Audio Books

I read a lot of pre-adolescent books these days.  Partly it's because there are a lot of well-written books out there, but mostly because if I don't read them, I'll get a play-by-play of the entire book anyway.  When Beth gets a book out of the library, the whole family might as well listen to the audio book. 

This week I read "The Manny Files", a humorous little book.  First Beth read every second page out loud to us because it was all too hilarious not to share.  Then I stopped her and started reading it myself.  Then we spent a day at the zoo and Alice wanted me to read it aloud to her whdile the bigger girls ran around looking at something she wasn't that interested in.  It was a very hot day and the shade on the grass of the hill looked inviting.  Then all of the girls joined us (with an extra friend as well) and spent about an hour in the shade at the zoo listening to me read aloud.  Although we missed some of the animals, we've all been there often enough to just want to relax and enjoy each other's company.  That's what summer is all about, right?

Today we spent some time at the Fringe.  We're managing to hit a lot of the local festivals this year.

But before we left the house, I made some creamy leek soup which got rave review.  Here's the recipe if you care.  My niece wanted her mom to make it sometime, so now it's in print.  I love cooking for appreciative visitors.

Creamy Leek Soup (served 4)

1 pint chicken stock
6 cups water
3 potatoes, diced
1 leek, sliced thinly (or I used the last of last year's dried leeks)
1 Tbsp dried chives
2 Tbsp fresh parsley
2 Tbsp fresh lovage
1 tsp paprika
Salt and pepper to taste
Splash of cream (maybe 1/4 cup of coffee cream was what I had)

Saute the leek in butter, the way you would onions. Add all the other ingredients except the cream.  Boil until the potatoes are soft.  Use an immersion blender to puree it. Stir some cream into the soup just before serving. 

I served it with slivers of salami and grated cheese at the table.  Bacon bits would have been great.