's mom and dad are around, I have to sort of add PaPa. I don't think he dislikes it as much as Jerry because he doesn't protest nearly as much and so he has to eat it whenever the rest of us get a hankering for General Tso's chicken and an egg roll. We ordered Chinese on Tuesday night and then had leftovers on Wednesday.

There wasn't enough Chinese to totally feed everyone because Jordan had wiped us out of General Tso's Chicken at lunch. General Tso's, of course, was the ONLY thing Jacob wanted to eat on Wednesday night. Jillian wanted fried pickles and I wanted a soup. Dinner was a bit of a hodgepodge, but everyone was fed.

I must tell about the soup. If you have read the book "Julia/Julie", you may remember the scene where Julie has had a bad day, stops at the store and just happens to purchase the ingredients for Julia's Leek and Potato Soup. Interestingly enough, I just happened to have the ingredients at home and so this is what I made. Simplicity itself is what Julia called it. I must agree. Lucille had never had leeks before and so when I described the soup as potato and onion soup, she was all about it. Jacob was still pouting about there being no General Tso's Chicken, but ended up drinking three little mugs of this soup. Lucille sheepishly had to admit to Jerry when he arrived that she might have eaten his portion of the soup. I am still pretty amazed that the soup was a hit and I am excited about the fact that I will be making it again and again. It was a perfect winter soup, but not in the traditional sense. It wasn't heavy, it wasn't dark, it didn't have savory chunks of anything in it, but it was smooth and warm and tasted like onions and potatoes and that is a very comforting combination.

Adding my new cookbook to the list today!!! Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1.

Eat something yummy!