A perfect fall soup recipe

In an unsuccessful but heartfelt attempt to simply force cool, autumnal weather to arrive in Atlanta, my boyfriend and I made this soup for dinner last night. It's got lots of nice fall flavors. The soup is pretty easy. The croutons are more complicated, but (I think) worth it. Now if only fall would get here...

White Bean and Rosemary Soup with Roasted Garlic Croutons

Croutons:
2 whole heads garlic
1/4 c + 2 tsp. olive oil
1 tsp. kosher salt, plus more to taste
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
1/2 loaf unsliced whole wheat bread, cut into 1" cubes

Soup:
1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
2 Tbsp. olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1 large onion, chopped (about 2 cups)
2 carrots, peeled and cut crosswise into 1/4" coins
2 stalks celery, cut into 1/4" slices
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
2 cans (14.5 oz each) white beans, drained, rinsed, and drained again
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary

1. Preheat oven to 400ºF. Slice off tops of garlic heads so the cloves are just exposed. Rub each head with 1 teaspoon olive oil; wrap loosely in foil. Roast 25 to 35 minutes. Remove from oven (but leave oven on); let garlic cool until comfortable to touch. Squeeze cloves from the heads into a small bowl; mash with a fork and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine half the roasted garlic with 1/4 cup olive oil, salt, and pepper. Add bread and toss until well coated. Place bread on a baking sheet and bake 20 minutes, turning once or twice, until golden brown. Remove from oven and set aside.
3. To make soup: In a large saucepan, heat butter and 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Add onion, carrots and celery, and cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Add broth and remaining half of garlic and bring to a boil; reduce heat and cook 20 minutes, until carrots are very tender. Add drained beans and rosemary; cook 10 more minutes.
4. With an immersion blender or in a food processor fitted with a knife blade, puree half the soup until smooth. Stir to combine. Serve in bowls topped with croutons and drizzled with remaining olive oil.

Makes 4-6 servings.

Recipe developed by Rori Trovato for O magazine.

bokeh like butter

This morning was the first meeting of my six-week "people photography" course that I am getting to take through my new job. I'm not getting paid to take this class or anything, but the course is free. Which rules.

I wasn't sure what to expect from the first class meeting. The director of the school where I am taking the course had asked me beforehand if I had a basic understanding of how my camera works. I'm not a technically strong photographer, but I have a general idea of how the camera works ("Just put it on P and press the shutter!"), so I said yes.

The instructor, Dave, invited each of us to introduce ourselves to the class. The class includes about a dozen people of all different skill levels. There were people who had just gotten a new digital camera and wanted to learn how to get satisfying photos of their kids. There were people who worked in photography professionally who wanted to learn some new compositional tricks.

The director fired up a slide show of some of his favorite portraits from celebrated and little-known photographers, and some students started asking questions. What was exciting is that I found myself nodding along to all of the answers he gave. I actually understood what he was saying, and I understood why he was giving those answers. I would have answered the questions the same way if I had been teaching the class.

Dave gave us our first photographic assignment, made a lens recommendation (the 50mm f1.8, for those of you playing along at home), and set us free to go take some great portraits. We report to next Wednesday's class with JPGs from this week's photographic assignment.

It was an encouraging class. It helped me see that I am slowly developing my skills and learning to trust my instincts about what works and what doesn't. Also, just being in the same room with a group of people who are excited about improving their craft is really energizing.

There's a lot of wonderful little stuff happening here, stuff that isn't earth-shattering but still lets me know that I am on a good path. I am waiting for some more of the details to unfold and then I hope to share some of those little stories here.

It looks like Wednesday is going to be one of my "weekend" days in this new schedule (Saturday is now a work day). The schedule is not as predictable as I would like, but it's doing work I really enjoy. So far, quitting the corporate game is proving to be a great decision.