MountainMornings

I was just opining about our lack of delectable take-out lately. It’s too salty, too puny, and just plain unappetizing. Why would such fancy, local restaurants develop a whole different menu for curbside pick-up with very little choice? And in between raindrops on our neighbor’s patio, with everyone in agreement about our plight, I forgot to tell them about my search for parsnips.

The other day I ventured out to The Turnip Truck specifically to buy parsnips. A few days before that, the produce manager at Whole Foods told me they haven’t had a shipment of parsnips in weeks. There I was standing in an empty grocery store known for its fresh vegetables, only to be told the same thing. Nada. NO. Not happening. Carrots yes, but. If a corporation like Amazon via Whole Foods and our small Turnip Truck grocery store can’t find parsnips…

…what chance do I have of ever baking Dorrie Greenspan’s glorious, three layer Parsnip Cake with cranberries? https://foodschmooze.org/recipe/dorie-greenspans-triple-layer-parsnip-and-cranberry-cake/

I should have known this would be difficult when I had trouble finding the key spice – coriander. It’s like toilet paper, the shelves were empty. But Bob was with me on the first day of the hunt, and he finally found a small 0.4 oz jar hiding out on a bottom shelf of Frontier Co-Op ground coriander. After all, he knew this was a competition.

Just because he is now baking sourdough bagels didn’t mean he could take over the cake and muffin arena in our kitchen!

I’ve baked zucchini and banana-chocolate-chip bread, bran muffins and mini-bundt cinnamon muffins and carrot cake during this pandemic. I’ve ordered new cake pans from Amazon and resisted ordering a huge KitchenAid mixer in turquoise because I take pride in using my 1960’s hand mixer in avocado green. However, the pasta making and sourdough bread baking shall remain unchartered territory for me. Boundaries people!

When the Bride first started cooking as a teen, she earned the crown of the Stir Fry Queen; and she still holds the title. I would never step on her shoes. But ever since I learned about using asparagus stems for soup, I feel like a Soup Queen. Venturing into new soup recipes with my trusty stick emulsifier, aka an immersion blender, the sky’s the limit. It’s like a huge KitchenAid blender becomes a tiny pepper mill in your hand!

Today, the plan is to make potato soup since Bob has dug up a bunch of purple sweet potatoes.

Parsnips would usually find their way into my soups, especially when the weather turns cold. What hardy vegetable soup doesn’t deserve a few good parsnips. I’ll continue my search for the dull, but mighty root vegetable at the Farmer’s Market, because I’ve made my triple layer carrot cake with toasted coconut icing for over 40 years and it’s time for a change.

And nothing says celebration like a cake!