Comments on Sweet Amandine: I’m talking about parsnip

I love that picture of your grandmother. Food is g...

2012-02-23T01:43:21.613-05:00

I love that picture of your grandmother. Food is good, but people make it even better-- even if that food happens to be grape-ade. Thanks, as always, for sharing.

A visit - yes! About to e-mail you.

2012-01-24T09:25:05.807-05:00

A visit - yes! About to e-mail you.

Jess, i'd love to see you guys when i'm in...

2012-01-22T16:45:58.357-05:00

Jess, i'd love to see you guys when i'm in town - Davidi and I have been trying to plan a shabbat visit to Cambridge to see N&R, so i will definitely be in touch when that gets pinned down. I heard there was some confusion about which "Becca" had posted above (i'm somewhat of a commenting novice, but am slowly emerging from the lurking stage...), and I thought it was hilarious that you also figured out who the other parsnip-soup maker was! I come here often for food-related inspiration, and for your amazing way of putting feelings into words...

Becca, hey! It's so fun to hear from you in t...

2011-12-15T14:24:44.570-05:00

Becca, hey! It's so fun to hear from you in this space, and to know that you're reading. Thanks for taking the time to leave a note. We'd love to connect the next time you're in town...

Jessica, I made this soup recently and it was del...

2011-12-14T12:33:42.740-05:00

Jessica,
I made this soup recently and it was delicious! Then we were invited out for Friday night dinner last week, and the host made it too! (both of us got it via your blog). I also 100% resonate with your story about first meeting parsnip via chicken soup. It was in my mom's chicken soup every Friday night of my childhood, and your description totally brought me back. I love reading your posts.
- Becca

Thanks for your note, Elise, and most of all, for ...

2011-12-12T14:37:33.209-05:00

Thanks for your note, Elise, and most of all, for the soup!

Hi Jess, cool! Love the post and the photo of you...

2011-12-12T14:26:55.527-05:00

Hi Jess, cool! Love the post and the photo of your gorgeous grandmother. So glad you liked the soup!

Anya! You just made my day. I'll let Elise k...

2011-12-12T14:10:06.301-05:00

Anya! You just made my day. I'll let Elise know. (She originally posted the recipe on Simply Recipes.) Thanks so much.

Hi Jess, just wanted to let you know that tomorrow...

2011-12-12T13:49:59.103-05:00

Hi Jess, just wanted to let you know that tomorrow we are making this soup to be a new soup of the day at the Gebroeders Niemijer bakery, Amsterdam. :) Thank you for posting the recipe!

Hi, Hillary. Thanks so much for sharing your memo...

2011-12-07T18:54:49.529-05:00

Hi, Hillary. Thanks so much for sharing your memories of Friday night dinner with your family. I love the tongue story. Reminds me of the time my sister once asked my dad, "So, what are chicken nuggets (or maybe it was chicken legs or fingers...?) made of, anyway?"

Sara - Parsley! Who knew it could be so great in large quantities, right?

molly - Are they stuffed with your biscotti? (And if so, can I come hang out in your pockets?)

Thanks, Clarice. you're very kind. I like looking at these photos, too. That was a good night.

I love these photos, and how each one tells a slig...

2011-12-06T08:27:08.022-05:00

I love these photos, and how each one tells a slightly different part of the story. I'm always looking for new ways to try parsnips at this time of year. Thanks!

You know my front pockets well ;)

2011-12-06T04:11:43.869-05:00

You know my front pockets well ;)

This looks so delicious, and coincidentally I just...

2011-12-03T20:23:44.701-05:00

This looks so delicious, and coincidentally I just put 2 cups of parsley in a variation of another soup with parsnip! so green. and so fun to make new family memories.

This is a lovely post and reminds me of my childho...

2011-12-03T11:50:27.993-05:00

This is a lovely post and reminds me of my childhood Friday night dinners as well. They were first at my great-grandmother's, and then at my grandmother's, and always involved soup. I unknowingly learned Yiddish through the soups - flanken with mushroom barley, lokshen and petrushka with the chicken. I thought these were just our special family words for thing; it was only later that I realized that other people used these funny words too. Ah, the revelations around childhood foods. These remind me as well of the moment I realized the tongue on the sloppy Joe's my family loved to eat was actually a TONGUE. It wasn't the same after that.

