The Weekly Holiday Wreath Wrap -- Hope You Enjoy the View!

Starting with a shot of a few of the beautiful garlands by my fave wreath artists at the Old Town Alexandria Farmers Market over the weekend.  Each is a mix of evergreen including boxwood and pine, as well as juniper with its magical looking tiny blue-gray berries and red berries, also (I have to ask Anne what everything is on Saturday) -- gorgeous!

I am already planning how I want to decorate and when for November-December 2012! Before late this year, I had no idea how incredible and way affordable Anne's work is.  And next year she's going to open and Etsy shop -- Yay!  Will definitely let you know when that happens.

Left:  Burgundy sprayed pinecones on boxwood with cool natural fiber rope detail.  Right:  Wow! (I think those are lotus pods sprayed red -- but I'll have to ask Anne on Saturday).

Closeup: so beautiful!

Closeup of pinecone and boxwood wreath.

Crisp and sunny December morning at the Old Town farmers market.

I'm really in love with this one -- silvery pine cones and clusters of deep violet juniper berries, all nestled in deep, textured greens. *sigh*

Delta wreath (No, I was never in a sorority, undergrad was like three percent Greek, if that, but my bff was a Tri-Delt).  I thought square wreaths were big rule breakers ... clearly, I am behind the times.

Detail of square wreath.

 

New candle wreath.

Evergreen and holly greens and berries.

 All by the talented European Floriculturalists of natural-designs.net.

I didn't buy anything this week, but am plotting my holiday gift haul for this Saturday.

The market starts earlier than I wake up.  But I'm going to try to make it earlier than usual to see everything Anne brings with her!  

If I had the discipline of these amazing farmers and artisans, I'd still be running every morning at 6 a.m.  Ah-hah!  I feel a resolution coming on that will certainly be discarded by Valentine's Day.

Happy Hump Day!  Halfway there!

Yours, in evergreen with blue juniper berries,

JPV

 P.S. Hey, Blogger spell check, quit telling me "pinecone" is incorrect.  It is not.  It may be used as one or two words.  I understand how you would get confused and think "bff" is an incorrect spelling, but get off my back about "pinecone."

Carrot and Sweet Potato Soup -- My Favorite

I love this soup.  It is based on this Cooking Light recipe I found two years ago.  I say based on it because I only guesstimate the measurements and it always turns out great.

The three main ingredients are:  Carrots, sweet potatoes, onion.
The secret ingredient is:  ginger.
And it has special super powers:
1.  It can survive just fine for a few hours without refrigeration (read:  sit on my desk til lunch);
2.  Awesome way to get my veggies rather than a side of broccoli;
3.  It's a puree so it can travel well (see # 1, to the office without seeping out);
4.  Freezes well.

All veggies from Del Ray and Old Town farmers' markets except small onions which are organic from Trader Joe's.

These are the enormous carrots from Lopez Farms at the Old Town farmers' market.  I asked a nice fellow shopper to model the monster carrot for me. Amazingly sweet for being so large.  Probably because they are organic and fresh out of the ground a few miles from where I bought them.

One carrot, chopped, weighed 13 ounces!  (My million year old scale is on the left.)

Two sweet potatoes, peeled, chopped into big chunks. (BOWL: Blue and white dragon design purchased in my favorite supply store in DC's Chinatown.)

Toss potatoes (peeled and chopped), onion (one medium or a few small  ones) and carrots (1/2 - 1 pound, washed, but no need to peel if they are organic) with a few drizzles of olive oil to coat. 13x9" in baking dish (any size is fine, so is a cookie sheet, or in tin foil on the grill).

Heat oven to 325 degrees F.  Roast for 30-45 minutes.  Toss once at 15-20 minutes (these are just going in the oven).

Perfect!  Just out of the oven, browning around the edges, olive oil prevents everything from drying out.  House smells awesome.

Add four cups of low sodium chicken or veggie stock. More or less by half a cup depending on whether you use more or less vegetables.

