Home and soup…

I arrived home late Saturday… after 10 days away… home is warm even as it is cold and rainy outside… Sunday, on a trip to the market I chanced to see a bag of barley…  The San Luis Valley in Colorado, my recent abode for the 10 days was a place where people grew barley… we passed a barley elevator twice each day as we commuted to “work”… somehow the bag of barley became the inspiration for soup…(they grow green chilies too… but this was not about green chilies)

At home I rummaged through the bottom of the freezer in search of beef bones, finding lamb bones instead… those bones, with the skins of several onions some tired limp celery and a few carrots went into the oven, roasting for several hours… I trimmed the meet from the bones, and cleved them, allowing the precious marrow to join the broth, then into the pot… the soup pot… a basic object with magical powers to make a house a home…

On to the stove, with a water to cover, a bit of salt, to simmer for some hours… the smell wonderful… late in the evening, I turned the stove off to let it cool a bit and strain it… then into the fridge for the night… This morning I skimmed the fat, then chopped and sautéed onions, carrots and celery and the lamb meat cut from the bone before the bone joined the pot… A bit of salt, some thyme, and the barley that started the whole thing and again onto the stove to simmer… Now I am thinking that a bit of lamb sausage might be good, and some lemon just before I serve it… I have a baguette… I am looking forward to dinner…

I’m home…