It’s been an unseasonaly warm lately and I was shocked by the honest-to-goodness December weather waiting for me when I stepped outside this morning!

We’ve been on a kick making big batches of soup on the weekend. I complain about all the prep work, but I enjoy the time in the kitchen and away from the computer. After making a white bean and kale soup in November, I saw an adjacent recipe for caldo verde, which our Gourmet cookbook describes as a national dish of Portugal.   This soup of  linguiça or chorizo with potatoes and kale piqued my interest again when a friend mentioned he was making the very same dish right before Thanksgiving (Facebook: thanks for the status update).  Lucky for us, the master soup chef willingly parted with his caldo verde recipe this morning.  Jerome’s family hails from Madeira Island so I’ll take his word for it over Ruth Reichl’s.  All this talk about Portugal… Can I tell you how much I would love to vist the Azores? I have no idea why these islands fascinate me so much. I don’t even know anyone who has been there.  At least I don’t think so… If you’ve been, please speak up! I want to hear more about it.