French Onion Soup, a Souffle, and More

A Toast: "To Your Health" in French to go along with the soup.

French Onion Soup: First you carmelize two large sweet onions in butter. We used Walla Walla Sweet Onions. You carmelize butter in a saucepan with butter. You heat the onions until they turn a golden brown, then you add a couple tablespoons of flour to the onions and stir until it mixes. You add that to a pot of stock. If you don't want to make your own. You can buy a couple large cans or boxes of beef stock. Then you add one-half cup of sweet vermouth, and 3 tablespoons of cognac.

You heat the soup for about an hour and one half, letting the alcohol burn off. Then you serve it with a piece of french bread on the top with swiss or Gruyere cheese sprinkled over the top.


After seeing the movie Julie & Julia, I wanted to learn some more about French cooking so MacKenzie and I planned a dinner party. We invited a few people, and made some French Onion Soup, three souffles and a caramel/almond mousse for dessert. Of course the mousse was my favorite part--well, the mousse and my new earrings. MacKenzie and I made earrings to match out cutesy little aprons-okay, we're a couple of nerds-I can admit it and that's okay.

Earth-Friendly Friday

The Portland Rebuilding Center

Reusing, Recycling and Recrafting can be more than earth-friendly, it can be so beautiful it can be artwork.
And, building - or REbuilding - a bench, arbor or pergola can be expensive but you can cut costs by re-building.

My husband and I love to go to The Rebuilding Center to buy lumber, fencing and even kitchen cabinets.

Sometimes you just need to think before you buy. And Rebuilding Centers can even supply the ideas for you.

When you buy from a community rebuilding center, you help keep material out of the landfills and save a little (or a LOT) of money at the same time.


Plus, when you're done with your project, you can donate left over building materials and start the cycle all over again.

You might have a local rebuilding center in your neighborhood, just do a quick google search to find out.

Answer to Thought for Thursday

Answer: Popcorn. In 2003 popcorn was declared the official state snack.

Thought for Thursday

Snack . . . ?

What is the official state snack for Illinois?

Come back about 3:00 to see if you were even in the ballpark (hint).

Answer to Word for Wednesday

Answer: Canoodle is to kiss and cuddle affectionately. Want to read more, check it out here.

Word for Wednesday

Word: Canoodle

Take a guess - what can it be
Come back at 3:00 - so you can see

Is it a noodle taken out of a can?
Is it a paper folded into a fan?

Is it a bird with an extra long beak
Come back at 3:00 and take a peek

Tip for Tuesday - Writing Related

We all get confused by word usage some times or is that sometimes . . . ?

Here are some A to Z's of Writing Words or maybe the A to E's - beginning with "A"

Accept, except

Accept is to agree
Except is to leave out

Advice, advise

Advice is a noun and means a recommendation
Advise is a verb that means to give advice

Affect, effect

Affect is a verb that means "to cause a change in" or "influence" (however, it's a noun in psychology which means "emotional impact"
Effect as a noun means "result or conclusion" as a verb effect is to "bring about".

Hope these tips are helpful to some of you writers out there.