A Weekend of Fluffy Books

( more Bujold, plus Jones )

Perhaps appropriate for St. Patrick's Day?

I have lately been craving a soup I used to buy from the hospital cafeteria, back when my office was across the street and we so regularly crossed the street to buy soup for lunch that we usually got the employee discount..... It was ham, cabbage and potato soup - very tasty. Anyway. That hospital is 2000 miles away, and well, it's just not feasible to make a trip there this week just for soup. So, I thought I'd make my own vegetarian version. We'll call it White Bean Cabbage Soup.

First I sauteed an onion and a couple of cloves of garlic in olive oil. Then I dumped in half a shredded cabbage and a couple of cubed potatoes. Enough liquid to cover generously. One can of white beans. Salt, pepper, some thyme and one bay leaf. Let it simmer a while. That's it: YUM.

I don't think of myself as a really great instinctive cook. My sister has always been good at looking at something (or tasting it) and saying, "Hey, I could make this. I'd start with...." I kind of thought I was missing that gene. So it feels like a special victory to me, that I was able to sense what would work and just run with it.

So if you have some leftover cabbage, try the above. And if you wanted to add some cubed ham in? I'd say Bravo. :)