Thursday, November 3, 2011

I Was Baptised This Morning!

       Now to bgin with I wasn't baptised with water, fire or the holy spirit. No, I was totally immersed by Home Farm Girl's smooth manipulation to get me to do something for her that I had never done before.

       I've been baptised before. When we lived in an isolated Arctic community we had to bake our own bread because there was no store there. One Saturday morning she had just started a batch of bread when someone came asking for her service as she was a nurse in the community. So she asked me to continue with the bread making process. Now I had never had any experience with bread other than eating it. She promised me she'd only be a few minutes and she'd be back. I was to stir the dough and add flour. Just keep on doing it until I get back," she said. You can guess what happened next. She was away for quite a while and I was dedicated and kept on doing what I was told. By the time she got back I had mixed an enormous amount of flour into the mixture. She claims it's the best bread she ever made.

     This morning I was immersed in making ginger carrot soup. Home Farm Girl had recently been to a business which was holding a customer appreciation day. One of the many things she liked was ginger carrot soup and she came home with the recipe from the caterer. So this morning she was going to  a presentation at the health unit and she thought the carrot soup just had to be made today. So between her manipulative ways and my gullibility I said yes. So off she went and left me on my own. Now I like cooking and do quite a bit on my own. But this recipe was a way out of my comfort zone. First of all everything was by weight and we don't have a little scale. There were other things that had to be done by chance as the recipe had missed directions.

    So I got what I thought was five pounds of carrots. I had been instructed to do just half the recipe so all measurements had to be halved. Needless to say, I had to puzzle my puzzler and interpret things as I went along. I was to make a roux!  Now I had never heard of a roux in my entire seventy-two years. So you see that I was really immersed and why I refer to it as a baptism. The roux was amazing although a little scary. A roux is a mixture of butter and flour which is used as a thickener for the soup.

     So after two and a half hours of great stress I finally completed the soup just in time for Home Farm Girl to come home and eat it. I was  worried because I had to make numerous adaptations to the recipe. She thought the soup was great and almost as good as what she had from the caterer.

     After I completed this ordeal I said, "This would make a good blog post!" Then I thought. Oops I forgot my camera to show all the steps I went through. Some day I might just think ahead.

     Now this isn't the last time I'm going to be baptised because I'll never catch on to the treachery of Home Farm Girl!

12 comments:

  1. Well, you must have a natural chef living inside you, since it seems these things turn out in spite of your best efforts! :-) Congratulations!

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  2. Well Djan, one has to use some common sense in cooking.
    When I first went north at age 23, I was promised a room in a hostel with all meals supplied. When I got off the airplane they gave me keys to an apartment. If I'd have known this I would have asked my Mom for recipes and some advice.

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  3. Ah ha - shades of me at 20 going to the then TPNG - 1963. I really had no clue in any aspects of culinary preparations. Boiling water was my "forte" and even that was questionable. So I had no idea how to train my domestic. I sent you by e-mail where I started off. To the rescue in desperation from the female girls school staff, I was presented with, and I still have it - "The Presbyterian Women's Missionary Union Cook Book" - from this non-alcoholic book I learnt and bloody fast. To survive is paramount!!! I now add to many of the sauces, a touch of brandy etc - gives that touch of class and refinement.
    Yes you do learn and I think I'm pretty reasonable in the art of culinary epicurian efforts.
    Anyhow "Red/Bluey" we do all learn.
    Amusing and memory jogging blog.
    Well done and thanks.
    Colin

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  4. Any chance you might share the recipe, Chef Red?
    Tracey

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  5. Colin, the problem was that in the age we grew up sons were not exposed to cooking at all. Our parents could not see us needing this skill for some reason or other. I lived in boarding houses until age twenty-three. Some were great and others were terrible.

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  6. Tracey, I'll certainly share somebody else's recipe. I like to make a lot of carrot soup while the carrots are still in good condition.

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  7. Good thing about cooking is that no matter what you do, it's usually very edible...

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  8. Judy, most of the time it's edible. We learn with experience.
    Had to throw the first bred out. It was rock! Probably could have soaked it and rescued it but it went outside.

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  9. Sounds like you are a chef to me! I have never made carrot soup..but it sounds good..I love carrots:)

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  10. Far Side , I've never learned the secret of storing carrots. So I make soup and put it in containers and freeze it.

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  11. I make homemade soup with lots of carrots, and potato grated and simmered in chicken broth, mmm, good. Last time I added beets and celery, that was real good also. Some times I experiment and then can't remember how much of certain ingredients were used to get the same taste. Good thing my sweetie is easy to please. Hugs!

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  12. This soup is one for which I had to follow a recipe very carefully. Many times I do the same as you ...the soup changes every time.
    For my Mom , she had to make soup with whatever was available.

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