This a favorite recipe given to me by my mom. Her friend Annie V. gave it to her when we lived in New Orleans. I've adapted it slightly to make it vegetarian and it is delicious!

Artichoke Soup

2 onions, chopped
5 garlic cloves, pressed
2 cans of artichoke hearts, halved and drained
olive oil
1 stick butter (or margarine, or use extra oil)

Cover the bottom of a dutch oven with olive oil, melt 1 stick of butter and then saute the onions and garlic. Add artichoke hearts and saute all together for a little while.

Add these spices:
2 T dried parsley
2T dried basil
1t. dried oregano
1 pinch of dried thyme

Add 7-8 cups of vegetable broth. Cover and cook on low for 3 hours. (or you could cook it all day in a crock-pot)

Add 2 T. flour in 1/2 cup water.

Stir and add a handful of vermicelli.

Cook 30 more minutes.
Serve over a bread crouton and sprinkle with fresh parmesan cheese.

Simple Hummus

Here's a recipe for hummus that I found and then adapted to suit my purposes.  It's simple, and according to Leah, it's good.

Here's what you do:  first, boil some chickpeas.  Just follow the directions on the bag.  Then toss two cups into a food processor with about six or seven cloves of garlic (pretty strong), 4 tablespoons of tahini (roasted and salted, if you please), a half cup of olive oil (extra virg, if you please), and the juice of a fresh lemon.  Hit "go" and watch the blades go at it.  Add a bit of water until the mixture becomes creamy enough to suit your taste.  When you figure that out, add two teaspoons of cumin and salt it to your liking.  Let it whir together a bit more.

Once that's done, plop the hummus out of the food processor into a nice, white porcelain bowl (remember, presentation counts for a lot).  Then drizzle the hummus with more of that olive oil.  Then, sprinkle the top with a fair amount of cayenne pepper.  Now it's ready to serve.  All you need to do is toast up some whole wheat pita bread and you'll be in bidness.

The olive oil at the end is the key, I think.  That's the way they did it when I was staying at the monastery in Aleppo one summer as a college kid backpacking his way across the Middle East.  Okay, I'm lying--it's how I was once served hummus at a Turkish restaurant in DC, and I resolved to make it my way ever since.

Vegan Gumbo Recipe

Ingredients: 1/2 cup olive oil 1/3 cup flour 1 onion, diced 1 green bell pepper, diced 3 stalks celery, sliced 3 cloves garlic, minced 3 cups vegetable broth 3 cups water 1 14 ounce can died tomatoes 1 1/2 cups okra, sliced vegan chicken strips (not breaded) or tofu 1 zucchini, sliced 2 whole bay leaves 2 teaspoons salt ½ teaspoon white pepper ½ teaspoon cayenne (more if you like it hot) ½ teaspoon black pepper ½ teaspoon dried thyme leaves ¼ teaspoon dried oregano leaves dash black pepper, to taste dash tabasco sauce, to taste 2 cups rice With the olive oil and flour make a dark carmel colored roux in a heavy pot. Make sure and stir constantly so it doesn't burn. Add garlic, onion, pepper and celery. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring. Add water, broth, spices and stir. Add uncooked rice. Let it cook until hot. Add okra, tomato, tofu, zucchini (which I cut in small chunks). Put it all in a crockpot and let it cook all day. The flavors will blend and it is awesome. Serve with salad and crusty french bread.

Next time you're in Chicago, I recommend the Poetry Foundation. It's down in the Loop, and it's a very zenny, green, LEED-certified building. I visited there last Friday with my bud, Jesse Brown, and we enjoyed a good hour or two in the company of Lauren Ricke, our mutual friend, and with a bevy of our favorite poets. Let me do you a favor, friends, and turn you on to Kenneth Goldsmith, who is probably the Andy Warhol of print. Check him out on YouTube.