French Lemon & Pumpkin Soup Recipe

For those who've asked for the recipe of one of my favorite new soups...

This will probably be the only recipe I post from this particular cookbook since doing this is probably illegal in some way. But I will say this with 100% certainty: If you like soups, buy this book! You will not regret it. I've made about 10 different soups from this book, and each one has not failed in taste. And these are soups that have ranged from French to Japanese to African to Polish...

here is one place you can get it.

One of my own personal tips... If you can make your own Vegetable Stock, well... you're a badass. But if you're lazy and unprepared like me, here's the Vegetable Bouillion I recommend.
I get mine from Whole Foods. They also have chicken, turkey, clam, mushroom, and beef bases, just to name a few. The awesome thing about this brand is that a lot of them are vegetarian. But just be sure you get the right one. For this recipe, you'd want the one that reads "Organic Vegetable Base".

Happy Cooking!

love,
p. ahn

p.s. If you have some pumpkin leftover... I made my OWN recipe that is super easy that can use it up! I'll post it ASAP. xx

A Cloud Blanket

A Cloud Blanket!

I've had this blue piece of fleece for years... hoping to make something out of it. About 6 months ago, I cut out all of these felt clouds and sewed little faces on to them.

So yesterday, on my rainy day in, I decided to finally put the two together and make a cloud blanket.

I decided to stuff the clouds so they'd be something fun to squish.

Love,
p. ahn

Germaphobic Habit #1

Ok, so from being on the road a lot, I've developed quite a list of eccentric habits to help keep me and my clothes clean. When you're on the road for weeks at a time, and don't feel like doing laundry every other day, you want to try to keep stuff smelling as "fresh" as possible. I thought I'd share a few of my whacky antics with you.

These are all things that I really do.

love,
p. ahn

p.s. This is the first one... my watercolors came out a little on the "light" side. Hopefully these will get better and better over time. Or not. I don't really care. These are just for fun!

To View Picture: I clicked directly on the picture and it appeared by itself with a transparent black background, but I still wasn't able to zoom in. If you click just to the side of the picture (you should still see a pointy hand) then it puts the picture on a separate page, giving you a "zoom" option. You should be able to read the writing then. (sorry I'm not more computer savvy)

At the end of a tour...

Well, I am back home in L.A. where the weather has been so bizarre. Hot one day, cold and gray the next. Somehow I found myself waiting in a line outside of a Hollywood bar last night. The last place I'd ever want to be*. And yesterday I drove through aggro L.A. traffic, and even went to the gym which was filled to the brim with good-looking people in fashionable workout attire** ***. Anyway... that's when I really felt like I was back in L.A. Those are most of the negative things though.

On the positive side , the first day I got back I made us a French Lemon and Pumpkin soup with Mussels. I've been craving to make soups being in all that Fall European weather. This one turned out really good. It might be my best yet! Would you like the recipe? I'm going to make it again for Thanksgiving.

And yesterday my husband made us a delicious pasta with shrimp and scallops.

yum yum yum!

It's been such an amazing experience traveling all through Germany and opening for Milow. They were all amazing, kind, and talented people. I will miss them!

And I'll never ever forget opening for The Cowboy Junkies in Paris****. Oh my goodness.... they were beautiful. Mesmerizing. So utterly cool. It was a magical night for me.

And last but not least, my show in London was so much fun!!! Thank you to everyone who came out. It was a very intimate show in the end, and such a joy to play a whole show by myself, and take requests. I had less than 24 hours in the city...so I don't have many good pictures to show. That being said, it was the perfect show for me to end my tour on. And it never would have been so perfect if it weren't for all the awesome people who showed up! Kisses to you all! xoxoxo

Now... to bring it all back around to the title of this long blog post: At the end of a tour...

I cut my nails.

That may not sound like a big deal, but in fact for me it is! I only finger pick when I play guitar, so my left hand always has to have short nails, and my right hand has to have perfectly carved nails in order to pluck the strings in a fluid way. So... that means no manicures for me ever. That means, constantly being cautious about heavy lifting or any other weird way a nail could break (one time I sat on my hand and my nail broke!). So at the end of a long tour... when I know I won't be playing a show in a while, I cut ALL of my nails, and it feels soooooo good!

These are not my nails.
These are Hello Sandwich's pretty nails!

It's almost 10am... time to wake up Mike***** and head to the Sunday Market so I can look at all the colors of the Fall fruits and veggies. Another great thing about being back home.

love,
p. ahn

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* I was waiting to see my friend's Improv show -- I swear!

** why do I always go to the gym in baggy clothes and dirty hair? Oh, that's right -- because I don't care what I look like at the gym!

*** (Or maybe it's because I'm married)

**** Because of Paris, now I can't stop eating bread and cheese. Perfect "putting on the pounds" hibernation food. Eek!

***** Usually Mike is the one always waking me up because I sleep in til 11am. But thanks to my jet lag, now I get to enjoy all these hours of beautiful quiet morning. I hope it lasts for a little while longer.

Fall in Berlin

Oh, how I love Fall! Especially this one in Berlin because it's all about my favorite color -- yellow.

love,
p. ahn