I love this stuff.  I grew up on Wyler's bouillon, could eat it straight (Gross, I know, but I used to make a salt pile and dunk my fries in it, too, when I was a kid). While I don't always have my own broth on hand (not much room for it in the tiny kitchen), I always have some of this stuff on hand. USDA organic and it is the perfect way to stock stock in a minuscule kitchen.  I use 1/2-3/4 teaspoon per cup of water.

Fresh ginger made easy. 

Everybody in da pot.  Bring to a boil.

Turn down to low and simmer for 20 minutes.

I've done this step in a blender, in batches, many times. It works for sure, and is totally worth it. I just started making soups often enough in the tiny kitchen that I invested in a nice stick blender. I love concocting soups, and especially in the tiny kitchen, the immersion blender saves my space, time and mess.  It took about 90 seconds.

 

Perfection!

Back on the stove* for serving and measuring out for freezing.
* Our incredibly well laid out tiny kitchen does not have an outlet on the stove side, so I put the pot on a trivet on the opposite counter, blend it (very fun) and then move it back to the stove top.

Yours, in soup joy,

Julia

Click here for printable version

Preview -- One of My Favorite and Easiest Soup Recipes

Carrot and Sweet Potato Soup Puree -- low cal and fat, super high in amazing flavor, healthiness and sheer beauty. 

Ginormous carrots at the Old Town Farmers Market (Lopez Farms, of course). 

Main ingredients.

Glamour shot -- veggies hanging out on the back porch under the pretty changing leaves of the pear tree.  All the cool trees on the block have already changed.  Our little straggler is just catching up, we're so proud.

 Editing (aka, shrinking) the soup photos and will post the whole thing with recipe shortly.  I brought this soup to Thanksgiving last year at Mary and Stilly's (our friends/DC parents) house.  Big hit.  Can even serve in shot glasses.  I just put it in the fridge and bring to work every day and throw in feta or goat cheese, and sometimes rotisserie chicken for a full meal.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!

Yours, in gratefulness for the sunshine in December,

Julia

The Weekly Wreath Wrap -- Now Through December. Too Many Beautiful Ones From My Local Virginia Farmers' Market. One Post a Week, It Just Has to be Done.

If you're new here, you need to know that I love wreaths (and welcome!). And I go to my two awesome local farmers' markets on Saturdays.  Where, year round, is an amazing team of European master floriculturalists who bring their creations year round.  With the holiday season in full swing, many of the independent, family farms are bringing their own creations, also.

(this and the wreaths below were at the natural-designs.net the Old Town Farmers' Market)

 As I've mentioned before, I pay for everything, not that anyone is offering, I just get very excited about products, people and services I love -- someday I really will do a whole post on my love of Cetaphil, or maybe bacon, and John Freida's Frizz Ease products ...)

Magnolia over curly kale at Three Way Farms at the Del Ray Farmers' Market. (Click to learn more about the Del Ray Market on their facebook page)

A sweet little twig wreath also from Three Way Farms.  Nestled in the parsnips.  Duh, where else would the cute wreaths hang out?

Closer shot of the friend-of-the-parsnips wreath.

Meeting Cinderella and Elvis at a Virginia Farmers' Market

When I met her in Disneyland (world?  I so get the two mixed up, even though my brother actually worked at the California one, as Aladdin -- no joke -- he looks like Aladdin...and then he dated Jasmine, the Little Mermaid, Cinderella and Snow White, at least two of whom were the same person, it was a confusing time for all of us), Cinderella did not look like a giant orange squash.  But I guess they couldn't call this thing a pumpkin, right? (Btw, bravo to Blogger's spell check for knowing the correct spelling of Cinderella)

The princess with her hand on the Cinderella above is my friend Meghan.  It makes sense she felt a connection because a month ago she was dressed like this, Prince Charming and all!:

*sigh* Back to exotic looking squash. Delicatas.

Spelled Kabocha, I'm going to experiment with these gorgeous babies over Thanksgiving. I plan to use
Tiny Urban Kitchen's wonderful and simple recipe.  Someday, I also plan to take pictures as gorgeous as hers!
For now I'll start with a successful kabocha squash bake.
Look at those little kabochas, you know they so want to be Cinderella when they grow up. Cinderella squash, that is.