Three Beautiful Things 11/06/17: Morning Walk, Numbers, Perfect Turkey Soup

1. The snow falling deterred the Deke and me from going out and doing a lot today, but we did take a walk down to Stein's.  I took a signed form to the insurance office next door to Stein's confirming the cancellation of Mom's auto insurance policy. We walked to the just to pick up some milk and the Deke very pleasantly surprised me when she purchased a couple of turkey legs. This could only mean one thing: turkey soup. But when?

2. The Deke went right to work simmering the turkey bone with onion and soon the mouth watering fragrance of turkey filled the house. In the middle of the afternoon, Shawn, the contractor, called.  He had a rough estimate ready to show us for remodeling the kitchen and doing other work. He dropped by a little later. We went over the numbers. No big surprises except we can get this project started sooner than we originally thought. The Deke and I have some talking to do. We have some figuring out to do. We should know more by the end of the week.

3. The turkey broth continued to simmer. Shawn left and suddenly the Deke decided tonight would be turkey soup night. She had to hustle to get the soup ready because she has her Beer Ed class at Radio Brewing on Monday nights. Suddenly, the Deke was not only chopping celery, but also a squash and she was boiling penne pasta. She dumped the meat back into the broth along with the celery and squash cubes and the boiled pasta and it all cooked for about twenty minutes in our new Dutch oven with the lid on.

The soup tasted even better than it smelled. I loved how the squash lightly sweetened the broth, making the soup both savory and oh so slightly sugary. Carrots might have performed similarly, but the squash gave the soup an even more delicious sweetness and I loved the squash's starchy and soft texture.

The best part of having the weather cool off is that the meals get warmer. Last night pot roast. Tonight turkey soup. Right now a meatloaf that's been in the freezer is thawed and ready for the oven. It will warm our Tuesday evening table.