Allora…

This soup is savory, sweet, and delicious, and almost ridiculously cheap to make. Most of the ingredients I had on hand – except I went and bought the biggest onions ever. Any of the ingredients that you might not have (beer – comeon people, and vermouth) you can certainly omit. The important thing about this soup is that you must allow the onions to get super brown. You can’t rush that part, or the soup won’t have a developed flavor. Start to finish, this takes about an hour and a half

Music to cook with by Yann Tiersen, “Les Jours Tristes [Instrumental]” from the movie “Amelie.” Hey you need something French, if you’re making French Onion Soup – even if I made it with Yuengling 02 Les Jours Tristes [Instrumental]

1 huge vidalia onion (or two smaller)
1 huge spanish onion
1 huge red onion
3 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tbsp flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp brown sugar
lots of pepper
half a bottle of beer
3 tbsp dry vermouth (the white kind)
3 dashes of hot sauce
1 quart low sodium beef stock
5 cups water

In a large dutch oven, allow butter and olive oil to melt together on medium low heat. Meanwhile, slice your onions into thin half circle slices. Begin weeping. Add onions to dutch oven and stir to coat with fats. Saute with lid on, over medium low heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. This will help shrink the onions down because the onions will steam a bit.

After 20 minutes take the lid off and saute for 15 minutes without the lid. The liquid from the onions will start to evaporate and they will begin to brown. Stir occasionally. Add salt, sugar, pepper. Saute for 15 more minutes. Serious browning happening. They should be caramel colored. Add flour to onions, and stir well to cook off flour taste.

Turn heat to medium. Add beer, vermouth, and hot sauce. At this point, if i had had Worcestershire sauce, I would have added some now. Scrape bottom of pan with wooden spoon to get brown bits off the bottom of the pan. The onions and liquid should be bubbling. Turn heat to medium high and add your broth and water. Bring to a rolling simmer, cover partially and simmer for 45 minutes.

At this point, what you do with it is up to you. It really should be put into a crock, topped with good bread and swiss or provolone cheese and put under the broiler. But that would be too fun for me, wouldn’t it? So i have some whole grain bread and some goat cheese for the top. *recognize this cup from my pottery class taken in the summer of 06? it was the closest thing i had to a crock!*

well people, I’ve plateaued a bit in my “weight loss journey”. I haven’t lost any weight in the past like 3 weeks. BUT i haven’t gained anything. i think i need to start doing more difficult workouts.

I think its about time i come up for a name and a logo for my “design company”. I design for people all the time, but have yet to identify myself consistently, visually. I need to come up with a name but i was playing with @ design. the @ would be a play on A for alisa, but might look a little too web. i dont really do that, like at all. haha anyway, was playing with something like this today:

thoughts?

I went to the martha stewart show with my bookclub last week and it was so so fun. I saw tyra banks walk into the same building where the taping was (she wasn’t on the show, just in the area!). And then we went into the studio and there was lots of bumpin’ r&b playing. it was hilarious. Lots of moms were dancing in their seats.

steve harvey was on and was really funny! martha had him making these ridiculous turkey things. if it wasn’t for him, i would have been bored to tears.

The best part of the show was when Eric Ripert from Le Bernadin and he did this cooking segment thing and then I got his new book, On The Line.

Here are some photos:

This week we elected a new president, Barack Obama. It was such an exciting election and the energy of the voters was something I’ve never seen. It feels good to be able to make a change. And yes, I’m thrilled with the outcome! Now the real work begins. Can he actually start to fix/change things? who knows!

I thought both speeches by McCain and Obama were excellent. McCain was classy and didn’t just speak about his campaign, but spoke about Barack and how he “will be my president”.

It musta been the use of Gotham in all Obama’s campaign signage … you can’t beat good design!

I’ve lost 7 more lbs since my last weight in, grand total is approximately 22 lbs!

trying to keep going!

Just did this for a story about a local celebrity chef. I can give more details once the issue arrives in mailboxes.

and here is the “skeleton” of the facial structure

Just watched Michael Phelps win his 7th gold medal of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. It was the CLOSEST, most unbelievable finish I’ve ever seen, besides the Mens 4×100 freestyle relay. The finish is being reviewed right now. Just had to write this down. I’m pretty sure I’ll remember but it’ll be a nice reminder some day when I momentarily forget. Incredible.

Did I mention I LOVE the Olympics.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-669027082716750164&hl=en

So, we had a photo shoot with a photographer’s kid for some cover ideas. And he had a good time, and so made this red cup man for me to say thank you.

pretty much the best thing I’ve ever seen.