So it’s definitely soup weather these days in Austin – and I love it!
We’ve gotten several large bunches of carrots the past two months in our weekly Farmhouse Delivery box. Luckily, we’ve run across several great carrot soup recipes. My favourite to date is this Fennel and Carrot soup from Bondir, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Silky and elegant, this would definitely be the starter course for the Christmas dinner I keep planning in my head. This worked very well with a great cava I found. I liked it so much, Brian bought me a case of it. The background music for this dinner was Schumann, Waldszenen, Op. 82. The Waldszenen and the Schubert Impromptus are essentially my fall soundtrack.
This one – Curried Carrot and Apple Soup – from ‘Food & Wine’ was superb. It’s hardier than the first one and really complex. It was a fantastic meal on its own with rye bread. The dinner music for this was a CD I got for Christmas – Masterpieces by Ellington. Probably the best version of ‘Sophisticated Lady’ I’ve ever heard.
I was in the mood for goulash, so we had this Beef and Potato Goulash from Martha Stewart. It was pretty good, but for me, the goulash gold standard is the one I had in Vienna at Die Zwölf-Apostelkeller. The one we made was paired with this French Grenache, but I really enjoy goulash with a great Czech beer, Pilsner Urquell.
The Runcible Existentialist 
We’ve been hitting the soups as well. My husband made a cauliflower kale that (when topped with bacon and Irish cheddar) tasted like the most delectable potato chowder. We just might have to try some of these recipes!
That sounds great! We’ve been getting kale recently and I need to find something ingenious to do with it.
We put it in with breakfast as well. Bacon, carrots (or any starchy veggie), squash (or any non-starchy veggie, kale/chard/spinach and eggs makes a delicious saute!