Thursday, September 30, 2010

The Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup Fiasco

I was so excited. I love pumpkin and had been researching pumpkin soups to try out. I found a few variations on pumpkin and black bean soup and decided to give it a try last night. Everything was going really well, and the soup had been simmering for about half an hour, I adjusted seasonings and it was tasting gooooodd and I was really excited to have some. The last step in the recipe that I was loosely working off was to add sherry vinegar. Earlier in the recipe it had called for actual Sherry which I didn't have and didn't feel like buying so I just tossed in some red wine instead. The soup already tasted good, but since I had omitted the earlier Sherry and had bought sherry vinegar I figured I should add it- right??? The sherry vinegar was completely overpowering. I ended up diluting the soup with more vegetable stock which helped some but it was no where near as good as before I added the vinegar. It was incredibly disappointing. I'll make it again the original way.... When I'm done eating this large vat good but not great soup. (If you live in the San Diego area and would like some good but not great black bean and pumpkin soup please let me know. I've got a lot. )

This is how to make the better version of the soup (please do not be temped to add Sherry of any sort)

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

True Blood Cake

I'm a big fan of True Blood on HBO. For the season finale I made a red velvet cake with strawberry and raspberry filling, and did a little creative cake frosting (I've been getting into cake decorating this year) The results looked great and were delicious!

Welcome to Starting to Simmer

In short- I'm learning to cook. I love to eat food, and I love making it. I grew up in upstate New York and learned the basics in my family's kitchen. It really wasn't until I moved to San Diego a few years ago that I really started to be more adventurous and try cooking new things. I'm now regularly attempting new dishes and decided to document the process.