Rustic Garlic Soup (Page 94)

• Date: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 - 9pm
• Location: Somerville, MA
• Kitchen: My Apartment
• Fellow Chef: Ana
• Dining Companions: Matt H, Peter, and Glen
• Recipe Rating: C

I suggested this soup for dinner on Wednesday. It was not good. Even Matt didn't finish it and he'll eat anything! ;) He did keep insisting that he would eat it, if there was nothing else to eat... Not really high praise. The soup was incredibly rich with egg yolks, but there was nothing else to it. I liked the garlic flavor, but the richness was really off-putting and the completely homogeneous texture only emphasized how rich it was. Ana liked the bread in the soup... I'm almost never a fan of soggy bread (exception: bread pudding), so I didn't even like that. In summary, this soup was a disappointment.

Chef Stacey taught my baking course in culinary school. We had one lab day about cake decorating, and I remember her saying that the most important skill in cake decorating is knowing when to stop. Today in my cake class, I certainly ignored that wisdom (see picture below)! To be fair, I went overboard intentionally... I was experimenting and wanted the extra practice. As a general life principle though, knowing when to stop is a hard thing. I feel strongly, for instance, that if Americans knew how to stop eating when we were full, this country wouldn't have the obesity problem that it does. I am good at stopping when it comes to eating or drinking, but in general, letting go is not my specialty. Stopping is hard...

If anyone wants some of my over-decorated cake, it will be in the common room during tea tomorrow (Monday)!