NOT WANTING TO be left behind in the tech age, I have been cultivating my cyber skills recently by posting photographs on social media and exploring the utility of hashtags.
I apologize in advance to those of you who don’t know or care about hashtags, but there are a lot of us food-obsessed photo hacks out here.
Perhaps you yourself have posted a photo of a particularly beautiful plate of food?
It’s a weird obsession, but I love the way a single photograph can connect me with people near and far.
Last week, I posted a photo of a pot of winter squash soup I was making for dinner.
Within minutes, someone in London noticed the photo, as well as a friend who lives down the street.
My neighbor asked if this particular pot of soup was going to be featured in the recipe column this month.
Happy to fulfill requests from readers, here is the recipe with the disclosure that it did already appear in this Peninsula Kitchen column several years ago.
But it is worth repeating because it is nourishing, delicious and beautiful.
Since 2012 when I first typed this up for a cooking class, I have experimented with various ways to cook a winter squash (this includes acorn, Kabocha, Hubbard and pumpkins, to name just a few.)
The first and sometimes daunting step in preparing winter squash is cutting it open without injuring yourself.
In my original column, I described standing outside in the October mist and hurling a basketball-sized Hubbard onto the brick patio, cracking it into manageable pieces without a knife.
While that method is fun in a primal sort of a way and effective for a really large squash, in this edited version, I recommend that if the squash is small enough to fit in your oven or microwave, you can simply cut a few slits in the skin and cook the entire squash.
I look forward to seeing your beautiful photos in cyberspace. Just use #olympicpeninsulakitchen.
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Betsy Wharton is the proprietor of the Clallam Canning Co., a local purveyor of artisan pickles and other farm to jar goods. You can find her and her products at the Sprouting Hope Greenhouse at 826 E. First St. in Port Angeles. Or contact her at betsy@clallamcanningcompany.com.
