1. First thing this morning, I took a little jaunt down the block to Bird Family Dental and spent about an hour enjoying the friendly and careful work of Dr. Bird and his assistants while they worked together to enhance my dental health with a couple of fillings. When I was younger, I dreaded going to the dentist, but over the last twenty years or so, I've worked with dental hygienists and dentists and their assistants who have not only made going to the dentist painless, but their manner and good work has motivated me to take increasingly better care of my teeth and gums.
I arrived home, got my blood draw kit together, and dropped in on the fine people at Shoshone Medical Center where my monthly blood draw for the Univ. of Maryland Transplant Center went smoothly. I left feeling very happy.
2. The Deke and I piled into the Sube and motored over to Spokane Valley to check out the Value Village on Pines and Sprague. It wasn't quite what the Deke was looking for and we decided not to go to any nore vintage or thrift stores. We drove down Sprague into Spokane and gawked at all the reds, vermillions, and golden tones of the great variety of turning trees, especially on the South Hill, and stopped for a stroll at the majestic Manito Park. We wrapped up our day in Spokane with a short visit to Paradise Fibers, the Deke's paradise, for sure. It was fun to drive both aimlessly and purposefully around Spokane and to admire its beauty on this flawless autumn day.
3. The Deke and I have been talking a lot about purchasing some kind of cast iron soup/stew/chowder utensil. We stopped at Fred Meyer in CdA to buy some raw shrimp and other items in support of a potato, shrimp, and corn chowder recipe we wanted to try out. We also visited the kitchenwares and decided to buy an enameled cast iron Dutch oven.
Once home, I dove into preparing this evening's meal. I peeled and chopped a couple of the huge potatoes Ed gave us on Saturday. I did my best to chop the potatoes and the celery and onion into small pieces and I minced five cloves of garlic. Next I peeled the shrimp, put a tablespoon of butter in the Dutch oven, and cooked the shrimp, then set them aside. I then built the soup, step by step, cooking the onion and celery in more butter, adding flour and garlic to the mix, pouring in chicken broth and the potatoes and paprika, boiled it, let it simmer and then added the corn and let the mixture simmer some more. The last step was to add the half and half, Old Bay seasoning, and chopped shrimp and heat up the chowder. I loved how our new Dutch oven performed.
We served the chowder with slices of artisan bread. We loved the layers of flavors and the texture of the broth. I am especially fond of fish soup and loved the way the liquid from the shrimp harmonized with the chicken broth, half and half, paprika, Old Bay, celery, onion, and the garlic.
Next time I make this soup, I'll let the potatoes cook a little longer. The recipe calls for Yukon Gold potatoes and I'll use them next time. They might cook quicker than the russets we used. Following the recipe left the russets slightly undercooked. It was a small flaw in our otherwise deeply satisfying chowder.
Want to try it? The recipe is right here.
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