Thank you for making them. xo.

2011-12-01T11:13:13.953-05:00

Thank you for making them. xo.

Grandma's favorite room in the house was the k...

2011-11-30T21:47:09.455-05:00

Grandma's favorite room in the house was the kitchen, seconded by the formal dining room where she loved to create feasts on a long table overflowing with food and guests. She loved to experiment with new recipes and had a significant collection of cookbooks marked with comments throughout on whether a recipe was good and how she had tweaked it to make it even better. How she would have loved Sweet Amandine! thank you for the sweet memories.

Thanks, Maddie. Most of my meals involve a bowl a...

2011-11-30T17:13:07.712-05:00

Thanks, Maddie. Most of my meals involve a bowl and a spoon these days, too.

Rachel - I was one of those weird kids who delighted in eating unusual - or what I thought of as unusual - things. But I can totally see how the flavor of parsnips might be a lot for tiny taste buds. Some things, like parsnips, I guess, you just have to grow into.

I couldn't agree more, Adrian. It's the people and the stories that make food so much more than food.

Tiki, helloooo! I say, "yay." You might also try it with celeriac. xo.

A Plum By Any Other Name - Exactly. (And please pass the cookies.)

Hey, Elisha. Yep, this is a great clean-out-your-fridge soup. Thanks for your kind words about the photos.

Rivki - So glad you'll be trying this soup. I hope you'll like it. If you think of it, please do report back.

Jen - I know what you mean. I definitely think of my parents' lives before I was born as my own personal pre-history. Now that I have a kid, myself, I think sometimes about how my first three decades were her pre-history! It's wild.

That photo of your grandmother reminds me a bit of...

2011-11-30T16:34:16.977-05:00

That photo of your grandmother reminds me a bit of a photo of my own grandmother. In black and white, her skin looking soft and glowing--a way I had never known her. Kind of weird to think they lived a whole life before we ever existed--and even before our parents existed. Thanks for sharing.

Funny, I make chicken soup every week for Friday n...

2011-11-30T14:05:29.575-05:00

Funny, I make chicken soup every week for Friday night dinner! :) And my soup features LOADS of parsnip. But I rarely use it in anything else. I love the looks of this recipe and intend to try it soon. Thank you for sharing.

A soup with 2 cups of parsley sounds perfect - I a...

2011-11-30T11:27:17.001-05:00

A soup with 2 cups of parsley sounds perfect - I always have too many herbs left over! I think I'll give the soup a go this weekend.

The black and white photos from this post and last leaves me feeling incredibly nostalgic and very calm. Thanks Jess!

Lovely photos. Lovely non-cream containing soup. ...

2011-11-30T07:42:14.428-05:00

Lovely photos. Lovely non-cream containing soup. Don't get me wrong. I love cream as much as the next gal. But we are getting into the holiday season. And the last thing I need at my waist is more cream. Let's be real. There should be christmas cookies there.

And now I miss my grandmother, who also puts parsn...

2011-11-30T05:58:18.798-05:00

And now I miss my grandmother, who also puts parsnip in her chicken soup (as does my mother, and as do I). I kinda love parsnip. And yes, the brothy, salted and sweet smell of grandmothers. Exactly.
I probably can't really make this soup as is, since parsnips are inexplicably expensive right now, but I was thinking that it might be fun to see what would happen if I used some Jerusalem artichoke instead-yay, or nay?

I love that picture of your grandmother. Food is g...

2011-11-30T02:50:08.492-05:00

I love that picture of your grandmother. Food is good, but people make it even better-- even if that food happens to be grape-ade. Thanks, as always, for sharing.

Soup and memories are perfect together. Your grand...

2011-11-30T00:43:33.141-05:00

Soup and memories are perfect together. Your grandmother is gorgeous and you descibe your memories beautifully.
I'm not sure I would have liked parsnips in my soup as a child but nowadays I love them!

Jess, I am in love with your black-and-white photo...

2011-11-29T22:16:30.692-05:00

Jess, I am in love with your black-and-white photos! They're crisp and clean, yet perfectly homey at the same time. And I'll have to try this soup sometime—ever since winter showed up, I've only eaten things that can be served warm in a bowl.