Our one-mile supper

Last night, I had a hankering for some comfort food. I was feeling a bit worn down from the cold and I needed something that would fill my belly and comfort my winter weary soul (how's that for melodrama?)

So, I made some soup. Pumpkin soup -- all thick and creamy, with a hint of curry spice.

I know this is rather insipid looking but you gotta believe me this soup is actually the most gorgeous orange colour. As as aside: I have a whole new appreciation for magazine food stylists.

The neat thing was the pumpkin I used didn't come from a can, but from our garden.... last October. We harvested several pumpkins in the fall and put them in the garage where they've been parked ever since. How's that for a shelf life?

We didn't even grow the thing. Pumpkins were the only produce we could salvage from the overgrown vegetable patch that we inherited.

I hollowed out one of the smaller ones (saving the seeds for this year), roasted it and cooked it up with some onions, garlic, vegetable stock, milk and cream plus some curry, cardamon and cayenne spices. I even used our kitchen wood stove for cooking.

While the soup was bubbling and the flavours were mingling, I baked a couple of loaves of crusty french bread (the only white bread we have in the house -- we're more a pumpernickel/rye/whole wheat kinda family) and served it with some butter from the local creamery.

It was delicious. Full of flavour and vitamin-packed freshness and not a chemical or preservative in sight. I even made enough to freeze for a future meal or two.

I could get used to eating locally. It makes this self-sufficient lifestyle truly full-filling..