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I had told my physician that I worried about getting enough calcium because I am lactose intolerant. She asked what I normally eat and I gave her a rundown of a typical week. She told me that dark leafy greens were a good source of calcium and that some asian cultures have shown to have better calcium intake in their diets because they ate foods high in a vitamin I have since forgotten which helps calcium absorption. All I remember is that, yes, I eat plenty of that too.

I picked up some lovely organic kale the other day at Whole Foods Paycheck. Growing up, I remembered seeing kale as a garnish. One curly sprig with some pathetic half-dried cherry tomato or orange slice on the side… My mom was a wonder with vegetables. She not only cooked a ton of them, but she cooked them so they retained a brilliant healthy color, great flavor, excellent texture, and were totally nutritious. Boiling To Death was not an option in her kitchen.

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That wooden spoon in the mouth trick really does take the edge off of slicing onions. It’s the ethylsufine that makes your eyes water. This chemical is released when you break the membrane of the onion cells that keeps a certain enzyme and sulfur compounds separate. The two mix and hence the sobbing begins. Onions go in just about everything. Imagine life without onions. We would have sad stews, sad soups, sad non-onion rings, no mirepoix, sautés would be dull, lonely beef, lonely chicken, guacamole without that certain special something… And french onion soup would be reduced to french soup. Not to mention what would happen to all of those french onion dips: sad chips.

But that’s someone else’s life, not mine. Inspired by what Nathan made for Nicole (a geophysicist who cooks – you have to love that!) I revisted an old favorite tonight. I use regular onions, not sweet onions, because sweet onions taste bizarre to me in this soup and the sugars that already exist in the regular onions get somewhat caramelized anyway.

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Feels like fall and I welcome it! Evenings down near freezing and daytime highs around 60-70. I like making large pots of soup or stews that last for several days. Today I finally made myself cook up a batch of beef stew. What I love about beef stew is that you use the cheap cuts of meat and slow cook them until they are falling apart. Cheap cuts like chuck or rump are tough, but have the best flavor and are ideal for slow cooking. The tender cuts like tenderloin or ribeye are far better for dry heat – great texture, but not the best in flavor per se.

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