Veggie Soup for the Soul

I'm moving ... again. Against my will ... again. It sucks.

Let me explain. On Thursday, my neighbor Michelle called me at work to tell me that some mean realtor lady was in our yard saying that we (me and my 3 neighbors) had 30 days to find a new home. Apparently, the slumlord who owns my building, a 1920s-ish house split into four apartments, hasn't paid the bills in awhile and the house is in foreclosure.

This sucks! Not only do I have to move, but I have to leave some of the best neighbors I've ever had. I'm gonna miss Wes (the awesome house dad who cooks surprise dinners for us, waters everybody's plants, and cares for my pets when I leave town ... Wes is truly like family to me).

Wes!

And I'll miss Michelle (the strong poet chick who has late night political discussions with me in the carport), and Kristen (the fashionable, pink-haired philosophy maven who has birthday parties for her cats).

Just last year, Wes and I were forced out of another apartment complex when it was sold to condo developers. We're tired of being shuffled around.

To ease my troubles, I turned to food of course. Not typical comfort food like ice cream, but Homemade Local Veggie Soup:

Last night, I boiled down six tomatoes from the farmer's market (after removing their skin) for about an hour. This morning, I poured the tomato base into a Crock Pot with 2 cups veggie stock, 2 summer squash, 1 cup fresh crowder peas, fresh corn sliced off the cob, 3 carrots, 2 celery stalks, an onion, 4 garlic cloves, 2 jalepenos, basil, oregano, seasoning salt, and some of this crazy-looking Japanese okra:


My Granny grows this stuff in her yard and it tastes (and looks) like a cross between eggplant and okra. You have to peel the skin off though because it's a little tough.

Though the soup, served with melty Teese toast, didn't solve my housing situation, it sure did taste good. And it was a great way to use up some summer bounty!