Nov 2, 2011 Wednesday
At supper Mary and I couldn’t remember where we were yesterday. Wyona reminded us ... Pompeii. Oh yes, the day we came home so tired we went right to bed. Our minds were so tired we had to lay them down on a bed to let them process what we had seen in the ruins. The guide told us to pick up the book, Pompeii, by Richard Harris, when we got home. Though it is fiction, she said it will underline for us what we have seen today. Mary said, just now, “You remembered the author’s name?” I told her I just can’t help myself.
Yes, I also remember that last night was a pumpkin, butternut squash, pear and cinnamon cold soup to die for. A cold soup! I have to remember to goggle all of those vegetables and fruits and add the name Celebrity Cold soup recipe and see if somewhere in the universe, that soup recipe has made it to the internet.
This morning, if I don’t write a few words about where we went yesterday, I will have to be asking that at supper as well. In the morning we were on our own. On the bus from Civitavecchia and guide explained in detail ... Mary and I visited the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, the Piazza Navona. And we walked beside the Tiber River, passing the Piazza del Popolo and the St. Angelo Castle and National Museum. And that was only in the morning. The guided tour took us to St. Peter’s Square, into the Basilica for a stop, over to the Coliseum for a stop, past the Ancient Forum, into St. Peter In Chains Church to Michelangelo’s Moses (yes, the light through the windows was reflecting from the statue making it a perfect vision – and underlined the myth that when Michelangelo was finished the statue, he knocked Moses on the knee and said, “You are so real, why don’t you talk”, and thus the burnished knee on the statue. We drove through the city walls, and had a 1 ½ hour drive 2 times through the Italian countryside.
Every day an amazing adventure for me.
Following the old dictum of "if not me, who and if not now, when", I went looking for that cold soup recipe. I found a close country cousin to it -- one that lacks the cinnamon and pumpkin, though I am sure they can be added. I should have thought to myself while eating it, nothing this good can be made with cream. Ah yes. Two cups. Just was the heart needs. Anyway, here is a cold second recipe and I shall keep searching for the original:
ReplyDeleteCreamy Butternut Squash and Roasted Pear Soup
Ingredients
1 medium Onion; sliced
2 medium Bosc pears; peeled, halved, cored, sliced into 1 inch pieces
3 sprigs Fresh thyme
2 tablespoons Butter
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 large Butternut squash; halved, seeds removed, unpeeled
1 1/2 cups Chicken broth
2 cups Cream
How to Prepare Creamy Butternut Squash and Roasted Pear Soup
1. Preheat oven to 400F. In a large baking pan, place the onion, pears, thyme, butter, and olive oil. 2. Place the squash halves on top this mixture.
3 .Roast the squash in the oven for about 50 to 60 minutes, until you easily get a fork through the squash.
4. Remove from the oven and let cool. When the squash is cool enough to handle, scrape the squash out of its skin, into a soup pot. Discard the skin.
5. Add the remaining contents of the roasting pan(pears, onion, thyme, and all the juices).
6. Use a burr mixer to smooth the mixture.
7. Add the chicken broth and let simmer on medium-low heat for 10 minutes.
8. Add the cream and stir, simmer for 5-8 minutes.
9. Season with kosher salt and white pepper.
Add some cinnamon and serve the soup cold as they did on the Celebrity Solstice.