That is a really nice recipe. Very simply written and gives the right amount of marching orders. "while the vegetables are simmering, sort your leaves...." Yet encourages an exploration of new flavors. Using such a simple base, just about any fresh green or vegetable can be used to finish the soup. Baby beet greens, baby chard and basil. Last night i used the same base and added an ear of corn off the cob with fennel fronds. And a chopped tomato to the broth. That is a lot of soup though. Finishes at almost two quarts. For two people as a main course or mid-week quick meal, 2 cups of stock instead of 4 w/ shallot or onion, celery, potato... To lower the calories, a chopped tomato and a heaping spoonful of greek plain non-fat yogurt and/or a 1/4 cup coconut milk... What i made last night would serve easily 6-8 as a first course. Tougher baby greens like the kales i like to put in early with the broth. My garden is producing as if it is early July with the calm weather without a frost yet. A new bounty of baby chard and mixed greens but not enough for a side dish. A good recipe to use the babies. I even have a dozen 4inch zucchini. Another bag of string beans, oy. Horseradish leaves give me a stomach ache if larger than a hand and very bitter. Young and smaller than an average hand have a nice tang earthy flavor. Like arugula and kale. I have a few friends that really want to cook and learn, but they insist on tight-fisting a printed recipe and following to a 't', getting frustrated and hysterical shopping for the exact ingredients, often giving up. Spend a fortune on morning latte', 20 dollar lunches, (and shoes, lol) Then cocktails and take-out. (!) This would be the perfect recipe for a girls get together cooking class.

Ellen, I'm just finishing up the estate anda final account, I signed her up for Medicaid when she went into the nursing home and now the state wants $9,000 or "they'll sue the estate". OK, the estate has $104.62, LOL, let 'em have it! LindaC, the jellyfish weren't on the beach, they were in the water. Bud did find ONE on the sand after Amanda and Makayla got stung, but I didn't see any. Apparently the warm summer is causing an "infestation", according to the child liftguards. http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/news/local/article93042812.html "Martina Jedlicka, spokeswoman for Lack’s Beach Lifeguards, said reports of jelly stings are “so many we don’t count.” “It’s been all day long,” Jedlicka said Monday. “We spray people in the morning until afternoon, but it’s really common for this time in August, that people get stung.” Read more here: http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/news/local/article93042812.html#storylink=cpy It's too bad jellyfish aren't good to eat! The Princess is a "back spot". She was the flier last year, but had a growth spurt and now she's 4 inches taller than I am, she's the tallest on the team and the most athletic, so she lifts, she catches and she does the dance/gymnastic stuff, but she doesn't "fly", thankfully. She got dropped her share of times, LOL. Annie

I go to African shops to find interesting baskets, but you can find them on line baskets from Africa (Uganda) plus (Tonga, etc.) and even Amazon has a few. You can also just search for African baskets. For me, the African ones have the most interesting patterns and colors, but they are not cheap. I bought a Ghana basket like this one at the farmers' market in Ojai, but now Trader Joe's also sells them. It cost $30 at the farmers' market - I did not check the price at TJ. The African shops in Los Angeles have better prices than the on-line stores. The first ones of these I bought was sold as a plate charger, and I gave a pair to my sister to use for her table, but she nailed them to her kitchen wall!

Around 1982 (when I lived in San Francisco), I went to Austin TX to visit my sister and happened to do a bit of shopping at a mall there. It was extremely rare for me to find anything in Texas that I would want to buy, but I did find a shirt I liked and was paying for it by check - and of course my checks were from California. When the checkout person asked me for my ID (for the check) and saw that I had a California drivers' license, she said to me, "We don't get many foreigners here." That's what Austin was like in 1982, but still a lot of people in Texas consider anyone who is not from Texas to be a foreigner. Little did the checkout person know that I was a fifth generation Texan, but of course I did not have the proper accent, having lived out of state for so many years. I have only been back to Texas once since my parents died in 2012 and have no plans for future visits there. It would be different if my relatives there showed respect for me. Kevin and I invite one niece (plus her husband) to visit us here, but I have told my sister that if she wants to visit us here again, she must leave her husband behind, as he is extremely disrespectful and rude to me. My sister in law wants to visit us, but I have not extended any invitation to her, and I know that our cowboy brother would hate it here. One of my cowboy brother's friends accused me of making a pass at him in the small town (population 1000) close to where my parents live and even told my father about this. This friend of my brother's was a very (to me) repulsive person, and when my father confronted me about this accusation, I asked him when this was supposed to have happened. He told me it was a Saturday night (specific date), and I told my father that I happened to be with him at my late grandparents' house 160 miles away on that date. Since my father then became my alibi, he turned against my brother's friend, but not before I made him aware that the accusation had to be fabricated. My father (believing he was half French, since his mother's maiden name was Jacques), believed in the Napoleonic code; i.e. guilty until proven innocent. This kind of incident has a large effect on how I feel about small towns - at least small towns in Texas and Louisiana. Just because people know your name does not mean that they like you or respect you.