A Taste of Home (AiC IV)

For those of you non-Augustans, there is this restaurant on Washington Road that I must hit everytime we come home. It's a must-do. A given. And usually, when we go, I always get the same thing. Jordan says I'm too predictable when it comes to eating out, but he always gets the same thing too. I get the Soup & Salad and he gets Barbeque Chicken.

Oh California Dreaming, how I love your Baked Potato Soup.

 I had thought a few days ago that I wanted to make BPS my next culinary conquer and Jordan suggested a recipe from Good Eats, which was the plan until I ran across the ultimate BPS recipe. Sorry Alton, I'm sure your soup is good, but California Dreaming is boss.

Bacon! Everything is better with bacon. This recipe just so happens to begin with: "Fry Bacon strips." Good call.

This dish has a serious load of rich ingredients: Bacon, sour cream, heavy cream, cheese... it's not for the faint of heart or anyone trying to watch their weight. Unless they're watching it increase.

Of course, to finish of a California Dreaming-inspired meal, there must be a croissant! With honey butter! Yummmmmmmmmmmmmm. A sweet reminder of being in Augusta.

California Dreamin' Baked Potato Soup
1/4 cup minced onion
1/4 cup minced celery
1/3 cup flour
3 cups chicken stock
2 potatoes, cubed
1 tsp fresh sweet basil
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup sour cream

Toppings to taste:
chopped parsley
crumbled bacon
chopped chives
shredded cheddar cheese

Fry bacon in a stockpot and remove from pan to drain and cool. Saute onions and celery in the same stockpot. Add flour and mix well. Cook for a couple of minutes, just to take the rawness out of the flour. Add in chicken stock and bring to a boil. Add potatoes and simmer until tender, about an hour or so- give a taste or try to squish a cube between your fingers. Add heavy cream and sour cream, basil and pepper. Simmer until hot again. Add parsley, bacon, chives and shredded cheese to taste. Enjoy!


After dinner, Jordan and I made a quick trip up to Portland to see a movie. For those of you who arent Rockport-ians, there are two theaters in the area that serve free popcorn on Tuesday nights. The only thing about going to popcorn Tuesdays, is trying to elbow through the snowbirds to get a good seat. We saw Leap Year, which was cute (not great but cute) and the laughs really came from hearing the comments from the gray-haired peanut gallery. Seriously, the jokers talked through the entire movie!

So lets review: Smoothie for breakfast, Chili's for lunch, cake for midafternoon snack (see also: coffee break), Soup for dinner and popcorn at the movies.

And I wonder why my pants keep getting tighter and tighter and tighter...