Cream of Carrot Soup

This is good. REALLY good. I don't remember where I got the recipe from, but definitely worth sharing.

(Serves 6)

Ingredients:
2 pounds carrots

4 cups chicken broth

4 tbsp butter

4 tbsp flour

1tsp salt

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

2 cup half and half

Method:

                       Cut carrots into ½ inch slices

Put sliced carrots into a saucepan, and add the chicken broth.

Cook the carrots and broth over medium-high head. When the broth begins to boil, turn the heat down to medium low.

Cover the saucepan and simmer for 20 minutes or until the carrots are very soft.

Sieve the broth and carrots through the colander, and save the broth.

Put the drained carrots back into the saucepan

Mash until very soft and set the pan aside.

In a bigger saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat and stir in the flour.

Cook the butter and flour for 1 minute over low heat stirring continuously

Add mashed carrots, salt, cayenne pepper, stir to mix

Slowly stir in the broth

Turn the heat up and cook for 10 mins stirring continuously

Add the half and half, stirring continuously, don’t let the soup boil

Serve!

Follow up 2: Why are You Smiling?

Athough I have lived in Sewanee for over two decades, I was always a smiler even before living here, in fact it has been one of my traits and I consider myself a professional at this. It is a complicated subject and there are multiple reasons behind why people are like this. 

I grew up in a low-income family with alcohol problems and lots of stress. Somewhere along the way I started dealing with my family and myself by using laughter as a coping and denial mechanism. As I matured and began dealing with myself in a healthy way, I kept my sense of humor and it developed into a communicative method with others, to convey a sense of hope and positivity. 

A lot of people in the world live mundane or difficult lives, life can be very hard and there is much tragedy. But if we use smiling as a way of conveying hope, and seeing the good in each person,  then it is not the pejorative Polyanna (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollyanna) optimism, but more of the Christian philosophy of seeing Christ in every person. This is not false "happiness" but the ideal of lifting people out of there own shameful mire. 

Blessings,

Dixon Myers

Follow up: Why are You Smiling?

I asked a couple of people to send me their stories, and this is one of the ones I got:

I'm smiling because I got an email from my best friend, who is so unbelievably corny and sappy. I wasn't smiling before this email; in fact I was rather upset that I had lost my page on a book I was reading and because my sister made the worst chocolate chip pancakes ever and then yelled at me for eating only the chocolate pieces, but then I read this email and just had to smile. My friend would do this. She's always doing things like this. She loves this sappy stuff like birthday cards and pictures of puppies and text messages of inspirational quotes from famous people. She is so very strange and abnormally fond of things that most people aren't comfortable with, like showing affection in a public manner (or hugging a male professor), but this is yet another reminder of why she is my best friend and one of the greatest influences in my life. Life isn't always happy and loving (in fact, it's usually not happy or loving at all), so it's important to remember the sappy, romantic moments. It's important to show people that you care and to hold on to the happy moments as much as possible. And, yes, it is important to ask why someone is smiling. 

-AG

Why are You Smiling?

It's kind of an odd question. I mean really. If someone were to walk up to you and ask why you're smiling, you'd be kind of confused.

But think about the question, and you'll realise it's actually a very important one to ask.

The first time I heard this question was from someone who graduated from Sewanee this May. He was talking to a group of prospective students, and was asking them this question very much so in a Sewanee context. He urged them to evaluate the different reasons that people at Sewanee smile, and by thus doing, to realise that Sewanee is very much a place that makes people smile.

While I would love to go off into a rant of how wonderful Sewanee is, (which I can do anytime. I mean seriously, I love Sewanee. And I'd be more than happy to explain why. Anytime) I think that's better saved for another day. Let's take this question out of the Sewanee context shall we?

Why are you smiling? What it is that's making you happy right now? Can we remember our smiles; share them with others? Make them smile too?

Yes, it's a simple facial action, but a smile is so much more than just that, and we should NEVER make the mistake of underestimating it's power.

Why am I smiling right now? Well, it's a beautiful day, and I'm excited about what I'll be doing today. I'm looking forward to visiting a high school (Rosslyn) tomorrow to talk about Sewanee, and I'm pretty happy with my playlist right now.
Well then; why are you smiling?

Place

Two places at once. An art you seem to have mastered, learning to be where you are, and knowing that many times, you want to leave.
There's always something to do, somewhere to be, someone to be.
Yet I grab those precious moments, when I am here, and you are here, and the world is still.

About those long hazy days

Because sometimes, you'll walk through, right through, without stopping to pick up the lucky penny that rolled your way.
You'll reach the end, and you'll look for the penny, and it'll be long gone. If only you had stopped, paused, turned back just once.
But now it's too late, and tomorrow's a new day, and you're going to walk down the same way again.