Sufferin' Soup

Since I'll soon be writing a story on Bryant Terry's Vegan Soul Kitchen for the Memphis Flyer (the altweekly paper where I work), I'm trying to test as many of his recipes as possible. Last night, I made his Succatoash Soup with Garlicky Cornbread Croutons:

Let me start by saying that this is a damn tasty soup, especially with those crunchy cornbread croutons and broiled corn kernels on top. But I had a bitch of a time trying to make it thanks to my stupid blender. I hate my blender.

After cooking the limas and corn, you're supposed to puree it in "small batches." But I was impatient and loaded the blender at least three-fourths of the way full with piping hot soup. I knew that was a recipe for disaster, but I did it anyway.

I held the lid on tight and hit the blend button. But my hand over the top wasn't enough to stop the pressure. Hot soup exploded all over my countertops, my stove, my walls, my floor, my face. Ick! Huge, huge mess. But I perservered by starting over and blending in smaller batches.

Unfortunately, my blender sucks and didn't do the best job pulverizing the cooked limas and corn. Bryant's soup looks much creamier in the photo illustration in his book. But regardless, it was really delicious.

On another note, I just returned home from a rooftop party (that was actually held in a ballroom due to the threat of inclement weather) at the Peabody Hotel. My favorite local band — Lord T and Eloise — played and they were amazing.

Lord T and Eloise

If I had to pick a musical mascot for my blog, they'd be it. They dress in colonial formals and powder wigs and play aristocrunk with rapper Al Kapone ... it doesn't get much crunker than that. Seriously. Crunk. Memphis crunk.