a delicious soup.

I had the most amazing bachelorette party.  I'm convinced!  My dear, sweet friends put together the most delightful little celebration.  The entirety of the party was just, so thoughtful!  We cooked together (I had feared the kitchen, and especially when the kitchen had me making food for another person!), we shared memories, I was given 12 unique mugs (Daniel and I reaaaally like tea & coffee and other fun hot beverages) that came with 12 notes from each of the ladies in attendance...a mug and note for each month of our first year of marriage!!  Recipe cards were created that were made exclusively for the Dake kitchen!  The cards had each dish that we prepared that night together written on them, for everyone in attendance.  Well, I recently decided to give one of the recipes a try on my own.  It was a HUGE hit, so simple and delicious.  I'm making it again today!!  Here it is (from the amazing MaryBeth Huntington):

Cream of Wild Rice Soup

3 cups cooked wild rice
1 large onion (finely diced)
2 carrots (finely diced)
1 rib celery (finely diced)
1 cup ham (finely diced)
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 cup flour
8 cups chicken broth
salt/pepper to taste
1 cup light cream or half & half

Prepare the wild rice.  In a 4-5 qt. soup kettle, saute the onion, carrot, celery and ham in the butter about 8 minutes or until veggies have softened slightly.  Sift in the flour, a little at a time, stirring until the flour is blended well, but do not let it brown.
Slowly add chicken broth, stirring until all the flour-butter-veggie mixture is blended well.  Add the wild rice, adjust seasonings as desired.  Heat thoroughly.  Add the cream and reheat gently but do not boil.
Serves 10-12!

We made the soup, spanakopita, baked brie in phyllo, and coffee creme brulee.  I was also given a creme brulee making kit, blow-torch and all!

Ladies, if you're reading this...that was one of the most special events that has ever been prepared for me.  From the deepest parts of my heart, thank you.  I love you!

On a music note, PLEASE check Abigail Washburn and her NPR tiny desktop concert out (I just realized you can download the audio of tiny desktop concerts for free!).  Her story and music are both incredibly fascinating (and, she speaks Mandarin flawlessly-it looks so odd to me!).  Her new album just came out last week!  Ben and Steff, thank you for reminding me of her without even knowing it ;)

On another note completely, this is my favorite nail polish that I have been wearing since I received it at Christmas from my sweet mother-in-law!  I DON'T layer it on like the hand models have (you will find out what I mean by simply doing a google image search...EEK!) but I really like it when it's sparse and unpredictable :)