“Laurie and Jeff Come to the Country”

Recently Laurie & Jeff needed to vacate their Brooklyn apartment for the day as major plumbing repairs took place! It was the perfect excuse to have a long awaited socially distant visit! They arrived at our house in the morning and the weather was glorious. We were able to spend the whole day safely apart from each other outside. The first order of business was to catch up on things; even though we have been talking on the phone and meeting on ZOOM, it felt wonderful to talk in person!

Jeff recently composed a new piece for our three ‘E’ Native American Flutes called “Evening on the Porch in Old Fort”. Jeff’s inspiration for the piece comes from an evening in 2000. Sitting on a porch in North Carolina with his mentor Hawk Little John and Hawk’s two pet wolves, they watched an evening light show of lightening bugs and heat lightening in the distance. In a corner of the porch a giant spider was engaged in an epic battle with a hornet. Two of Jeff’s musical colleagues Sam and Juni from New York were also there. Juni stayed inside, afraid to come out- I wonder why??

Standing on a path in our woods, we rehearsed the piece. At first it felt a bit strange to be playing with others, but we quickly adapted and it simply felt delightful to be playing together!

After a lunch of “End of Summer Friend’s Vegetable Garden Soup “ and Curried Chicken Salad, we took off for a hike to the Goodnow Preserve in New Marlborough, Massachusetts and we showed Jeff & Laurie the ruins of an old Paper Mill. Laurie was particularly taken by a rusty piece of old machinery forgotten in the woods!

After we returned, it was snack time, this was “Camp Judy” after all! We had tea and plum torte; talked more, started a fire in our new fire pit, read books and then it was time to eat again! I made some home made pizza and we sat around the fire until the light started to fade. Laurie & Jeff got the call that all was finished in their apartment and we wistfully said our goodbyes! We will look to performing together soon!!

“End of Summer Friend’s Vegetable Garden Soup”

Ingredients:

1 onion finely chopped

1 large leek rinsed well and finely chopped

1/2 small cabbage sliced

1 parsnip chopped

1 carrot chopped

a few pieces of kale- tough stems removed and chopped

1 stalk celery chopped

2 or 3 chicken chorizo sausages diced

1- 8 ounce can cannellini beans

1/2 cup Italian farro

1- 8 ounce can fire-roasted diced tomatoes

1 teaspoon thyme

1 bay leaf

salt and pepper to taste

Prepare Soup:

Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in heavy large pot

Saute onion and leeks until softened

Add vegetables and rest of other ingredients

Cover with water and bring to a boil

Reduce to a simmer, cover and cook about 1 1/2 hours.

I served this with sour dough bread slices that I rubbed with garlic, poured on a bit of extra virgin olive oil and sprinkled the bread with grated parmesan cheese.

I broiled them until the bread was crisp and toasty!

Enjoy!