"IT FEELS LIKE HOME"

"The traffic is about to start to get heavy," I said.

My husband smirked at me from the driver's seat. I knew what he was thinking, so I just smiled back. When we were dating, I'd driven the 90 mile drive from Atlanta where I lived to the military post where he lived almost every weekend. It'd been over ten years since this drive had been part of my weekly routine. But I knew. Atlanta traffic is always a mess in the heart of the city's spaghetti junction.

Five minutes and two miles later, we're gridlocked.

 

"Well, you would know." he says with a laugh.

 

 





 Our kids have never been to Columbus, Georgia, but they've grown up on stories about it. About the alligators in the rivers and ponds, about Daddy living in the barracks at the military base with a group of wild friends, about Mama making the drive every weekend to visit them. They've heard about Daddy coming back from deployments and Mama being there to meet him off the plane, about the little apartment we lived in after we got married, and the two dogs we adopted, one who has gone to doggie heaven and one who is their pet now still. They know that we fished in the river, and that the summers were humid and hot, and that there were friends there that we loved very much.

 

So this summer we decided to take them there for vacation. To see our beginning.

 

We drove. And on the second day of our mini road trip, we pulled into town. And as we turned onto an exit that I had taken countless times, we rolled down the windows. The humid heat filled the truck. My husband sighed.

 

"Something about it just feels like home, doesn't it?" he said.

"Yes." I replied. "It feels like home."

 

 

We grew up in California. So, nothing about the South should logically feel like home. But Columbus does. We've lived on the East Coast for almost a year now, and I felt more at home the five days we were in Georgia in our tiny rented cabin then I do here most days, or even the six years we lived in Texas.

 

 

I think sometimes in a person's life, you have a perfect combination to make days never be forgotten. Love and friends and war and first puppies made a solid foundation which our whole life has been built on. The Georgia Years are never to be forgotten days.

 

 

 

 

Yes, it feels like home.

CARROT AND YELLOW PEPPER SOUP

I recently had a fabulous girls' vacation to Napa. And oh boy, did we have a good time. We shopped, we had cocktails, we had a spa day, we sat by the pool and did absolutely nothing. And we ate. I mean, it was basically a food vacation. Our first night in town we went to Bouchon. Where we had a celebrity sighting and a fantastic meal. I started with a cold carrot and pepper soup, which I haven't been able to get out of my mind since. I went to work trying to recreate it at home, and this comes very close. It's creamy and sweet; a pale yellow soup that tastes great hot or cold. A perfect meal, even without a celebrity.

 

We start with leeks, yellow peppers, and carrots. Chop, chop.

 

 

We cook them with a little butter and spices.

 

Add some chicken stock ( I make homemade stock and freeze it, hence the ice cubes) and some heavy cream.



Drizzle with honey. Soup's on.

 

 

 

Carrot and Yellow Pepper Soup

adapted from Martha Stewart

 

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

6 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch rounds

2 cups white part of leeks, cleaned and cut into 1/2 inch lengths

2 large yellow bell peppers, seeded and cut into 1 inch pieces

4-6 sprigs of fresh rosemary

Large pinch of cumin

6 cups of chicken stock

1 cup of heavy cream

Salt and pepper, to taste

Honey, for garnish

 

In a large sauce pan over medium heat, melt butter. Add carrots, leeks, yellow bell peppers, rosemary, and cumin. Cook, covered, for 10 minutes. Add stock and salt and pepper. Simmer, uncovered for 20 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. Remove rosemary. Puree in a food processor or blender in small batches until smooth. Add heavy cream and return to medium heat. Simmer until soup is heated through. Adjust seasonings. Drizzle with honey and serve either hot or cold. Serves 4.

 

Enjoy!