Full

The stretch between Thanksgiving and Christmas is habitually frenetic.  I always imagine I'll sink into a slower rhythm at this time, as darkness gains ground on both flanks of the retreating days.  Once the Thanksgiving dishes are cleared, I look forward to December and foretell evenings with long novels, wooly sweaters, a parade of homemade soups and cookies...

In reality it is always a mad dash toward year's end.  Invariably, a work trip intrudes on my Rockwell-esque fantasy of fiction and home-cooking, a deadline yanks me out of bed with hours of darkness still to go.  And then there's the chaos I invite:  Skipping out on errands and chores to have dinner with friends before they fly East for the holidays.  Leaving a stack of Christmas cards unwritten and hurling skis in the car to answer the call of four fresh inches of snow.

So there's always something about December that feels like a five-car pile-up, and something else about it that just feels deeply, generously full.

I confess that this year we invited a little extra chaos into the season, in the form of the unfathomably sweet border collie pictured at right below.  He needed a home, and we figured Rangeley could use a brother, and I generally oscillate between striving for an ever-more-orderly life and then saying, screw it, we have room in our house and our hearts so let's drive to Idaho in a snowstorm and rescue a border collie.

I'm a little weary from deadlines and darkness and herding dogs, but feeling blessed by all of it.  So as we inch toward the longest night of the year and my favorite holiday, I'm trying to let go and be grounded by ritual, gratitude, and snow.

Fortunately, I have found time for soup ...

Curried Squash Soup | adapted from Blogging Over Thyme

3 medium winter squash (acorn, delicata, whatever)
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 yellow onion, diced
3 teaspoons curry powder
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
4 cups vegetable broth
1 can coconut milk (full fat)
kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 bunch cilantro, chopped

Preheat oven to 375.  Rinse any dirt off the squash, halve, arrange in an oven-safe baking dish and drizzle with roughly half the olive oil.  Bake for one hour.  Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

Heat the remaining oil in a large stock pot.  Add the onion and saute over medium heat until caramelized, about ten minutes.

While the onion is cooking, peel the squash and roughly chop.

Add the curry powder, red pepper flakes, and ginger to the onion and saute three to four minutes.  Add the chopped squash and saute and additional three to four minutes.

Add the vegetable broth and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer, covered, about twenty minutes.

Remove soup from heat.  Stir in coconut milk.

Using an immersion blender, puree the soup until smooth.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with fresh cilantro.